What Next - The Department of War…From Within
What Next | Daily News and Analysis
Slate Podcasts
4.3 • 2.4K Ratings
🗓️ 1 October 2025
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth summoned the military’s top brass from all over the world for a meeting to announce…they need to shave and get in shape? And then Trump followed with a speech about how he wants to deploy them in American cities and also Joe Biden sucks. Good talk, everybody.
Guest: Idrees Ali, national security correspondent for Reuters.
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Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, and Rob Gunther.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Yesterday, on the eve of a government shutdown, President Trump had a message for the American people. |
| 0:12.4 | This message was not about what services we might expect to lose in the coming days. |
| 0:17.3 | It wasn't an announcement of some bipartisan compromise either. |
| 0:22.6 | It was something else entirely. |
| 0:30.8 | So ladies and gentlemen, join me in welcoming the 45th and 47th President of the United States, |
| 0:34.3 | our commander-in-chief, Donald J. Trump. |
| 0:42.1 | The president was speaking in front of a room full of generals and admirals in full dress uniform. |
| 0:45.7 | Secretary of Defense Pete Higgseth was his warm-up act. |
| 0:51.6 | And when Trump took the stage, everyone stood, but almost no one clapped. |
| 0:54.8 | I've never walked into a room so silent before. |
| 0:57.0 | This is very, don't laugh. |
| 0:57.4 | Don't laugh. Don't laugh. |
| 0:59.7 | You know what? Just have a good time. |
| 1:02.2 | Idris, can you just sum up what happened at Quantico in one word? |
| 1:08.0 | Bizarre. |
| 1:08.7 | I think would be the word I would use. |
| 1:11.3 | Idris Ali covers the Pentagon for Reuters. He was watching this rare gathering at Marine |
| 1:16.1 | Base Quantico from a distance, because not a lot of press was allowed into the room. |
| 1:21.8 | Ahead of time, there had been speculation about what might happen here. Would generals be fired? |
| 1:27.1 | Would some new operation get announced? |
| 1:30.4 | In the end, this was something much more Trumpian. No firings, just the threat of firings all around. |
| 1:38.2 | No declaration of war, but a drawing of battle lines for sure, for an internal battle. |
... |
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