Trump Gets Nervous Laughter With a Warning About ‘Rank’ to U.S. Generals

President Donald Trump addressed hundreds of senior military leaders at Quantico Marine Corps Base in Virginia on Tuesday, assuring the top brass, “We’re all on the same team.”

Following remarks by Pete Hegseth — who leads the recently rebranded Department of War (still formally known as the Department of Defense) — Trump took the stage, opening his speech with a teasing warning.

“I never walked into a room so silent before,” he said. “If you want to applaud, you applaud. You can do anything you want.”

He continued, “If you don’t like what I’m saying, you can leave the room. But, there goes your rank and there goes your future.”

The president got nervous laughter in the room; however, he seemed more serious when he told reporters something similar before boarding Marine One earlier that morning.

“I’m going to be meeting with generals and admirals and with leaders,” he said of the Quantico gathering. “And if I don’t like somebody, I’m gonna fire them right on the spot.”

Following the meeting, Mark Hertling, a retired Army lieutenant general and former appointee of President Barack Obama, reacted to Trump and Hegseth’s remarks on X, writing, “Once again I’m reminded, trust is gained in drops and lost in buckets.”

During his speech, Trump also took time to sing his own praises, speaking again about his desire to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize after announcing a plan to resolve the war in the Gaza Strip on Monday. The terms of the plan have been accepted by Israel and endorsed by eight Muslim-majority nations in the Middle East — but Hamas has yet to agree.

“If this [Gaza] works out, we’ll have eight [wars resolved] — eight in eight months. That’s pretty good. Nobody’s ever done that,” Trump boasted.

“Will you get the Nobel Prize? Absolutely not,” he said. “They’ll give it to some guy that didn’t do a damn thing. They’ll give it to a guy that wrote a book about the mind of Donald Trump,”

He continued, “We’ll see what happens, but it would be a big insult to our country. I will tell you that. I don’t want it. I want the country to get it.”

He also reflected on the success of his Washington, D.C. police takeover and the recent rebranding of the Department of Defense as the Department of War.

” I love the name,” he said. “I think it is so great, and I think it stops wars. The Department of War will stop wars.”

Trump began his campaign to rebrand the Department of Defense with a Sept. 5 executive order, “Restoring the United States Department of War.”

The Department of War was originally established in 1789 under President George Washington to oversee the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps. In 1947, the National Security Act merged the Navy and War departments as well as the Air Force into the National Military Establishment, which became the Department of Defense in 1949.’

While Trump has ordered the name and title changes, officially renaming the department will require an act of Congress, as executive orders cannot override federal laws and statutes. The responsibility of creating executive departments also rests with Congress.

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News of the massive military meeting was announced last week, when Hegseth summoned the top brass, who were not informed about the purpose of the meeting in advance.

On Sunday, Sept. 28, Trump downplayed the reasons for summoning leaders from around the country, when generic status updates are typically communicated via memo or secure teleconference.

“It’s really just a very nice meeting talking about how well we’re doing militarily, talking about being in great shape, talking about a lot of good, positive things. It’s just a good message,” the president said. “We have some great people coming in and it’s just an ‘esprit de corps.’ You know the expression ‘esprit de corps?’ That’s all it’s about. We’re talking about what we’re doing, what they’re doing, and how we’re doing.”

Days earlier, he praised Hegseth’s plans for the meeting.

“Let him be friendly with the generals and admirals from all over the world,” he told reporters on Thursday. “You act like this is a bad thing. Isn’t it nice that people are coming from all over the world to be with us?”