It’s not a protocol, really, because that would imply that it made a modicum of sense. I’d say it’s more like “Mein Kampf” and “1984” mated and gave birth to a cheap imitation of a Stephen King horror story.

“It” is, in fact, Pete Hegseth’s concept of what the U.S. military should look like.

That’s nice. But no . . . I meant what they should literally look like:

That’s better.

AI nailed it: male, tall, slender, strong, clean-shaven, White, Christian, and ready to follow any order, whether legal or not. Hegseth has also specified no “beardos” or “weirdos,” and they must possess a satisfactory testosterone level. In addition, he has created a new Office of Religious Affairs in the Pentagon for the purpose of evaluating the “spiritual fitness” of active-duty troops and cladding them — in his terminology — in the “full armor of God.”

The one thing he didn’t ban? Tattoos. The fact is, the self-styled “Secretary of War” is covered in them.

So . . . not weird, right?

And speaking of “Mein Kampf,” have you ever seen the Iron Cross medals handed out for bravery during Hitler’s Third Reich?

In fact, Der Führer wore one himself:

There were so many similarities between Hegseth’s standards and what I recalled of Hitler’s obsession with creating a so-called “Aryan race” that I did a little further checking, and found that Adolf and Pete had more in common than I had realized. for example, Hitler required:

> Physical characteristics: Straight blond hair, light-colored (blue) eyes, fair skin, tall and athletic stature, and very specific cranial and facial features.

> Racial Purity: Germanic, Nordic and other Northern European stock, with proof of lineage free of Jewish or nonwhite ancestry dating back generations.

Those who fell outside these definitions — Jews, Romany people, Slavs, people with disabilities, etc. — were labeled as subhumans and considered disposable. And as the world learned, albeit too late, he managed to dispose of some 13 million (or more) of them before he was finally stopped.

Are those similarities just coincidences? Is Pete Hegseth consciously emulating Hitler, or did he conjure up these ideas on his own? I don’t have the answers; but it hardly matters. Because either way, this is an individual who shouldn’t be allowed to head up a local Nighborhood Watch, much less have charge of the world’s most powerful military force.

But who’s going to stop him?

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
10/9/26