President Donald Trump said he would meet with top U.S. military leaders on Tuesday and warned he will fire any of them on the spot if he doesn’t like them.“I’m going to be meeting with generals and with admirals and with leaders, and if I don’t like somebody, I’m going to fire them right on the spot,” Trump told reporters on the White House lawn before heading to Quantico, Virginia, for the rare meeting. After arriving at the Quantico Marine Corps Base, Trump addressed dozens of U.S. military leaders with a cautionary message that drew nervous laughs from the crowd. “I never walked into a room so silent before,” Trump said. “If you want to applaud, you applaud. You can do anything you want.”He added, “If you don’t like what I’m saying, you can leave the room. But there goes your rank and there goes your future.”Trump’s comments followed remarks by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who joined Trump in Quantico. Earlier this month, Trump signed an executive order to rename the Department of Defense as the Department of War — a name the agency last held in the 1940s. Trump said the rebrand will send a “message” to America’s opponents. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth joined President Donald Trump in Quantico.Getty Images“I think it sends a message of victory, I think it sends — really a message of strength. We’re very strong. We’re much stronger than anyone would really understand,” he told reporters.Speaking ahead of Trump’s speech, Hegseth proclaimed an end to “woke” culture in the military while blasting the policies of former administrations.“The leaders who created the woke department have already driven out too many hard chargers,” he told the assembled leaders. “We reverse that trend right now.” Hegseth went on to tell senior military leaders that he doesn’t want to see anymore “fat generals and admirals” in service. “It’s completely unacceptable to see fat generals and admirals in the halls of the Pentagon leading commands around the country, in the world, it’s a bad look,” he said.Hegseth argued that “upholding and demanding high standards is not toxic.” He then noted the military would be redefining “so-called toxic leadership, bullying and hazing to empower leaders to enforce standards without fear of retribution or second guessing.”Elsewhere in his speech, Hegseth warned that any military personnel who disagreed with the administration’s direction should resign.“If the words I’m speaking today are making your heart sink, then you should do the honorable thing and resign,” he said. Close