Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s “Department of War” social accounts released a series of workout videos Wednesday featuring the Cabinet member doing training exercises with “warriors” (members of the military), this time at Guantanamo Bay.
One video featured numerous shots of Hegseth and other men running, jumping and lifting amid a chorus of grunts and was quickly followed by another video of Hegseth giving a locker room-style speech about how the president has “got [their] backs” and is ready to “unleash” and “untie” their hands.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen Hegseth (or other members of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet) release videos of this nature — it’s just the latest example of the MAGA-coded “masculinity theater” that’s becoming associated with Trump’s second term.
What is masculinity theater?
Masculinity theater isn’t hard to spot once you know what you’re looking for, and it’s something we’ve been seeing a lot in the social media videos from Trump’s Cabinet members, seemingly targeting the “manosphere” set.
