The newly crowned “Secretary of War” Pete Hegseth is apparently having some kind of manic episode that’s leaving his staff terrified. Reports from his staff claim he’s “crawling out of his skin”, twitching and pacing around during meetings, and generally freaking everyone out. We can’t know for sure what’s going on behind closed doors, though his speech certainly sounds like the ramblings of a man whose brain isn’t exactly running at full capacity. Having made the eyebrow-raising decision to summon all military officials above the rank of one-star general to Washington to hear him give a speech, he proceeded to deliver a speech that sounds like something out of Dr. Strangelove. Hegseth screeched that all generals must focus on delivering “maximum lethality”, promising to tear up the rules of engagement and ignore the Geneva Conventions to let American soldiers kill whoever they want, however they want, whenever they want: “We untie the hands of our war fighters to intimidate, demoralize, hunt and kill the enemies of our country. No more politically correct and overbearing rules of engagement. Just common sense, maximum lethality and authority for war fighters.” He also promised a return to brutal induction regimes for new soldiers, vowing a return to the days where recruits would be psychologically dismantled through bullying and intimidation. He specifically mentioned encouraging “shark attack” training, in which a group of instructors will gang up on a recruit and scream at them en masse until they suffer an emotional breakdown. “Violence, precision and ferocity” Fresh recruits, he insisted, must be terrified of their superiors. Under him, basic training will be “scary, tough and disciplined. We’re empowering drill sergeants to instil healthy fear in new recruits.” He also confirmed that all recruits will be expected to meet the same high fitness standards, which will effectively reduce the number of female soldiers serving. That’s not by accident but by design, as Hegseth called diversity an “insane fallacy”, apparently setting the stage for a military composed primarily of white men. He also repeatedly emphasized that “violence” will be part of life in his new Department of War, both inflicted externally and internally, saying under him the Pentagon will be known for its “violence, precision and ferocity”. Sounds completely insane Sir! And, let’s face it, with a speech this bananas he’s certainly not beating any of the “manic episode” allegations anytime soon. Whatever’s going on in Hegseth’s increasingly frazzled brain is disturbing, but if this is the manic high, we’re not looking forward to the crushing doom-laden low.