So has the military-industrial complex, the surveillance state, the militarization of domestic policing, and the bureaucratic machinery that too often abandons veterans once their service is no longer required.

"The era of the Department of Defense is over… From this moment forward, the only mission of the newly restored Department of War is this: warfighting… We untie the hands of our warfighters to intimidate, demoralize, hunt and kill the enemies of our country… You kill people and break things for a living." — Pete Hegseth

Donald Trump and his administration have done a grave disservice to America's military.

By politicizing the military, sending service members into wars of questionable legality, attempting to use military forces against American citizens, and seeking to punish veterans who exercise their constitutional rights, the Trump administration has attempted to turn the U.S. military into its own guns-for-hire battalion.

This is not how you honor America's military.

Pete Hegseth has done an even graver disservice to the men and women who serve.

Having called for a "warrior ethos" that celebrates aggression, lethality and an unquestioning commitment to warfighting, the self-styled Secretary of War has repeatedly demonstrated a troubling disregard for the constitutional safeguards meant to govern the military's use of force.

Consider his record.

Hegseth fired the military's top uniformed lawyers—the very officers charged with ensuring that military operations and orders comply with the law—complaining that legal advisers should not become "roadblocks."

He shared sensitive operational details about impending military strikes in Yemen over an unauthorized Signal chat, exposing military personnel and missions to potential danger. The Pentagon's own inspector general subsequently found that he had violated departmental security protocols.

He imposed sweeping restrictions on Pentagon journalists, limiting independent scrutiny of military operations and prompting a federal court to find that the department's press restrictions violated the First Amendment.

He sought to punish retired Navy captain and Senator Mark Kelly for reminding service members of their duty to refuse unlawful orders, threatening his military rank and retirement pay until a federal judge intervened.

He has used the Pentagon to promote his particular brand of Christianity, hosting Christian worship services, inviting a Christian nationalist preacher into the halls of military power, and overhauling the military's chaplaincy system in ways that have raised serious concerns about the religious freedom of service members who do not share his beliefs.