Pete Hegseth Throws “Weirdos and Wimps” Out of the Military, Not Realizing He Might Be the Wimpiest Weirdo of Them All

The Daily Show Targets Pete Hegseth’s “No Weirdos” Military Overhaul Then Points to the “Weirdos” Running His Future Warfare Project

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wants a military without “fatties,” “beardos,” “weirdos” or “wimps.” But when the Pentagon needed people to imagine the future of American warfare, Hegseth turned to a billionaire rocket entrepreneur, a Hawaiian-shirt-wearing virtual reality pioneer and a former House speaker who left Congress nearly three decades ago. That contradiction provided the centerpiece of The Daily Show on Thursday night, as host Jordan Klepper dissected Hegseth’s combative “State of the Force” address and the newly announced Project Meridian, a Pentagon initiative that will bring Elon Musk, Anduril founder Palmer Luckey and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich together to study the technologies and weapons that could define future wars.

The Comedy Central segment also took aim at President Donald Trump’s remarks during a White House Hispanic Heritage Month celebration, where the president invited attendees to see the unfinished floor of his planned ballroom before making an unusual joke about Hispanics surviving a fall from the construction site. Behind the comedy, however, were two significant developments: Hegseth is accelerating a cultural and technological transformation of the Pentagon, while some of the most influential figures in Silicon Valley are being given a direct role in shaping how the U.S. military prepares for future conflicts.

Hegseth Declares: “No Beardos, No Weirdos, No Wimps”

Speaking Wednesday at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia, Hegseth presented his vision of a military stripped of what he considers ideological distractions and focused instead on physical fitness, combat readiness and what he repeatedly described as a “warrior” culture.

“We are no longer the woke department or the weak department,” Hegseth told the audience before delivering one of the speech’s most widely circulated lines: “No fatties, no trannies, no beardos, no weirdos, no wimps, no radicals. Just warriors.”

The term Hegseth used for transgender people is widely regarded as a slur. His larger message was part of a broader argument that the Pentagon has abandoned diversity initiatives and other policies associated with previous administrations while tightening physical and grooming standards. Hegseth also said a 20% reduction in general and admiral positions was underway and framed the personnel changes as accountability rather than a purge.

Klepper seized on the almost playground like simplicity of Hegseth’s list, particularly the secretary’s declaration that the military had no room for “weirdos.” Modern warfare increasingly depends on software engineers, cybersecurity specialists, artificial-intelligence researchers, drone developers and other highly technical personnel, exactly the kinds of unconventional specialists who do not necessarily fit a traditional Hollywood image of a soldier. That comedic setup became considerably easier once Hegseth revealed who he had selected to help design the future of warfare.

Then Hegseth Introduced Project Meridian

During the same address, Hegseth announced Project Meridian, an initiative intended to examine future battlefields and determine what technologies American forces will need to dominate them. The project will be co-led by Musk, Luckey and Gingrich under the direction of Pentagon technology chief Emil Michael. According to Hegseth, the group will examine future combat environments and identify weapons and systems the United States should begin developing, testing and deploying. The project is expected to produce recommendations within roughly four months.

Musk brings experience through SpaceX and his long running advocacy for autonomous warfare, drones and hypersonic weapons. Luckey founded Oculus VR before establishing Anduril Industries, which has become a major defense-technology company specializing in autonomous systems, artificial intelligence and military hardware. Gingrich, who served as House speaker from 1995 to 1999, has maintained a longstanding interest in technology and national-security policy.

Hegseth described the three as among the country’s leading minds and said Project Meridian would deliberately look beyond conventional thinking, exploring future battlefields ranging from underground environments to operations beyond the Moon. For The Daily Show, the juxtaposition was irresistible: minutes after declaring there would be “no weirdos” and “no beardos,” Hegseth unveiled a futuristic brainstorming operation involving some of the most unconventional personalities in American technology and politics.

Palmer Luckey Becomes the Punchline

Klepper focused much of the segment on Luckey, whose personal style has long stood apart from the traditional image of a Pentagon official. The Anduril founder is known for Hawaiian shirts, sandals and casual clothing, even while operating one of the fastest growing companies in the defense industry. Klepper mocked Luckey’s appearance with a series of jokes portraying him as precisely the kind of eccentric personality Hegseth’s rhetoric would seemingly reject.

The joke works because Luckey’s unconventional image has little connection to his importance within the defense industry. Anduril has built autonomous aircraft, surveillance systems, counter-drone technology and other military platforms, positioning Luckey at the center of the Pentagon’s push to move faster in artificial intelligence and autonomous warfare.

The contradiction highlighted by The Daily Show is therefore less about Luckey personally than about the tension between Hegseth’s cultural rhetoric and the Pentagon’s technological requirements. The military of the future may demand exactly the sort of unconventional engineers and entrepreneurs who do not fit neatly into Hegseth’s “patriotic cowboys” imagery.

Musk Returns to the Pentagon Orbit

Project Meridian also marks a significant return to government work for Musk after his previous role overseeing the Trump administration’s government cutting DOGE effort ended amid a highly publicized rupture with the president. Musk and Trump have since reconciled, and Musk has again appeared at White House events. Project Meridian now gives the SpaceX and Tesla chief a formal advisory role in evaluating the future of American warfare. Musk has repeatedly argued that autonomous drones, artificial intelligence and hypersonic weapons will fundamentally reshape military power.

His involvement also creates potential conflict of interest questions because SpaceX is already deeply involved in U.S. government and national security programs. Luckey’s Anduril likewise competes for major Pentagon contracts. The Washington Post reported that it was not immediately clear how Musk and Luckey would navigate their advisory roles while companies they control or founded continue competing for government business. That does not establish wrongdoing, but the overlapping advisory and commercial relationships are likely to draw scrutiny as Project Meridian develops recommendations that could influence future Pentagon spending.

Hegseth Mixes Warrior Culture With Religion

Klepper also targeted the religious language woven throughout Hegseth’s broader vision for the Pentagon. Hegseth has repeatedly emphasized Christianity and religious faith as components of military culture, and his Quantico address included the announcement of a new Office of Religious Affairs intended to expand religious resources and support across the armed forces.

The comedy segment contrasted Hegseth’s warnings about religious extremism abroad with his own use of biblical imagery and religious language when discussing the American military. That juxtaposition became another vehicle for Klepper’s argument that Hegseth’s Pentagon is attempting to eliminate certain ideological influences while simultaneously elevating a different cultural and religious framework. The policy itself is broader than the joke. Hegseth’s Pentagon has eliminated diversity programs, tightened grooming and fitness standards, restricted transgender military service, reduced senior officer positions and increased emphasis on physical readiness and what the secretary describes as traditional military culture.

Trump Debuts an Unusual Hispanic Heritage Month Joke

Before turning to Hegseth, Klepper opened the segment with Trump’s appearance at a White House Hispanic Heritage Month celebration on Wednesday. Trump invited attendees to become some of the first visitors to walk on the floor of the unfinished White House ballroom project and warned the group that the construction area lacked fencing, cautioning them against getting too close to the edge.

“Don’t fall over the edge because it’s a long way down,” Trump said. He then added: “And only a Hispanic could survive that fall.”

Some people in the room cheered at the remark before Trump continued speaking. The president did not elaborate on what he meant by the comment. Klepper framed the statement as the creation of an entirely new Hispanic stereotype, using it as an opening joke before transitioning into the Pentagon segment.

The Joke Conceals a Serious Pentagon Experiment

Correspondent Josh Johnson eventually joined the segment from outside the Pentagon, extending the satire into increasingly absurd visions of futuristic warfare, including jokes about a mechanized Newt Gingrich. Underneath the comedy, however, Project Meridian represents a consequential Pentagon experiment.

The U.S. military is trying to determine how artificial intelligence, autonomous weapons, robotics, drones, space systems and other rapidly developing technologies will change warfare faster than the traditional defense procurement system can adapt. Hegseth’s decision to recruit Musk and Luckey reflects a broader Pentagon effort to bring Silicon Valley style development into a military bureaucracy historically criticized for taking years or even decades to field major weapons systems. Gingrich adds a political and strategic voice to a group otherwise heavily influenced by technology entrepreneurs.

The irony identified by The Daily Show is that succeeding in that mission may require exactly the kind of unconventional thinkers Hegseth rhetorically dismissed from the stage. The future American military Hegseth described is supposed to have “no beardos, no weirdos, no wimps.” The future American military he announced minutes later will be partially imagined by Elon Musk, Palmer Luckey and Newt Gingrich. For late night television, the contradiction practically wrote the segment itself.

Sources & Further Reading

The Daily Show — “Pete Hegseth Purges Weirdos and Wimps & Trump Drops a New Hispanic Stereotype”
Watch The Daily Show segment on YouTube

The Washington Post — Elon Musk Returns to Government to Advise Pentagon on Future Warfare
Read The Washington Post report

The Washington Post — Hegseth Details Project Meridian and Pentagon Initiatives
Read The Washington Post report on Hegseth’s address

NPR/KPBS — Hegseth’s State of the Force Address and Military Culture Changes
Read the NPR/KPBS report

TechCrunch — Pentagon Taps Musk, Luckey and Gingrich for Project Meridian
Read the TechCrunch report

The Washington Post — Trump’s Hispanic Heritage Month Ballroom Remarks
Read The Washington Post report

Roll Call / Factba.se — Transcript of Trump’s Hispanic Heritage Month Remarks
Read the full transcript