Self-styled “Secretary of War” Pete Hegseth urged European leaders on Saturday, June 6, to remain vigilant against the threat of what he described as “dangerous ideologies” coming to the continent, in a speech at the Normandy American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, France on the 82nd anniversary of the 1944 D-Day landings. No, he wasn’t talking about the resurgence of Nazism that the Russians have so often warned against. Rather, he was talking about the “invasion” of dark skinned peoples from Europe and Africa, many from countries that have been destroyed by US-NATO population wars.
“In the years since these beaches, much of the West, in some places, in some quarters, and in some capitals grew comfortable, we forgot that freedom is not free,” Hegseth said, reported The Hill. “Sadly, today different European beaches are stormed by different dangerous ideologies,” Hegseth said, adding that “boats and men” were arriving on the shores of Spain, Italy, Greece and Bulgaria. “When will European capitals do something about that invasion, or is it too late? I pray not, and I believe not,” he continued.
Fellow Republican Michael McCaul of Texas, a senior member of the House Republican caucus, took great exception to Hegseth’s rant during an appearance on ABC News’ This Week on Sunday. “Well, as the son of a D-Day veteran, look, there’s a time and a place for these issues of immigration. That was not the day, not the anniversary of D-Day,” he said, reported The Daily Beast. “I think out of respect to the veterans, myself being the son of a D-Day veteran, those remarks were out of place. I think it should have been about their sacrifice, their service to their country, and what they did to protect the free world at a time of great peril against Nazi Germany. That should have been the message. It always has been in the past. And quite frankly I thought it was just inappropriate.”
French citizens who live nearby were none-too-pleased either. After his speech, Hegseth conspicuously skipped the afternoon’s main international ceremony in the village of Langrune-sur-Mer marking the anniversary of the Allied landings. Local residents did not miss him.
“He has very warlike views and it seems to us that this man does not share our democratic values,” Sylvie Lamy Thepaut, a member of the municipal association Langrune en commun, told BFM TV, reported France 24. A message on the association’s website called for Hegseth’s visit to be cancelled on the grounds that the Pentagon chief “espouses values contrary to democracy, human rights and peace” and had made “numerous anti-European remarks,” “warlike statements” and “American supremacist pronouncements.”
“The honor of Langrune, that of France, and the memory of the young Allied soldiers—American, British, Canadian—who died on our beaches in the name of democracy would dictate canceling this individual’s visit,” the statement concluded.
