Proving that they would literally oppose anything and everything that came from the Trump administration, the liberal ladies of ABC News’s The View collectively decried War Secretary Pete Hegseth’s desire for all military service members to be physically fit. One called it “bizarre,” another called it a “very retro vision” of America’s military, while yet another whined about Hegseth “fat shaming” generals who let themselves go and were not leading my example.
“Now, right before we went on the air the newly renamed Secretary of War Pete Hegseth spoke to U.S. military leaders from around the world to lay out his very retro vision for our armed forces,” fill-in moderator Joy Behar clutched her pearls. Following a series of soundbites from Hegseth, Behar and co-host Sunny Hostin were perplexed by why the Secretary was “obsessed with fat [service members]” and their “fitness.”
Faux conservative Alyssa Farah Griffin bellyached about Hegseth calling out some of the overweight generals she worked it when she worked in the Pentagon’s press office. Despite never actually serving in the military, Farah Griffin falsely claimed she “served” alongside those generals. Behar joined her in huffing about the “fat shaming” they received:
FARAH GRIFFIN: I did not like that Pete Hegseth, who did serve his country but chose to denigrate the service of others. He name checked three generals, two that I served with —
BEHAR: And fat shaming, big time.
FARAH GRIFFIN: General McKenzie and General Milley. Both of whom have a combine nearly 100 years of service. General Milley served for 40 years in the military. You don’t need to attack other people’s service to make yourself feel better.
Behar delved into conspiracy theory territory when she wondered: “So why do you think they’re doing this? I mean there’s always an ulterior motive for all their crazy stuff.” She would later suggest it was to distract from the Epstein files.
Pretend independent Sara Haines falsely suggested military recruitment numbers were way down (all branches have seen a surge in recruitment numbers) and that Hegseth had “probably just made it worse.” She whined about Hegseth calling home all of America’s generals for the meeting, falsely alluding that it left America vulnerable to an attack.
Haines also kvetched about Hegseth’s messages of “‘don’t be fat,’ ‘shave your beard,’” and his order to allow drill sergeants and drill instructors to bring back shark attacks and bunk tossing.
Hostin would chime in again, this time to take issue with Hegseth’s “bizarre” plan to “toughen physical standards.” “I don’t understand how that was supposed to be an uplifting message for our military,” she bloviated.
Of course, since Hostin experienced chronic racial grievance, she also took issue with Hegseth doing away with DEI programs in the military. “He started talking about woke DEI policies,” she said. “By the way, he fired more than a dozen military leaders, many of them people of color and women. He fired the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Charles brown Jr., who is African American. He fired the first woman to command the Navy, Admiral Lisa Franchetti.”
It’s worth noting that last season, The View did a whole segment praising Oprah Winfrey for pushing the off-label and clinically untested use of drugs like Ozempic purely for recreational weight loss, instead of exercising. Some of the cast admitted to using such medications for their own weight loss (moderator Whoopi Goldberg admitted to using Mounjaro).
The transcript is below. Click “expand” to read:
ABC’s The View
September 30, 2025
11:02:22 a.m. EasternJOY BEHAR: Now, right before we went on the air the newly renamed Secretary of War Pete Hegseth spoke to U.S. military leaders from around the world to lay out his very retro vision for our armed forces. Watch.
[Cuts to video]
PETE HEGSETH (secretary of war): This administration has done a great deal from day one to remove the social justice, politically correct, and toxic ideological garbage that had infected our department. [Transition] We are done with that [bleep]. [Transition] It’s tiring to look out at combat formations or really any formation and see fat troops. Likewise, it’s completely unacceptable to see fat generals and admirals in the halls of the Pentagon. [Transition] We’re empowering drill sergeants to instill healthy fear in new recruits. [Transition] Yes, they can shark attack, they can toss bunks. They can swear. And yes, they can put their hands on recruits.
[Cuts back to live]
BEHAR: Um. Why is he obsessed with fat?
SUNNY HOSTIN: Yeah. And fitness and —
BEHAR: Well, this was just the opening act because Trump took the stage after he did and I think he’s still talking right now.
(…)
11:05:26 a.m. Eastern
ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN: I did not like that Pete Hegseth, who did serve his country but chose to denigrate the service of others. He name checked three generals, two that I served with —
BEHAR: And fat shaming, big time.
FARAH GRIFFIN: General McKenzie and General Milley. Both of whom have a combine nearly 100 years of service. General Milley served for 40 years in the military. You don’t need to attack other people’s service to make yourself feel better.
BEHAR: So why do you think they’re doing this? I mean there’s always an ulterior motive for all their crazy stuff.
SARA HAINES: Well, that’s the major question. And if it has anything to do with the recruiting lull they probably just made it worse. They called over 800 generals from their stations all around the world demanding that they all come here. Now, why would you also televise that all of our generals have left their posts?
HOSTIN: And are in one place.
HAINES: And are in one place. I don’t get it. And there’s an estimated $6 million that taxpayers, we paid for their travel, lodging, and security when we all learned a few years going you can do it all on Zoom. So I don’t know because some of the messages were as Joy mentioned ‘don’t be fat,’ ‘shave your beard,’ ‘go back to hazing people.’ You know —
BEHAR: Against each other.
HAINES: Well, yeah. Hazing the younger people.
(…)
11:07:10 a.m. Eastern
HOSTIN: I’m actually really befuddled by why he did that. The optics were terrible. Meaning all our top military brass are all in one place and we spent $6 million to get them there. That didn’t make a lot of sense to me.
It also didn’t make a lot of sense to me that he was saying that he was going to “toughen physical standards and review the anti-hazing policy” by sort of implementing a hazing policy. And then also he said he was going to “return to the highest male standard for combat positions” because the troops were fat. I just — I don’t understand how that was supposed to be an uplifting message for our military.
BEHAR: Maybe he was referring to Colonel Sanders.
HOSTIN: It was really a bizarre thing.
He started talking about woke DEI policies. By the way, there are no gender quotas in the military. By the way, he fired more than a dozen military leaders, many of them people of color and women. He fired the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Charles brown Jr., who is African American. He fired the first woman to command the Navy, Admiral Lisa Franchetti. I don’t understand the hypocrisy of firing these people, having all these people meet together and then denigrating them. I mean —
BEHAR: They’re looking at him like he has two heads.
(…)
