US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was slammed by critics around the world this weekend after returning to his speaking at an event on Saturday marking the anniversary of D-Day in a “racist slurs” against migrants.
On June 6, 1944, Allied forces attacked the beaches of Normandy Francewhich was occupied by the troops of Nazi Germany. Thousands were killed, but it is now widely seen as the beginning of the end of World War II. More than eight decades later, Hegseth traveled at the Normandy American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer for the second consecutive year.
“Sadly, today, various European beaches have been invaded by various dangerous ideologies,” said President Donald Trump. The Pentagon said the boss in the graveyard. “The beaches in Spainin Italy, in Greeceand Bulgaria – ships and men arrive. When will the European capitals do something about that invasion? Or is it too late? I don’t pray and I don’t believe.”
Critics quickly condemned Hegseth’s comments as “straight white nationalist speeches,“”totally disgusting,” “disgusting“and”a shame in memory of the men and women who gave their lives to win the Second World War.”
US Army veteran and progressive attorney Mike Lavigne denounced Hegseth as “a disgrace to his office and to the nation”.
Sharing a report about Hegseth’s remarks at social mediaSen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) has written“Apparently our war secretary (drobe) thinks the D-Day commemoration is an opportune time to promote his far-right ideology in Europe.”
The House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said: “Thousands of American heroes died on D-Day to defend freedom and defeat fascism. Pete Hegseth should honor and respect their memory. Not to politicize their ultimate sacrifice. God bless the greatest generation on D-Day and every day.”
After the speech, Hegseth “conspicuously skipped the afternoon’s main international ceremony marking the anniversary of the Allied landings,” France 24 reported. “His presence has not been missed by some residents of the ceremony’s host village, Langrune-sur-Mer, who said the American official was not welcome there.”
As the news network detailed:
“He has very militant views and it seems to us that this man does not share our democratic values,” said Sylvie Lamy Thepaut, a member of the communal association Langrune en commun. said BFM TV.
A message on the association’s website called for Hegseth’s visit to be cancelled on the grounds that The Pentagon the boss “embraces values contrary to democracy, human rights and peace” and had made “numerous anti-European remarks”, “warlike statements” and “American supremacist statements”.
“The Honor of Langrune, that of Franceand the memory of the young Allied soldiers – American, British, Canadian – who died on our beaches in the name of democracy would dictate the cancellation of this individual’s visit,” the statement concluded.
Hegseth’s comments notably came a day after US Vice Pres JD Vance ALLEGED on social media that Henry Nowak – an 18-year-old student was stabbed to death in United Kingdom last year by one British colleague who has been ever since CONVICTED to life in prison – would still be alive “if the last generations of European elites had stood up to the politics of self-hatred and the mass invasion of immigrants, many of whom despise the West and the people who love it.”
“Whenever a life like his is lost, the right response — the only response — is righteous anger,” Vance added. “One of the most important things The Trump administration has proven to the world that stopping the flow of mass migration and protecting national sovereignty is a matter of political will and leadership. Everything else is an excuse.”
In response, a spokesman for the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Keir Starmer said that “in recent days we have seen people trying to interfere with our democracy and seeking to foment division in our streets. The Nowak family is saddened by Henry’s horrific murder. They have said they do not want his death to be used to create further division, hatred or tension. We must respect their wishes. Our politics must bring together the people we are most vulnerable to.”
The latest remarks from Vance and Hegseth are consistent with the Trump administration’s official National Security Strategy, which was releasing in December and is full of rhetoric often used by white nationalists. The document accuses European Union of adopting “migration policies that are transforming the continent and creating strife”, claims that “if current trends continue, the continent will be unrecognizable in 20 years or less” and states that US policy is to help “Europe remain European, regain its civilizational self-confidence and abandon its failed regulatory focus”.
Earlier this week, the 27-nation EU moved forward with a review of its migration policy, which has led to some human rights lawyers to draw comparisons to Trump’s use of the US immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to crack down on people at United States.
“Across the Atlantic, we see the violence and fear created by ICE’s brutal immigration enforcement,” Silvia Carter, a spokeswoman for the Brussels-based Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants. said Associated Press. “Europe should learn from the damage of that model, not build its own version of it.”
Already, many migrants die trying to reach Europe. International Organization for Migration DESIGNATED in February that at least 7,667 people died or went missing on migration routes worldwide last year – including at least 2,185 who died or went missing in the Mediterranean Sea and another 1,214 on the West Africa/Atlantic route to the Canary Islands – but “the actual toll is likely higher”.
