After a viral photo sparked mockery online, the Texas Military Department benched some National Guard troops who had been tapped last week for President Donald Trump’s authoritarian crackdown in Chicago.
Trump’s deployment of 200 Texas National Guard members to Chicago is basically a made-for-TV intimidation tactic to strike fear in his critics, particularly liberals, whom he’s vowed to vanquish using their own government’s military. A federal judge attested to this last week, when she ruled there was no “danger of rebellion” in Chicago and barred Trump from deploying troops for two weeks.
And now it looks like this stunt is due for a recast.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said he was sending the “elite Texas National Guard” to Chicago, but over the weekend the Texas Military Department confirmed to the defense-focused news outlet Task & Purpose that some guard members were called home for what it described vaguely as noncompliance. The personnel change came after a now-viral ABC News photo, posted to X, showed several heavyset Guard troops arriving in Chicago, which elicited insults mocking their weight and appearance. Some also noted they appeared at odds with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s recent denunciation of “fat troops.”
The photo of Texas National Guard troops that was posted to X last week by ABC News. (Erin Hooley / AP)
Per Task & Purpose:
‘In less than 24 hours, Texas National Guardsmen mobilized for the Federal Protection Mission,’ a spokesperson reportedly told Task and Purpose over the weekend. ‘The speed of the response necessitated a concurrent validation process, during which we identified a small group of service members who were not in compliance and have been replaced.’
The Texas Military Department didn’t specify which standards the dismissed troops failed to meet (Task & Purpose asked about “being evaluated for height and weight standards”) or how many were relieved of duty, but Hegseth approvingly reposted a screenshot of Task & Purpose’s article, which quotes the National Guard Bureau as saying troops are “required to meet service-specific height, weight, and physical fitness standards at all times.”
“Standards are back,” Hegseth wrote.
It’s hard to imagine that anyone in the National Guard legitimately lacks the fitness level to meet the seemingly low demands required for a publicity stunt. Standing around ostensibly to ward off a nonexistent rebellion doesn’t strike me as grueling activity.
It’s also worth noting there’s no evidence that Hegseth’s new military standards, including new fitness guidelines, will improve military readiness — but ample reason to believe they will undercut the military’s ability to recruit and keep capable members.
But more than anything, the Trump administration seems to want the troops it deploys to American streets to project a certain air of intimidation — one that heavyset troops don’t fit.
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
