U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth vows to restore a hard-line “warrior ethos” in the armed forces—scrapping DEI and “distractions” in favor of pure lethality and readiness—as he hails Trump’s record of “peace through strength” from sinking drug boats and sealing the border to the Caracas raid that seized Venezuela’s president without U.S. fatalities, which he touts as a message of renewed American deterrence. He frames the new Golden Fleet and Trump‑class battleships as the spearhead of a maritime buildup to confront China and other “peer competitors” in a new era of great‑power rivalry, arguing that renaming the Pentagon the Department of War reflects a doctrine of dominance: being so prepared to win that no enemy dares challenge the United States.