Theatre of war Was Trump's speech to US generals more swagger than substance?

This week marked an inflection point in Donald Trump's relentless politicisation of the US armed forces, as he delivered a partisan - if scattershot - campaign speech to the very room of people he is not supposed to: the commanders of the most powerful military in the world.

- Andrew Roth Global affairs correspondent

For those issuing a major alert for authoritarian fire in the US, there was plenty of smoke: the anti-woke rhetoric that has become a commonplace of the political right; threats to summarily dismiss generals who disagree with him; the transparent pleasure at deploying the military to perform police actions in US cities.

The secrecy surrounding the rare meeting of military leaders, some of whom were recalled from conflict zones abroad, fed rumours of a declaration of war or a purge that could be a turning point in Trump's second term.

But as with every action by this president, the question remains as to how much of this moment was made-for-TV alone, and whether there was much substance to the swagger at the Quantico military base in Virginia this week.

After sending out a secret summons to about 800 generals, admirals and other senior defence officials, the president and his defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, delivered their urgent message: a 10-point directive that spanned the deployment of the US military in major cities to a polemic against “fat generals”.