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Hegseth: "No More Identity Months, DEI Offices, Dudes In Dresses"; Trump: Military Should Use American Cities As "Training Grounds"; Hegseth: Combat Troops Will Have To Meet "Highest Male Standard Only"; Trump On Shutdown Layoffs: "We May Do A Lot"; Shutdown Now Hours Away As Hopes For Last-Minute Deal Fade. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired September 30, 2025 - 12:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[12:00:00]

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DANA BASH, CNN HOST, INSIDE POLITICS: Today on Inside Politics, a call for a throwback to the old days. Pete Hegseth is giving the U.S. military a makeover, announcing new standards, no quote, fat generals and admirals and mandatory fitness tests. If that means fewer women in the military, he says, quote, so be it. Stay here for reaction from an air force veteran in Congress who just happens to be female.

Plus, a government shutdown is 12 hours away and there is no sign that the two sides are even talking. The only thing crossing the aisle is blame. And I have new details you'll only find here on the plea Mitt Romney privately issued to the Biden White House about how to handle the criminal charges, facing then former President Donald Trump.

I'm Dana Bash. Let's go behind the headlines at Inside Politics.

We start in Quantico, Virginia, where more than 800 top U.S. generals and admirals were summoned from their posts around the world. And they were told to be here for a meeting with President Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Well, the president spoke for more than an hour in a verbose, greatest hit speech that touched on everything from his grievances about President Biden to his push for a Nobel Peace Prize.

But there was also a chilling revelation about what he sees as a benefit of sending active-duty troops into cities that he baselessly claims are war zones.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, they're very unsafe places, and we're going to straighten them out one by one, and this is going to be a major part for some of the people in this room. That's a war too. It's a war from within. I told Pete, we should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BASH: Now, this summit, this really unusual summit in person, with the nation's military leaders came at Hegseth's request. The former Fox News anchor told them TED talk style that, it's time to overhaul the Pentagon standards for physical fitness and appearance and the era of quote overly sensitive, don't hurt anyone's feelings. Leadership ends right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE HEGSETH, DEFENSE SECRETARY: No more identity months, DEI offices, dudes in dresses, no more climate change worship, no more division, distraction or gender delusions, no more debris. As I've said before and will say again, we are done with that shit.

It's completely unacceptable to see fat generals and admirals in the halls of the Pentagon. Every member of the joint force at every rank is required to take a P.T. test twice a year, as well as meet height and weight requirements. We're not talking like hot yoga and stretching, real hard P.T., others -- either as a unit or as an individual. The era of unprofessional appearance is over. No more beardos. The era of rampant and ridiculous shaving profiles is done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: CNN's Natasha Bertrand is just outside Quantico, Virginia, where President Trump and Pete Hegseth wrapped up their remarks. Natasha, let's start with President Trump, his suggestion that American cities are a place where military individual and personnel can train, pretty significant.

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Dana. And I can tell you that it's something that generals and admirals really do not like talking about, hearing about the deployment of the U.S. military into cities to conduct what is akin to law enforcement operations.

And when President Trump spoke about this, adding that, quote, it's going to be a big thing for the people in this room because it's the enemy within, and we have to handle it before it gets out of control. And it won't get out of control once you get involved. That audience of generals and admirals, they were dead silent, according to the pool reports from inside the room.

There was some scattered laughter throughout Trump's remarks at some of the things that he said, some reaction to certain points, but at that point, there was complete and total silence. And that's because the military officials that we speak to, day in and day out, they understand how significant it is to even discuss the deployment of the U.S. military on U.S. soil.

[12:05:00]

Let alone actually deploy it on a regular basis, as President Trump has been doing over the last several months of his administration. Of course, we saw it in L.A. We saw it in D.C. We're going to see it in Portland. Secretary Hegseth announced on Sunday that he's calling 200 members of the Oregon National Guard into federal service, and we're possibly going to see it as well in Memphis and Chicago.

And so, this is something that President Trump has said is necessary to protect ICE facilities. But these military officials, of course, they have long been extremely wary of using the military in this way on U.S. soil, Dana.

BASH: And let's turn to the directives we heard from Secretary Hegseth, lay out the specifics of what he has announced today.

BERTRAND: Yeah, Dana. So, a lot of this had to do with fitness and grooming. As we reported, this was a speech that was largely about culture and warrior ethos, but he outlined roughly a dozen new initiatives that he is saying, that he is going to put into service at the Pentagon.

Combat standards are going to return to a uniform male standard. They're going to be age neutral and gender neutral. He said that they're going to be the highest standard, but the one that men have achieved, and that could affect women, of course, as well in the services.

He says that combat jobs, they must pass service fitness tests. They must do an army combat field test, they have to all -- every member of the joint force is required to meet height and weight requirements. And he says that he is banning beards, except for the special forces. But, you know, he also announced that there's going to be somewhat of an overhaul of accountability in the military, which I think is a really important piece of this.

He says that the inspector general's office is going to be overhauled, notable because, of course, he is under investigation by the inspector general, but also potentially removing some guard with -- guardrails, preventing against toxic leadership and inappropriate behavior by troops. So that's very significant as well.

BASH: And ending frivolous anonymous complaints, which is, noteworthy and leaves a lot of questions there. Natasha, thank you for your excellent reporting. Appreciate it. And I'm joined here by a terrific group of reporters, and I'm going to start with our own, Kristen Holmes, who covers the Trump administration. Can you take us behind the scenes and explain why this why now?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I mean, this is something that President Trump loves to do. I mean, this is -- he loves to be talking to the military. He loves talking as though he is the commander in chief, which he is. And this is something that he saw coming together and wanted to be a part of. I mean, one of the things that you hear President Trump talk about a lot when it comes to the military is those recruitment numbers. And he takes credit for that, but he also gives credit to Secretary Hegseth.

Hegseth has not been probably -- Trump has not had the most confidence in Hegseth that he hasn't had in some of his other secretaries. But one of the things that holds true is this idea of recruitment. Is this idea that Hegseth is good at talking to the troops and rallying the troops, and he truly does believe that. So, in this setting, President Trump likes to hear from Hegseth. Plus, he likes all the inflammatory stuff he says about not having any fat generals and doing all these and that stuff that Donald Trump likes to hear.

CARL HULSE, CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, THE NEW YORK TIMES: Literally shape up or ship out, right? That's what he was saying there today. I think there's going to be some real pushback from Congress on some of these things. You know, you're really limiting opportunities for women in the military. It sounds like, you know, there's women military veterans on Capitol Hill.

I also think, you know, there's been such a huge struggle with how to handle sexual harassment in the military over the years. I mean, we've watched this play out. It's really been hard, and this seemed to, you know, even be reversing the steps they have made there.

BASH: Right. When he says, ending frivolous, anonymous complaints. When you said, there's going to be pushback in Congress, I was trying not to laugh because--

HULSE: Well, I understand what you're saying.

BASH: --because we haven't seen a whole lot of pushback Republicans, like anything.

HULSE: Right. But I do think that -- and then the comments that Trump made on the training grounds in the city, sounds a little bit like a video game. And, you know, that's just a huge -- been a huge red line in this country, huge.

BASH: Yeah. OK. I do -- I want to get back to that in a second, but I do want to talk about women in the military. And Brianna, you know a lot about this, and I just want to give some stats and bring you in. Active-duty military members. This is as of 2023. Male is 82.3 percent, female is 17.7 percent. And then, if you break it down, women in active-duty military, this is as of 2023. Navy is little more than 20 percent, army little more than 15 percent, marine little more than nine, and air force and space force much higher at 21.4 percent.

[12:10:00]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Yep. A very well represented in the all- volunteer force here in the U.S. And, you know, talking to people who are military connected. And I've just been talking to them kind of in the course of the last several months, and especially a lot, over the last several hours, about some of the things that were said today.

One of the things we heard the secretary of defense say was that he doesn't want his son serving with troops who are out of shape or in combat units with females who can't meet the same Combat Arms physical standards as men.

And I think that a lot of people in the military may point out that that's not something that is broadly happening. I mean, we should just be clear. It's not like women are being waved into these Combat Arms positions, right? There are no female Navy SEALs. There still have not been. There have been some women who have made it into the ranks of the Green Berets, into Army Rangers, not many, and they can carry a comrade in arms on their back. And there's pictures of them doing it.

BASH: Meaning that they already are -- held to the same standard.

KEILAR: They are held to the same standard. Now that's not to say, in a more broad sense, there have not been some exceptions. But when we're talking about people who are in those kind of serious Combat Arms roles that I think sort of the layman listening to what Secretary Hegseth is saying, that's just to be very clear. They're not being weighed in to these positions.

So, I think knowing that one of the concerns that I'm hearing from a lot of people who have national security in mind is what is the message that is being sent to women? Clearly, they're a huge part of the military, and the expectation is they'll continue to be and that they need to be. It's not just, you know, they'll tell you. It's not just that it's a nice thing to have women in the military. It's that it's essential.

The vast majority of young Americans are disqualified from military service, or they have absolutely no interest in serving, and this military runs on volunteers. So, a lot of those people are women and they're essential for national security.

AYESHA RASCOE, NPR HOST, "WEEKEND EDITION SUNDAY" AND "UP FIRST": Yeah. I mean, I think that, you know, obviously Trump and Hegseth, their showman, they know how to put on a show. I always wonder though about, well, OK, what happens like, are you able -- you're able to put on a show but are you able to effectively direct the military and all of these very important things that need to be done.

And even though Trump is saying that, you know, going to these cities is preparation for the National Guard. Is there some sort of cost to having all of these military units deployed across the country, like basically helping clean up the national mall and things like that, like, what if there is an actual emergency? These are the questions that I have.

HOLMES: I just want to add one thing to what Brianna said. It's not as though the women that go into the military are asking for a different set of standards. I mean, most women who go into the military understand that there's a high bar to meet. It's not as though, you have all these women who are applying to go into the military and asking for leniency on this stuff.

They also want the same requirements that there are for other soldiers. So, I think this idea that, you know, as you said, it's very small, like minority that are people who are getting some kind of leniency, but the idea as a whole doesn't really make sense.

KEILAR: And there's barriers to retention as well that women face, that men don't face. I mean, the sexual assault numbers will tell you that as well, but also the type of combat that he is talking about, right? It really does evoke the global war on terror, and combat is shifting.

And if you talk to people in the national security sphere, they'll tell you that, we see all these stories about drone warfare, AI cyber. This isn't necessarily the same kind of warfare that you saw in Iraq and Afghanistan, and women are essential to that, just as are men. You know, smart people are essential to that, and that means women.

BASH: Such a good point. Brianna, thank you so much for joining us and giving us your reporting and expertise. Everyone else, stay with us. Coming up. The question is, no longer, will there be a shutdown? It seems. The question is, how long will it last? How damaging will it be? That's next.

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[12:15:00]

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BASH: The clock is ticking, where fewer than 12 hours from a government shutdown and Democrats and Republicans are talking past each other. Again, there's no sign of any sort of compromise to avoid that fate, the fate of a shutdown. This morning, President Trump reiterated that his administration may use a shutdown to fire more federal workers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President, if there is a shutdown, how many federal workers do you plan to lay off?

TRUMP: Well, we may do a lot, and that's only because of the Democrats. And as you know, they want to be able to take care of people that have come into our country illegally and no system can handle that. And so, we're totally opposed on that, but we can't take it. We just can't do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Just to be clear, we're not talking about a furlough. He's talking about actually firing some federal workers. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer rejected his claim on the Senate floor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): Too many Republicans are lying through their teeth. They say, oh, the Democrats want undocumented immigrants to get healthcare, to get the federal dollars of healthcare. That is utter bull, and they know it. The law, the law prohibits, undocumented immigrants from getting payments from Medicare, Medicaid or the ACA.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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BASH: Our panel is back at the table, including the 101st senator of the United States of America, Carl Hulse.

HULSE: I mean, it's hard to see a shutdown not happening now. I mean, for one thing, the House is not even here. The Democrats want something. So, I don't know how you would get out of this without a complete cave. The Democrats went through this in 2018 quickly withdrew. Those were different Democrats. These Democrats are very different now.

The people who, you know, they were trying to protect, who were in red states back then. Well, those seats don't exist anymore. So, I mean, this could -- this could go on for a while, if it gets there, and you know, there's so much going on, there are misleading claims about what the Democrats want.

And then, you know, the president last night put out a very provocative video after meeting with the Democratic leaders, I don't think that helped anything. One thing that's interesting about this to me is how much the Republicans are talking about how we need the government. I mean, it's the most embrace of the government. I have heard from him.

They think they have the Democrats in a tight spot, and they do. But I think the Democrats, they're looking at this going, well, Trump's firing federal workers anyway. They're not spending the money the way we're telling them to spend it. Why should we sign on for this?

BASH: Let's look at some of the numbers because there's a new poll out from your newspaper, The New York Times and Siena. Who would you blame for a government shutdown? Congressional Democrats 19 percent, Donald Trump and congressional GOP 26 percent. This is sort of telling both equally, 33 percent. So, a third of the people responding are like, you know, locks on all their houses.

RASCOE: I mean, this has happened so many times at this point, like there have been so many threats of a government shutdown. Sometimes it lasts for an hour. Sometimes it lasts longer. I think it's just a sign for a lot of Americans that, you know, that government is broken, right, like this.

And honestly, I don't know that any party has ever really paid a big price for shutdowns. We've lived through so many of them, and they've had different ramifications, but I have not seen really the political blow back to any shutdown for any party in my time, unless somebody remembers something that I don't well.

BASH: Yeah. I mean, the question is, how long it's going to take, assuming they do shutdown to get back and what they have to give. Carl mentioned 2018, let's go in the Inside Politics way back machine, and listen to what then President Trump said about the potential for a shutdown then.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I'll take it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, good.

TRUMP: You know what I'll say?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

TRUMP: If we don't get what we want, one way or the other, whether it's through you, through a military, through anything you want to call, I will shut down the government.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Isn't that what Democrats are saying right now.

HOLMES: I mean, yes, it's also kind of what President Trump is still saying. I mean, he's basically saying, well, because he's saying that, if we don't get -- you know, if you don't just sign on to what we're doing, we're going to shut the government down. He seems to have absolutely no hesitation on this.

I mean, if you see him talk about this, he continually says, I am willing to shut down the government, and that's not something that he is hiding from in any way. I mean, he really believes that he wants to get exactly what he wants, and he believes, despite the polling that shows those numbers are not in favor of the GOP, that he could win the messaging war and that he can blame this on Democrats, which to some extent his team--

HULSE: This teams play out weirdly, though you never quite know. The longer it goes on, the more angry people get. Lindsey Graham said to me and a couple reporters yesterday, this never plays out well for anybody, really, it's just doesn't.

BASH: OK. We're going to have to squeeze in a quick break. Don't hold that thought, because we'll get to it. Still ahead, the new poll that we talked about. Some of it, it gives new meaning to the phrase Teflon Trump. Plus, my exclusive conversation with Mitt Romney, what he privately told the Biden White House when Trump's indictments came down back in 2023.

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[12:25:00]

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BASH: It has been a dizzying year in Washington. It's hard to keep up with all the news coming out of the White House, even for those of us, maybe especially for those of us who do it for a living. A new poll out today, though from the New York Times and Siena College reveals the extraordinary amount of inertia in our political electorate right now, especially when it comes to the president of the United States.

Now, to be clear, the poll does show the president is not popular. His approval is at 43 percent, that's 11 points underwater. But that number is not budging. In the last New York Times poll in April, his approval was at 42 percent, 12 points underwater. We're going to get to that poll more in a minute, but the president of the United States, as mentioned, is taking questions about the shutdown and healthcare,

TRUMP: I think that's pretty much right, Albert, it's not you, but they'll go up to 18, and we'll come down from 135 or whatever, down to 18. I mean, that's a -- that's a massive number. Remember, I was the one that held a news conference because I lowered drug prices by one quarter of one percent. I think it was 1/8 of one percent, but it was the only one in 28 years that brought drug prices down for the year, but it was a very small number.