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Pete Hegseth warns Europe faces 'invasion' of 'dangerous ideologies' at D-Day

newsJun 6, 2026685,051

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned at D-Day commemorations in Normandy that Europe faces an 'invasion' of 'dangerous ideologies' arriving by sea. Speaking at the Normandy American Cemetery, Hegseth said European beaches are being 'stormed' by those ideologies and urged European capitals to take action. He framed irregular seaborne migration as a security threat tied to political and cultural influence rather than solely a humanitarian issue. The comments recast migration as a transatlantic security concern and could intensify debate over border policies and U.S.-European cooperation.

Dan Lamothe
@danlamothe.bsky.social

Hegseth at Normandy: "Sadly, today, different European beaches are stormed by different dangerous ideologies. Beaches in Spain and Italy and Greece and Bulgaria. Boats and men arrive. When will European capitals do something about that invasion? Or is it too late? I pray not, and I believe not."

14453d ago
Fi 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Independence For Scotland! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿730

I can’t think of any occasion where such words would be more inappropriate. The Trump admin has no respect for people who gave their lives while serving their country. My husband is ex-Royal Navy. He served on board nuclear missile submarines. Hegseth has no idea what service members sacrifice.

Dan Lamothe471

This per the traveling press pool report

daughterofwitches.bsky.social262

His parents owe the world a HUGE apology.

🏳️‍⚧️Loweredlifted203

He does realize that if refugees on boats are like Normandy, that means he's calling Europe Nazis (& thinks that is good), right?

jtunes6.bsky.social99

There’s a dangerous ideology that just landed at Normandy and Pete is speaking for it now. It’s called fascism. Oh the irony…

Scott FitzGerald88

Hegseth literally aligning himself with the Nazis... "we must resist the people storming our beaches".

jackson henry79

did he just um, equate American soldiers to immigrants, who he hates? what a weird pee-pants moron.

Frank Huisingh56

The locals were very right in protesting his visit. bsky.app/profile/libe...

catscratch53

I think it is way past time this man, and others of that "administration", are banned from traveling to Europe.

Lizzie O'Leary39

Wait seriously? This is real?

One True Sentence34

What were the original ‘dangerous ideologies’ that stormed the beaches (or is he as illiterate as he is bigoted)?

Brian M. Wise: Snarkasaurus Rex. Ω, MFers.33

That's... weird. Like didn't D-Day involve Americans STORMING the beaches of fascist strongholds to free the countries from fascist murderers? Isn't Kegsbreath supposed to be, you know, on the side of the people going IN? Not the losers who murdered 10 million Jews?

That's Montgomery Clift, Honey30

He might as well just say "Hitler was right" (which he obviously believes) and be done with it.

Kat Benjamin25

As I wrote elsewhere, he's right. MAGA ideology, Christian Nationalist ideology, and Neo-Nazi ideology are all serious threats.

Roger O'Rama 🇺🇦 🐸24

All those guys who died on the beaches so he can spew this evil bullshit like some Temu Goebbels? The total disrespect to the veterans is disgusting.

Just_LookingK23

WTAF? 🤬 These hateful fools should be banned from other countries for their inciting of hatred 😡 F that nonsense ✋🏻

Mark Zohar21

Beyond utter disgust for his rancid racism, I have this one question for Hegseth: “Who do you think stormed the beaches on D-Day?”

mabilica 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🇪🇦19

He thinks the wrong side won the war.

A Man Has No Name 🇺🇦18

Absolutely repulsive. D-Day soldiers were fighting against this exact thing.

MB Brown16

Revolting. What a hateful individual he is.

Scott Craig Cigars15

What a piece of white Christian nationalist shit.

Doktor Nikolaus Kuno Freiherr von Knatter14

As a German, I am very grateful that the Allies liberated Germany from a "Führer" who transformed the state into a fascist regime, cultivated a terrible cult of personality around himself, and constantly spread hatred, anti-Semitism, and racism, while despising democracy. Thank you!

Josh14

Comparing D day to border migration is a helluva thing for the head of the military to say ...

Psywarrior14

It's hard to believe a full on White Christian Nationalist is in charge of the military. Does he realize we actually fought white supremacists or is he thinking Normandy was to remember the Nazis who died at the battle?

Michelle Germann13

All I’d love is one normal day like we used to have.

Peter Butler12

It sounds like he's saying that dark-skinned people are invading Europe to kill light-skinned people

amackenz2028.bsky.social12

Everything he writes sounds like an eighth grader trying to sound "deep".

Michael Markman12

Now that Orbán has been vanquished, the most threatening ideologies to Europe (and the rest of the world) are Trumpism and Hegsethism. I hope that Europe has the will and the fortitude to repel the invaders.

Bean, the Malkavian -- Anti-FishMalk12

"Sadly, today, different European beaches are stormed by different dangerous ideologies." Yeah, no shit, Hegseth. They let you in. Hard to get a more "dangerous ideology" than MAGA.

Hilary Wollis12

They don’t have to be invited to speak at such events. Everyone knows the remarks will be accusatory, fascist exaggerations. Take away their microphone.

Carl S. Ergo Sum11

Make that fucker walk the cemeteries of Normandy to see how many people gave their lives to stop people like him.

👀11

He’s obsessed with the idea of invasion in Europe. Unless it’s Russia of course, who have actually invaded a country, killed thousands of civilians and stolen Ukrainian children.

H R Pickens11

I forget. Which side at Normandy was obsessed with preserving the racial purity of their nation?

Facelifts are ugly, pass it on11

Written like a super racist 4th grader

Ian B. Bautista10

Hegseth’s White-supremacist xenophobia is gross.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯10

Uh, did someone fail to tell Pete that the boats on D-Day were the good guys? He won't let a poorly done metaphor get in the way of doing a racism on a solemn occasion.

🇺🇸 Larry Herbison ❌👑 🇬🇱10

Xenophobic moron. The history of the world is about migration. That's how we became who we are. If we restrict who future people can be, we guarantee entrenched hatred and conflict

Caveman Fella10

Could they create any more reasons for the whole world to hate America?

Lauren Merry Vale (they/she)9

Absolutely disgusting. A total disgrace. I have SO many revenge fantasies about these motherf*ckers I swear to god 🤬 💀

Interesting Times9

"When will European capitals do something about that invasion?" Does he realize he's implying that they should have done something about D-Day? And that the US was an invader? What a truly stupid person.

I should probably just shut up9

So wait, the Allies brought "dangerous ideologies" to Nazi-occupied France? Given who Hegseth is, that totally tracks.

Michael J. Steudeman9

so in this metaphor, the people arriving on the beaches are the baddies. And the Nazis were good guys. Do I have that right?

Big Brain9

It’s really stunning to watch almost everyone in a presidential administration act with no shame and then be treated by much of the press with a shrug and a pass on the depravity. Really stunning.

Wendy M. A. Darling9

Not enough bad things can happen to Pete Hegseth, and they can’t happen soon enough.

Steve 9

I swear I thought this was the Onion at first.

Dr Robin8

Two of Trump’s wives were immigrants and I’m not so sure that last one came here legally. Do they even listen to themselves?

Diamond Life8

Maybe if the United States stops blowing up people in the Middle East and the Russians stop destabilizing African countries there wouldn’t be as much immigration. And don’t get me started on Cuba and Venezuela. This hypocrisy exhibited by the head of the department of war truly rings hollow.

Cwnidog7

He probably thinks that the wrong side won.

Happening Again7

Hegseth at the D-Day anniversary talking like a fascist Disgusting. Hair raisingly disgusting

Ellin Stein7

What is going through that alcohol-addled brain? That the Allies were storming the beaches to promote a dangerous ideology (democracy, presumably)? That European capitals should have repelled them? That unarmed immigrants are the same as the world's biggest amphibious fighting force?

elaine7

Awful and disgusting speech. Remembering that Hegseth was barred from his National Guard deployment to secure Biden's inauguration after he was flagged as a potential insider threat.

crispy7

Someone should ask him to explain the lack of logic behind his abhorrent and ignorant statement. Not that it would make a difference to that hateful ghoul.

Mark Brandriss7

Beaches in Spain and Italy and Greece? Sounds like he's really angry about British holiday travelers. I think he's overreacting.

James Bottomley7

He literally would have been on the Nazi side at D Day.

Passing Strange At Present7

I cannot begin to express my rage at this person (clearly, not a man) and his weaponization of ignorance, cruelty, racism, misogyny, et cetera, et nauseam. Yet he insults and disparages our actual allies, from WW2 to the present.

Alison Denham6

Every time he opens his mouth he confirms his stupidity.

Kamitorrorga6

Get this culture war BS out of earshot of the graves of liberators! What an insufferable pissant.

massholio.bsky.social6

He’s a disgrace to the memory of the men who stormed those beaches. He’s completely clueless that those beaches were stormed to defeat HIS ideology.

Johann S 🇨🇮🇺🇦 ⬅️6

US can’t even hold its own against Iranian speedboats these days. Let alone take an Iranian beach. Wherever Ike is now, would really like to hear his opinion.

toastfuker 6

What does he think the original dangerous ideology was?

Debbie Coffee6

Weren't the beaches of Normandy stormed by the good guys...led by the Americans?

Gail and Jasper6

He has no idea that the people are being displaced by the American bombings and Israeli actions. What a bellend he is.

🇲🇽🇨🇦🇺🇦 💪🏼👊🏼6

This man has absolutely no idea of history and zero respect for it. He just wants to spew his Christian Nationalism wherever he goes. It’s sickening.

Grand Sophy5

"Men arrive." Do the women and children who arrive upset his narrative, and therefore must be ignored?

Rebel Scum5

He would straight up slam the door in Mary and Joseph’s face if they were looking for shelter.

X&der5

Why in gods name is heghead even talking about immigrants at normandy????

Peter NL 🇪🇺5

People arrive in boats due to wars that destabilized the Middle East… and how started these wars again? So what ideology should we fear? Those who create wars perhaps?

Gary Carter #FBPE 🇬🇧5

5 million Indians volunteered to fight for Britain in WW2. Some of their descendants now live in the U.K. Man’s an idiot.

Beverly Mann5

Yes, always special to have a US Sec'y of Defense conflate the German military invasions of European countries with migrants, since the similarities include militaries complete with bomber planes and military tanks, and actual takeovers of the invaded country's government.

Tony Jones5

Someone better tell him - his side LOST.

Cantankerous Kelly5

Translation: The USA has become the axis.

Sandra5

"Sadly, today different South American waters, & a different Iranian country is being stormed by the same different dangerous ideology that we fought when we stormed the beaches at Normandy. Even as we speak we are threatening a wave of future invasions targeting Cuba and Greenland. When will the/2

PhotonPainter5

Someone shut that fuck up.

T. Boone Doggle5

Christ almighty. I think I liked the “old days” when Trump worried about his hair getting wet and about Justin Trudeau making him look like a pussy.

Ashigaru Spearman5

What idiot invited him to speak? I expect a nazi to do nazi shit. Stop giving them the opportunities!!

Mike Leake5

How despicable do you have to be to use the anniversary of the UK-US-Canadian-Polish-French (plus others) invasion to make a prejudiced political point?

happyrumrunner.bsky.social5

sometimes I *hope* he's drunk

Prosediva5

What a vile and repulsive thing to say. May this pos walk into the sea. An utter humiliation.

Lynn Hughes5

Why does the Trump administration think it has the answer to everything when their own country is such a shitshow at the moment? They should just be laughed at, publically and very loudly

US Asunder5

20 years NATO countries sent troops to die in Afghanistan. Don't focus on his White Christian Nationalist agenda... The ultimate objective, is to justify betraying the NATO agreement... in order for Trump is paying his debt to Putin.

(CMDR) Alan Crowe5

He is suggesting that the allied forces that stormed the beaches 82 years ago represented a dangerous ideology. The ideology they represented was liberty. A dangerous ideology if you are part of the Trump regime.

The (not so) Secret Customs Broker5

Only a small part of it, but; Bulgaria? Are refugees really crossing 1000km of The Black Sea in small boats in order to get to Varna or Burgas?

AgnesOfTheDogs5

I'm not sure I could despise Hegseth more

dredecopp.bsky.social4

Canada had enough of that rhetoric back during our 2015 election: www.ctvnews.ca/canada/artic...

Dave N.4

What a racist piece of shit. Fuck anyone who still supports this bullshit and fuck the media for normalizing this behavior.

Mike in MT4

A failed National Guard civil affairs major lecturing about invasions and soldiering...

ordinary-observer.bsky.social4

Both Russia & also the USA are using the same (as it's called in Russia) "political technologies" to sew divisions in European societies. They're actively trying to enflame hostilities between the political right (fascists) and the far-left, thus hollowing out the pro-EU & pro-unity political center

Mike Billips4

He’s just cribbing from “Homelander” at this point.

Janny4

Is he talking about himself and his dangerous bullshit?

John Kapitzky4

What a black eye for the United States to have Hegseth

Gordon: Snark0-terr0rist4

Makes no sense on any level. The allies were not claiming asylum! Wtf!!!

Malcolm RF 💚🇳🇿4

D-day was an invasion by bad guys, is what I'm hearing.

CV54804

The old line about problems with Yanks: Overpaid, over-sexed and over here.

Cerulean Man 🐝 🏳️‍🌈 🌹 🐶4

Drunk man-child says what? Zero respect for the day or the dead. I hate him with all my heart - decent Americans must be mortified.

Autumn4

The only thing that dude prays to is his own reflection.

Mark Bare4

Disgrace to the fallen buried there

Lecohonah14

From Europe: Can you guys please 86 this Nazi idiot?

emduwel.bsky.social4

Yes, not least because we were (ahem) the invaders. And our dangerous ideology was democracy—not all that different from the aspirations of many of the people in the boats. Except the fact that they are desperate.

Billy Birdman, D.O.3

What a piece of shit

jay-croft.bsky.social3

Who the heck is storming the beaches of the Black Sea?

johangrills.bsky.social3

My god he's a cretin.

grollen3

If only by 'do something' he meant take more decisive action to mitigate anthropogenic climate disruption and the costs which will continue to fall disproportionately upon the global East/South or address the enduring legacies of colonialism ...

Jonno3

Hegseth views dday as a tragedy not a triumph

joschein.bsky.social3

D Day is a day of mourning for him.

Womble19583

Shut up Hegseth you pathetic plastic Christian 🤡🤮

Annette3

They should ever be allowed to speak again. They are not fit for decent company.

Hank G3

Someone had been reading The Camp of Saints too much recently…

virgotex3

IF, by some freaky glitch of space/time, William the Conqueror found himself on the beach w/Hegseth, he'd probably slap the snot right out of him. Soviet Union: ~24–27 million China: ~15–20 million deaths Germany: ~5.3–7.4 million deaths Poland: ~6 million deaths Japan: ~2.5–3.1 million

Zora O'Neill3

Horrific. May these neo-Nazis all die an early death.

Dale Chapman3

Let's bracket the thing for a second where he formulates an analogy that makes the Allies the bad guys of WW2 He also claims "dangerous ideologies" drive the "invasion," as if it's 2003 and we're pretending that every migrant from the region is a Wahabi sect terrorist bent on our annihilation

Sarah Boo3

What I don’t understand is if you really hate immigrants coming to America, you would think you would be happy that they are going to Europe. I know they value whiteness uber alles, but they also have made clear they don’t care about Europe’s security or prosperity so why do they care?

WhiteUnderbabiedAmericanCat3

stand back everybody. Pete hegseth is praying. Give him some room. F’ing douche

Sonia3

Yeah. They're full of Americans.

MaryinMn3

I pray that the people of America wake up and realize that our country is fast becoming what we once feared. Our "leaders" have no place in polite society.

Goonerby2

That there is a cunt.

Mark Streich 2

Hegseth would have been on the side of the Nazis.

Daughter of an Immigrant2

Who is the audience for this?

#FBPE. DMs will be ignored.2

History will record Hegseth as a... what was that name again? Hegseth you say. Never heard of him.

Corrinamadcity2

I just can't with him...

Kris Morris2

Can someone just Luigi this guy already?

O Douglas Price2

So, storming the beaches at Normandy was a bad thing?

MH2

The Secretary of Hair never fails to meet the moment.

Anna Murray2

Such a disgusting lack of respect to the service people he was supposed to be commemorating ...... 😥

AnnieGTMD2

Nothing more dangerous than a hyperreligious dumbass

@BohunkHusker2

#FuckHegseth , his white power tattoos, his multiple wives, his drunken frat boy b*******, his pathetic military service, his 14 children from three wives, and his grifting taking them on a family trip to France on #taxpayer dollars. I mean if the whole f****** Administration is doing it. Why not?

fermat15.bsky.social2

It’s utterly disgraceful that he used the sacred ground of Normandy to make such comments.

Totally Valid Handle2

So sorry, Europe. We are trying.

Junkanoo 🇯🇲2

The real question is “why are they showing up on your beaches already fluent in your language?”

amickj.bsky.social2

So the US military are the bad guys in this example? Or are the migrants the good guys?

mdemone2

Somebody needs to put this guy on a fucking boat, and then blow it up

Scott Horton
@robertscotthorton.bsky.social

Hegseth, at D-Day event, offers praise for fascism and repeats its most cherished messages, saying Europe faces 'invasion' of dangerous ideologies and dark-skinned peoples reut.rs/4oaVJtf

2503d ago
Michael B Lehrhoff33

Hegseth detests DEI and people of color. Just like Nazi Germany. In fact, Hitler and Göring refused to believe the massive bomber production - one every 63 minutes - out of Detroit's Willow Run plant, because so many of the workers were black, female and disabled. Those bombers buried their Reich.

missthesmith.bsky.social22

Does he know that D-Day marks the beginning of the end of white supremacists in Europe? Someone should tell him.

Hold My Beer ❌👑🐸🇲🇽🇨🇦22

I can't even believe what we're witnessing right now, in the year 2026.

TheOriginalMizD18

Another embarrassment for the U S…

stuart1945.bsky.social14

Oh look here are some of those dark skinned problems that came to Europe in 1944. They came to fight Fascist, you know, their ANTIFA. The people Hegseth and Trump hate, being Fascists them selves.

kdr-0137.bsky.social10

I find listening to Hegseth exhausting. His cadence is unlike anything I’ve heard before. It’s as if he has a thesaurus in his head that searches for the the most bombastic and truculent word for whatever he’s trying to say. But there is this slight delay that gives off this weird and odd vibe.

George the Cat9

WTAF is wrong with Hegseth and MAGA republicans? Racist, thieving, corrupt cult 🤬

Craig Carlisle8

Such an absolutely vile, unqualified, drunk on power and booze, racist, sexist, homophobic sociopathic asshat.

Hypothetical Truth8

I wrote this when I was just getting started, and I apologize for the amateur editing. Getting tired of this, but let me remind you. He was never a Military leader. He is a disgraced National Guard Major. substack.com/@hypotruths/...

iwalkthetalk.bsky.social7

He is supported by the millions of religious wingnuts who are the Christian Republican Cult. They live a 'faith-based' life and are easily conned. Their leaders are fraudsters-writ-large, who should be behind bars. That is the heart of the cult. America has been captured by them. This must end.

durhamgal.bsky.social5

Why was he allowed to speak!

Don Comer3

Spent a week in London never been there before took the Tube all over & walked miles poking around. Had a great time. Some want us scared of the cosmopolitan mix jostling, bustling, scurrying the full cast of characters not tribal enough for comfort but it filled me with hope.

Jill Houlbrook3

He shows contempt for all who fell and those who came home changed forever. He has made it quite plain that the American government is a danger to us all. Fascism and hate comes not from Europe but from across the Atlantic. Wake up Britain.

ByrneBabyByrne3

Never has the quote “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it,” been more true. This roided out miscreant should not be a representative of our armed forces. It can only be hoped that he faces a Nuremberg-type trial in the future.

Adelle Loiselle3

I’m wondering if judges in European courts could simply impose an injunction against his arrival? Border officials deny entry into their jurisdiction all the time to ordinary people all the time. He’s support for a criminal organization should be disqualifying

Joseph S. Harrington2

I repeat myself when I say that calling desperate migrants "invaders" is like calling shipwrecked people "pirates" for trying to board a passing vessel. So utterly inappropriate, insensitive, and STUPID.

Julia Dilliard💙🐴🇺🇦#Resist. DM's are blocked.2

Disgusting. Absolutely shameful. A D-Day event to remember the tremendous sacrifices of Americans at Normandy & elsewhere & he parrots the same fascist bs that our soldiers were fighting.😡

www.koolschrankpress.com2

Of course he is ignorant of the fact that America was a bit tardy joining the Allies in the only 2 world wars it didn't start.

John M. Murphy2

Says the guy who reports to Bonespurs, the "suckers and losers" guy.

bcmom24.bsky.social2

Gawdalmighty! Europe -- world -- I'm sorry. SMH in embarassment and shame.

Scotland2

Hegseth is a complete psycho,even he knows it.

Honest Man2

Hegseth's end will come with a prison cell.

Seabird2

Fail. Europeans are sensitive about fascism they might even eviscerate him. What an embarrassment.

Sky Bloo 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿2

Who invited a #Nazi to a D-Day commemoration?

Rebecca Joy Bingham2

“Honorable” is doing some heavy lifting in that title.

robertjeff57-58.bsky.social2

Hegseth is a friggin moron

Yari no Yūsha ⚛️2

Hegseth is a god damn Nazi piece of fucking shit.

Patricia2

They should ban him from ever stepping foot in Europe.

Hedy Lamarr 2

US War Criminal Disrupts D-Day Memorial in Europe With Fascist Rhetoric Hegseth marks D-Day in France with sharp words for Europe on migration & defense spending www.yahoo.com/news/politic...

Bryan Marchese2

Honorable my fucking ass. Bitch you were kicked out the guard you weekend warrior Gomer Pyle ass fuck.

Keith Pentz2

No one seems to ever discuss the “white” invasion that created so many issues for persons now seeking opportunity in the areas that first invaded…as a generational member of that Northern European community that committed the atrocities, I have to actively strive to find corrective opportunities

LouFromBoston2

This day should also be referred to as Anti Fascism Day. A government that criticizes “Antifa” (in principle) is revealing their cards; they believe in fascism. This is Trump and Heritage Foundation.

Kathy Mortensen 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ 🇺🇦🇺🇸 🖇 🐸 💙 🌵 🏊‍♀️ 🛶
@kathyswords.bsky.social

In the D Day memorial, what is being a distorted as Hegseth tells Europe to stop "civilization erasure" & to curb immigration? What does that mean? Who gets included in the vision of civilization being protected, and who feels excluded from protection and justice? #proudblue #pinks

Pete Hegseth standing in front of enlisted recruits in suit and tie.on a stage with a blue/purple power point behind him with his title
1193d ago
3 sources