Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has launched a campaign against facial hair in the US military, declaring "no more beards, long hair, superficial individual expression" in a speech at Quantico, Virginia.
The policy extends to weight, with Hegseth calling it "tiring" to look at "fat troops."
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Hegseth's fixation on grooming standards may stem from a personal humiliation in 2018, when as a Fox News host he was forced to shave his vacation beard live on air after viewer complaints.
"A man without a beard is like a lion without a mane," a fan commiserated, to which Hegseth wailed in agreement.
According to a CNN report, Hegseth recently had a "meltdown" after boarding a navy ship and noticing multiple sailors with beards, wondering if his policies were being ignored.
The defense secretary now sports a clean-shaven look himself.
Observers link Hegseth's grooming obsession to a broader trend within the Trump administration: the aestheticization of politics.
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Trump has long enforced a particular look among his staff, from specific clothing choices to cosmetic procedures that create "Mar-a-Lago face."
Trump once rejected Nikki Haley for secretary of state due to her complexion, calling himself a "skin man."
He has also sent subordinates ill-fitting shoes, which Marco Rubio was seen wearing despite them being too large.
Walter Benjamin's essay "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" noted that "the logical outcome of fascism is an aestheticisation of political life."
From MAGA hats to uniform appearances, Trump's politics have become a branded spectacle.
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Hegseth, a former Fox News host with little military experience, may be too incompetent to end the Iran war, but his crusade against stubble continues unabated.
