5 Takeaways From the Trump and Hegseth Speeches to Military Leaders

RJ Hamster

5 Takeaways From the Trump and Hegseth Speeches to…

Read Online | October 1, 2025 | E-Paper | 🎧 Listen

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The Headlines

About 730 U.S. military generals, admirals, and senior enlisted troops attended a historic gathering at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia Tuesday to hear President Donald Trump and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth convey a shift in military culture. Here are five takeaways from the remarks by Trump and Hegseth.
The federal government shut down at 12:01 a.m. on Wednesday after Congress blocked a temporary budget bill.
The manufacturer of Tylenol was keeping tabs on research into the drug and neurodevelopmental issues such as autism, and concluded in 2018 that evidence of a link between them was becoming significant, according to newly disclosed documents.
World leaders are welcoming the U.S plan to end the Gaza conflict, unveiled by President Donald Trump and backed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
🍵 Health: Functional beverages promise more than energy. Here’s how to spot the good ones.

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Top Story

The U.S. Capitol building in Washington on Sept. 30, 2025. (Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times)

Federal Government Shuts Down After Senate Blocks GOP Funding Bill

The government has officially shut down after lawmakers on Tuesday evening adjourned early with no agreement on a funding bill.

Lawmakers will return on Wednesday at 10 a.m. ET.

Ahead of its adjournment, the Senate’s 55–45 vote in favor of advancing the package fell five short of the 60-vote filibuster threshold.

Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) and Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), who caucuses with Democrats, joined Republicans in voting for the bill. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who voted against the GOP funding bill when it last came before the Senate, flipped her vote in favor of the measure.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), the only Democrat to back passage of a Republican funding bill in March, voted against the bill. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) broke with his party and voted against the funding bill.

After the Senate failed to secure a supermajority for the White House-backed funding bill, White House Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought on Sept. 30 ordered federal officials to begin executing “their plans for an orderly shutdown.”

“Unfortunately, Democrat Senators are blocking passage of [a government funding extension] in the Senate due to Democrats’ insane policy demands, which include $1 trillion in new spending,” Vought said in the Tuesday evening memo to executive branch administrators.

Earlier this week, Vought directed agencies to prepare plans for layoffs in the event of a shutdown.

Ahead of the shutdown, a resolution sponsored by Democrats was rejected 47-53 along party lines.

Prior to the votes, representatives of each party said they wanted to avoid a shutdown and that their counterparts were responsible for the result.

Republicans sought a short-term extension of current spending levels to allow lawmakers time to finalize appropriations for 2026, while Democrats are refusing to back any continuing resolution that does not include changes to health care-related funding passed by Congress in the most recent budget bill. Both parties appear to believe public opinion is on their side. (More)

🏛️ Politics

President Donald Trump (R) greets U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth as he arrives to speak to senior military leaders at Marine Corps Base Quantico on September 30, 2025 in Quantico, Virginia. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

5 Takeaways From Trump and Hegseth’s Address to Military Leaders

About 730 U.S. military generals, admirals, and senior enlisted troops attended a historic gathering at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia on Tuesday to hear President Donald Trump and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth convey a shift in military culture under Trump’s leadership.

Here are five takeaways from Trump’s and Hegseth’s remarks.

Warrior Emphasis: The gathering of military leaders comes just weeks after the Trump administration rebranded the Department of Defense as the Department of War. In their addresses, Trump and Hegseth both referred to the renaming as a signal of a cultural shift in the military. Hegseth said the emphasis on war does not come from a desire for more war, but from the conclusion that strength can deter war in the first place.
Fitness, Grooming, and Training Standards: A focal point of Hegseth’s remarks centered on raising standards across the forces. “The new War Department golden rule is this: Do unto your unit as you would have done unto your own child’s unit,” he said. “Would you want him serving with fat or unfit or under-trained troops, or alongside people who can’t meet basic standards, or in a unit where standards were lowered so certain types of troops could make it in, in a unit where leaders were promoted for reasons other than merit, performance, and war-fighting? The answer is not just ‘No,’ it’s ‘Hell, no.’”
Ending ‘Woke’ Programs, Overhauling HR Practices: During his speech, Hegseth said that past leadership of the Department of Defense had turned it into the “Woke Department” through diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, efforts to appeal to the LGBT community, and attempts to adopt electric vehicles and other local carbon options across the military equipment fleets. “No more identity months, DEI offices, dudes in dresses. No more climate change worship. No more division, distraction, or gender delusions. No more debris,” Hegseth said. (More)

More Politics:

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A coalition of 11 Democrat-led states and the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit accusing the Trump administration of unlawfully slashing more than $233 million in anti-terrorism and emergency preparedness grants from so-called sanctuary jurisdictions.
President Trump said Harvard University would agree to open trade schools to provide instruction on artificial intelligence, engines, and other vocational programs as part of a proposed $500 million settlement for past events of anti-Semitism and discrimination.
President Trump’s future presidential library will be in Miami, next to the Freedom Tower, after a unanimous vote by the Florida Cabinet to transfer a parcel of land, his second son Eric Trump announced on Sept. 30.
The White House has withdrawn economist EJ Antoni’s nomination to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics, The Heritage Foundation confirmed to The Epoch Times.

🇺🇲 U.S.

Tylenol Maker Said in Internal Emails Evidence of Link to Autism ‘Starting to Feel Heavy’

The manufacturer of Tylenol was keeping tabs on research into the drug and neurodevelopmental issues such as autism, and concluded in 2018 that evidence of a link between them was becoming significant, according to newly disclosed documents.

In a Feb. 8, 2018, email obtained by The Epoch Times, Rachel Weinstein, director of epidemiology at Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Janssen, wrote, “The weight of evidence is starting to feel heavy to me.”

Weinstein was emailing Jesse Berlin, Johnson & Johnson’s global head of epidemiology, about a review that concluded that nine studies suggested that use of acetaminophen—the active ingredient in Tylenol—by pregnant women was linked to autism and other neurodevelopmental issues in the women’s children.

Weinstein said that Janssen had been discussing with a neurologist about how acetaminophen could be beneficial.

“But now we’ve added the studies in prenatal exposure and neurodev [sic] outcome,” she said.

Berlin wrote that he read the review and that “there appears to be some specificity of the association.” While he took issue with how some papers did not analyze other drugs, “at least one study looked separately at specific indications and the association didn’t go away,” he said.

Johnson & Johnson was the maker of Tylenol for years. In 2023, a newly created company called Kenvue took over the Tylenol brand and other consumer brands.

“These documents show we were doing exactly the right thing,” a spokesperson for Kenvue told The Epoch Times in an email. “We have continuously evaluated the science, and there is no credible evidence that taking acetaminophen causes autism.” (More)

More U.S. News:

The Drug Enforcement Administration arrested 670 individuals and seized nearly 77,000 kilograms of narcotics during a five-day operation targeting a Mexican drug trafficking organization.
American consumers grew less confident in September, according to a new report from The Conference Board, which showed sentiment deteriorating to its lowest point since April as assessments of job availability fell for the ninth straight month to a multiyear low.
Philadelphia raised the flag of communist China at City Hall on Sept. 30 despite criticism and protests from human rights activists and legislators.
The Department of Justice sued Minnesota and state officials over their sanctuary policies that limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.
Oklahoma lawmakers are working on a state-level Foreign Agent Registration Act, amid growing concerns about influence operations by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Louisiana has issued a criminal arrest warrant for a California doctor suspected of mailing abortion pills to a patient in the state, in violation of state law, officials confirmed Sept. 29.

🌎 World

World Leaders Welcome Trump’s Gaza Peace Plan

World leaders are welcoming the U.S plan to end the Gaza conflict, unveiled by President Donald Trump and backed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The foreign ministers of Qatar, Jordan, the UAE, Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt said in a joint statement that Trump’s initiative was sincere and said they were ready to work with Washington and other stakeholders to implement the agreement.

France, the UK, and Canada—countries that recently recognized a Palestinian state despite opposition from the United States and Israel—praised the plan.

The leaders of the European Union and Germany also expressed their support.

The 20-point plan, presented during a White House press conference with the Israeli leader, proposes an immediate end to the war, the withdrawal of Israeli forces to “the agreed upon line,” the release of all Israeli hostages, the release of Palestinian prisoners, and a major surge of humanitarian aid into Gaza, provided both sides agree.

Trump’s plan requires Hamas—the terrorist group behind the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel that killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and led to more than 250 Israelis being abducted—to surrender and disarm in exchange for an end to hostilities.

Hamas is studying the plan before issuing a formal response, according to The Associated Press.

Trump told reporters on Tuesday that Hamas has “about three or four days” to respond to the proposal.

“We’ll see how it is. All of the Arab countries are signed up. The Muslim countries are all signed up. Israel is all signed up,” he said. (More)

More World News:

The Trump administration wants Taiwan to move half of its semiconductor production to the United States, a move that could have an impact on the island nation’s self-defense against communist China’s military aggression.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has installed a new leader of its diplomatic arm, while remaining silent on the whereabouts of his predecessor, who has been missing from public view for over a month.
A Ukrainian man wanted in Germany over his alleged involvement in the explosions that ruptured the Nord Stream pipelines in 2022 has been detained in Poland, prosecutors said on Sept. 30.

☀️ Highlights

This photograph shows the wooden sailboat ‘Le Francais’ sailing off the bay of Saint-Jean de Luz, France, on Sept. 30, 2025. (Gaizka Iroz/AFP via Getty Images)

📸 Day in Photos: Trump Addresses Military Officers, Flooding in Spain, and Volcano Awakens in Ecuador (Look)

🇺🇲 American Thought Leaders: From Cultural Revolution to Cultural Revival: Spencer Klavan on ‘How to Save the West’ (Watch)

✍️ Opinion

Is China’s Digital Surveillance Technology Made in USA?—by James Gorrie (Read)
Micro Condos and Cookie-Cutter Developments Are Making Canadian Cities Uglier—by Riley Donovan (Read)
The United Nations Is Long Overdue for Sweeping Reforms—by Conrad Black (Read)
Where Are We on Economic Growth and Inflation?—by Jeffrey A. Tucker (Read)

💛 Inspiration: 10 Life Principles That Never Fail—From Ancient Times to Today (Read)

🎵 Music: Mozart – Divertimento No. 7 (Listen)

🍵 Health

(Illustration by The Epoch Times, Shutterstock)

There May Be a Postnatal Link Between Tylenol Use and Autism, Researcher Says

Recently, Tylenol use during pregnancy has been tied to autism risks, but one expert points to an additional concern.

William Parker, visiting scholar at the University of North Carolina and CEO of WPLab, who has been conducting research in autism for more than a decade, told The Epoch Times that while acetaminophen does present risks in pregnancy, a large body of evidence indicates the greater risk occurs when it is given postnatally.

When assessing autism risks from acetaminophen, most of the focus has been on use during pregnancy.

The scientific review cited in Monday’s press conference was conducted by researchers at Harvard, the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and other universities.

“We found evidence of an association between exposure to acetaminophen during pregnancy and increased incidence of neurodevelopmental disorders in children. This association is strongest when acetaminophen is taken for four weeks or longer,” Dr. Andrea Baccarelli, dean and professor of environmental health at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, wrote in a statement provided to The Epoch Times.

The research includes studies showing that the presence of acetaminophen in fetal stool and cord blood correlates with later diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

Brian Lee, a professor at Drexel University, told The Epoch Times that there are several observational studies showing an association, but he cautions that there are no studies that prove causation yet. “The best science to date indicates that acetaminophen use during pregnancy does not cause autism,” he said. (More)

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