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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Richard Luscombe

Pete Hegseth criticized for body-shaming Canadian cadets: ‘Literally they’re kids’

A man stands with his hands clasped in front of him and looking down.
Pete Hegseth attends a ceremony at the Pentagon in Washington DC, on 27 July 2026. Photograph: Annabelle Gordon/AFP/Getty Images

A social media post by Pete Hegseth, the US secretary of defense, body-shaming female members of a Canadian youth development program remained online on Wednesday despite a furious backlash on both sides of the border.

On Monday night, Hegseth posted on X a photograph of two people in uniform with a Canadian flag and the caption “this is real”, an apparent attempt at mocking the country’s armed forces amid the Trump administration’s trade spat with its northern neighbor.

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