File photo: US President Donald Trump (Picture credit: AP)

US President Donald Trump referenced a racial slur while speaking to top US military leaders during a speech at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia on Tuesday, drawing attention for his unusual choice of words.During the 72-minute address, Trump said he had “moved a submarine or two over to the coast of Russia” in response to nuclear threats issued by Russian official Dmitry Medvedev earlier this year.He then warned that the word “nuclear” should not be casually used, saying, “We can’t let people throw around that word. I call it the ‘N-word.’ There are two N-words, and you can’t use either of them.”Trump has used this formulation previously. In June, he posted on Truth Social that Medvedev had been “casually throwing around the ‘N-word’ (Nuclear!)” while discussing the potential supply of nuclear warheads to Iran.In August, Trump said he ordered two nuclear submarines to be positioned in response to Russia’s threats, describing them as a precautionary measure.The comments, apparently intended humorously by the president, were met with near silence from hundreds of generals and admirals gathered at Quantico, in an event convened by secretary of war Pete Hegseth.Trump also spoke about changes being considered at the Pentagon, including his stated intention to rename the department of defense to the department of war, and emphasised that the United States now possesses more advanced nuclear capabilities than Russia, which he said the US hopes never to have to use.The remarks occurred against the backdrop of heightened US-Russia tensions. Nato recently reiterated its commitment to defend member states against threats from Russia, while Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov warned of decisive retaliation to any aggression.Trump’s address also touched on broader military reforms, including efforts to remove political correctness from the armed forces, a context in which Hegseth defended his dismissal of several senior officers, including Gen Charles Q Brown Jr, Adm Lisa Franchetti and Vice Adm Shoshana Chatfield.