The Straight Dope
Pete Hegseth finally found straits he could protect: White male ones. While the military he oversees is attempting to remove the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, Hegseth is managing a military blockade of personnel within his department. And somehow, this is happening in a time of war. But, apparently, no battle matters as much to Hegseth as the one against diversity. “Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fired Gen. Randy George, the Army’s chief of staff, on Thursday, a move that reflects growing hostility between Mr. Hegseth and the Army’s leadership … The tension with Mr. Hegseth was not rooted in substantive differences over the direction of the Army, military officials said. Rather it is the product of Mr. Hegseth’s long-running grievances with the Army, battles over personnel and his troubled relationship with Army Secretary Daniel P. Driscoll … Mr. Hegseth has also clashed in recent months with General George and Mr. Driscoll over the defense secretary’s decision to block the promotion of four Army officers to be one-star generals. Two of the officers targeted by Mr. Hegseth are Black and two are women on a promotion list that consisted of 29 other officers, most of whom are white men.” This is not the headline you want to see in a time of war: Hegseth Fires Army Chief Amid Battle With Its Leaders. The Pentagon chief, who has earned the nickname Dumb McNamara, is now firing wildly qualified military leaders for their insistence on promoting other wildly qualified military leaders. Maybe it makes sense Hegseth changed his agency’s name to the Dept of War, because there’s no defense for the way he’s running it.
+ DEI Another Day: “Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has taken steps to block or delay promotions for more than a dozen Black and female senior officers across all four branches of the military, some of whom are seen as having been targeted because of their race, gender or perceived affiliation with Biden administration policies or officials, according to nine U.S. officials familiar with the process.” NBC: Hegseth has intervened in military promotions for more than a dozen senior officers.
+ “Hegseth began his tenure by acting against what he sees as a Pentagon infested with DEI hires. He pushed for the removal of the then–chairman of the Joint Chiefs, C. Q. Brown, who is Black, and he fired a raft of female military leaders, replacing them all with men. But dumping the Army chief of staff in the middle of a war, without explanation, is a reckless move even by Hegseth’s standards … Trump and Hegseth have been on a clear mission to politicize the U.S. military, and to turn it into an armed extension of the MAGA movement. Hegseth regularly proselytizes, both for Trump and for his right-wing evangelical beliefs, from the Pentagon podium.” Tom Nichols: Hegseth’s War on America’s Military.
+ This would all be bad in a time of peace. It’s much worse during a war, a point hammered home by the latest news from the Gulf. “Iran shot down a U.S. fighter jet over the country, the first time that has occurred in five weeks of war, and American forces were rushing to find and rescue its two crew members. The loss of the F-15E jet and the rescue efforts, reported by Iranian media and confirmed by U.S. and Israeli officials, create a military and diplomatic challenge for the United States. President Trump has threatened in recent days to bombard Iran ‘back to the Stone Ages,’ and over the past 24 hours, the United States and Iran have been trading attacks on military and civilian infrastructure in the region.” As I’m writing, one of the American fighter pilots has been rescued. Here’s the latest from the NYT and NBC.
