Trump's Defense Secretary Pick Claims Inclusiveness in the Military a 'Marxist' Trick

Trump's pick to head the nation's Defense Department, Pete Hegseth, claims that abolishing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and allowing LGBTQ+ troops to serve openly was a "Marxist" ploy to re-engineer the military and destroy combat readiness in the U.S. Armed Forces by prioritizing some sort of "social justice" agenda.

"In his 2024 book 'The War on Warriors' and in subsequent media promotions this year, Hegseth described both the original 'don't ask, don't tell' (DADT) policy and its repeal in 2011 as a 'gateway' and a 'camouflage' for broader cultural changes that he claims have undermined military cohesion and effectiveness," CNN said.

His claims include the idea that the military has been socially reformatted in order to put women in combat roles so that female warriors can be featured on recruitment posters. In 2015, when Barack Obama was still president, CNN recalled, Hegseth went on Fox News with the claim that "through 'don't ask, don't tell' and women in the military and these standards, they're going to inevitably start to erode standards because they want that one female special operator, that one female Green Beret, that one female Army Ranger, that one female Navy SEAL."

Confusingly, however, Hegseth also seems to believe that qualified individuals ought to be allowed to serve their country in uniform in whatever capacity their talents allow – at least, if they are straight, cisgender women.

"In private discussions with senators," CNN noted, "Hegseth has also indicated he is not against women serving in combat roles so long as they meet a standard set for all warfighters."

Moreover, CNN reported, "a Trump transition spokesperson" had this to say of the nominee: "Bottom line: If you can meet the standards, you can serve."

"But given the threats we face, our priorities shouldn't be lowering standards and wasting taxpayer money to meet arbitrary social quotas – our priorities should be readiness and lethality."

But when it comes to LGBTQ+ patriots, however, that doesn't seem to be the "bottom line" Hegseth promotes. In his book, he recalls the moment that DADT – the policy adopted under President Bill Clinton that allowed queer servicemembers to remain in uniform as long as they kept their true gender identities and sexual orientations to themselves – was repealed, opening the way for queer troops to serve openly without fear of being ejected from the military.

"We mostly laughed it off and moved on," CNN quoted Hegseth writing. "America was at war. Gays and lesbians were already serving in the military. I had seen the enemy with my own eyes. We needed everybody."

That pragmatic view has now evidently been supplanted by an anti-LGBTQ+ take, as well as one that demonizes people with a more liberal worldview; wrote Hegeseth, "I naïvely believed that's what ending Don't Ask Don't Tell was all about."

"Once again, our good faith was used against us. The Left never gives an inch, and always takes a mile."

The comments are only the latest twist in a tortured path to confirmation to the post. As The New York Times has noted, the nominee has been dogged by "allegations... of sexual assault, sexual impropriety in the workplace, public drunkenness and fiscal mismanagement."

"Hegseth has been outspoken about what he calls 'woke' policies that he believes have undermined the US military," CNN reported, "including allowing women to serve in combat roles and transgender members to serve openly."

"Hegseth writes these changes are the consequence of the 'social justice tinkering' that started with DADT."

Unsurprisingly, "Hegseth in his book does not reference any specific examples of incidents to support his argument that gay individuals openly serving has been detrimental to the military," CNN observed.

Additionally, Hegseth seems to gloss over the fact that no decline in morale or combat readiness has been attributed to the end of "DADT" and the full integration and acceptance of LGBTQ+ troops. If anything, the military struggles to find recruits who are capable of passing the basic physical fitness requirements, which military publication The Citadel has called "a national security crisis."

Moreover, Americans simply don't seem very interested in signing up for a career in uniform. As reported by Military.com, "The military took a variety of innovative approaches to inspire young Americans to join up [in 2023], including reviving the Army's 1980s slogan 'Be All You Can Be,' the Air Force loosening prior tattoo and drug testing policies, and the Navy rolling out record-high financial incentives up to $140,000. But those efforts ultimately did not push the services over the line of their recruitment goals."

If Hegseth has ideas about boosting recruitment – whether of straights, gays, men, or women – they have not made it to media reports.

CNN recalled that last summer Hegseth told Ben Shapiro on Shapiro's podcast, "Now you just have the absurdity of 'I have two mommies and I'm so proud to show them that I can wear the uniform too.'"

Seemingly not understanding what Marxism is, or what Marxists believe, Hegseth added that integrating LGBTQ+ people into the military (and their children, it would seem) is "just like everything else the Marxists and the leftists have done. At first it was camouflaged nicely and now they're just, they're just open about it."