Nobody’s prefect! Republicans demand DEI out of ‘Miltary’ and miss typo in display at confirmation hearings
During defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth’s confirmation hearing on Tuesday, Republican lawmakers were so focused on three specific letters — DEI — that they forgot to correctly spell the word “military” on one of their visual aids.
An AP photographer snapped a photo of a board sitting just behind Republican Senator Eric Schmitt and Republican Senator Ted Budd with the title “DEI in our Miltary.”
That’s right, “Miltary,” not “Military.”
The oversight was likely just a lack of quality control on the part of a senatorial staffer and hardly the most important issue of the hearing, which saw Democrats and Republicans in a tense back and forth over Hegseth’s qualifications, values, and the various allegations surrounding his behavior.
During the hearing, Schmitt complained about DEI initiatives in the military, which he called “race essentialism,” — essentially arguing that the military was more concerned about a member’s race than their aptitude for service.
“DEI is not about giving everybody opportunity,” Schmitt said. “It is rooted in cultural Marxism, the idea that gets the room, any room with oppressor versus oppressed. It’s race essentialism, and it is poison.”
Hegseth agreed with Schmitt’s take.
“You have to tear out DEI and CRT initiatives root and branch from institutions,” Hegseth said. “Then you have to put in Army, Navy, and Air Force secretaries and others, civilian positions, at the helm who are committed to the same priorities that the president of the United States is, and if confirmed, the secretary of defense will be. Send a clear message that this is not a time for equity.”
CRT — Critical Race Theory — is an academic lens used for examining society, and isn’t typically something that would be implemented in military education.
Schmitt agreed nonetheless, saying he backed Hegseth’s opinion” 100 percent.”
The Independent has requested comment from Schmitt’s office.
Democrats pointed out that Hegseth had previously complained about the military allegedly lowering its standards to accommodate women, and argued that by confirming him to Secretary of Defense they would essentially be lowering the bar for the position.
“Do you think that the way to raise the minimum standards of the people who serve us is to lower the standards of the Secretary of Defense?” Senator Gary Peters asked Hegseth after asking Hegseth what the highest number of people he’d ever managed was.
Hegseth said the highest number of people he’d ever been in charge of was a few hundred while he served as a company commander in the military. As Secretary of State, he would oversee the more than 2.86 million active duty military members, and his decisions could affect not only every American but people across the globe.
