At Tuesday's hearing for Trump's unqualified nominee for Def Sec, Pete Hegseth, Missouri Republican Senator Eric Schmitt railed about DEI supposedly destroying "the competence in our military" before a sign with the word "military" spelled wrong.
January 15, 2025

Missouri Republican Senator Eric Schmitt railed about DEI supposedly destroying the competence in our military in front of a sign with the word military spelled wrong at this Tuesday's hearing for Trump's unqualified nominee for Def Sec, Pete Hegseth.

Maybe Schmitt should worry about the competence of his own staff before making a fool of himself like this:

One issue front and center at his confirmation hearing has been the aforementioned DEI, which Hegseth has promised to expunge at the Department of Defense. Republicans say that casting a wider net to ensure a more diverse workforce has led to unreadiness in the military, which they claim is run by “woke” generals.

During the hearing, Schmitt thanked Hegseth for his service before launching into a diatribe against DEI and the incompetence it has allegedly wrought.

“I also want to thank you for your clarity in articulating the vision you have for the Department of Defense and restoring an ethos, a warrior ethos, which is in stark contrast to the ethos we’ve seen in the last four years, which is of weakness and wokeness,” the senator said. “DEI, there’s been a little bit of discussion about this. But for those watching at home, DEI is not about giving everybody opportunity. It is rooted in cultural Marxism. The idea that you pit the room, any room with oppressor versus oppressed, it’s race essentialism, and it is poison.”

As Schmitt proceeded through his jeremiad about the state of the military – which included a misleading claim about the use of the terms “mom” and “dad” being frowned upon in the Air Force – a staffer cycled through placards on an easel meant to buttress the senator’s commentary.

At one point, the staffer revealed a sign reading, “DEI in our Miltary.”

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