In highlighting one possible problem with the U.S. military, one Fox News host ended up exposing another one that is even more troubling.
According to the Fox News Channel’s Tucker Carlson, “the Department of Defense [DOD] has never been more aggressively or openly political.”
DOD “smites” Carlson
Carlson made that remark – that the DOD has never been more openly political – following an attack that the DOD actually led on Carlson.
This week, the DOD published an article titled, “Press Secretary Smites Fox Host That Dissed Diversity in U.S. Military,” referring to Carlson.
The article states: “a Fox cable show host used his show to denigrate the contributions of women in the military and to say the Chinese military is catching up to the U.S. military because it does not allow women to serve in the percentage the United States does.”
The article quotes Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby as saying, “I want to be very clear right up front, that the diversity of our military is one of our greatest strengths.” Apparently, that was the “smiting.”
Background
What Carlson actually said, on a recent edition of “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” was this:
So we’ve got new hairstyles and maternity flight suits. Pregnant women are going to fight our wars. It’s a mockery of the U.S. military. While China’s military becomes more masculine, as it’s assembled the world’s largest navy, our military needs to become more feminine — whatever feminine means anymore, because men and women no longer exist. The bottom line is it’s out of control. The Pentagon is going along with it. This is a mockery of the U.S. military and its core mission, which is winning wars.
Carlson, here, was commenting upon a statement that President Joe Biden made on International Women’s Day. Biden was talking about the advancement of women in the military, and at one point he said that some of the stuff that needs to be done includes “designing body armor that fits women properly; tailoring combat uniforms for women; creating maternity flight suits; updating — updating requirements for their hairstyles.”
The DOD went after Carlson claiming that he was “dissing” women and diversity. But, Carlson wasn’t “dissing” either. Rather, Carlson was making the point that perhaps the U.S. military will have trouble keeping up with China if it is worried about such things as “updating requirements for their hairstyles.” It’s a legitimate point.
The follow-up
The DOD gave Carlson an opportunity to make another legitimate point by attacking him with that hit piece.
Carlson did so, saying, “The Department of Defense has never been more aggressively or openly political.” He added: “Since when does the Pentagon declare war on a domestic news operation? Can’t remember that ever happening.”
If launching attacks on television news personalities is the way of the future for the DOD, then we’re in even more trouble than Carlson initially suggested.