Sorry for what probably is a really original headline.
Anyway, as widely reported, Secretary of Manly Wars and Tough-Guy Stuff, Pete Hegseth, has been striking a disproportionate number of females and Blacks from military promotion lists.
As Hegseth proclaimed at an April 29, 2026 House Armed Services Committee hearing, “When they need to be removed in order to ensure we have the right leadership in those services, I will make those calls regardless of what you may say from the dais.”
Who does Secretary Hegseth think is the “right leadership”? I suppose a snarky answer would be, “Just look at his tattoos,” but that might be a bit unfair. Still, from the disproportionate impact his cuts have had on women and minority officers, it’s pretty clear that he thinks that, with very few exceptions, the right stuff is the white stuff, as long as the white stuff is male.
You may ask, what about the white guys whom he has cut from the lists? And what about General Christopher T. Donahue, a “rising star” and genuine war fighter, whom Hegseth recently forced into early retirement (for as-yet undisclosed reasons)?
Those are fair questions. Maybe they were too woke. Maybe they supported the notion that the US should follow basic principles of international law in its military conduct, such as the quaint notion that the military should not engage in things like the extra-judicial killing of alleged drug runners. Maybe they were the kind of old-fashioned military officers who actually believe that the military should abide by norms and legal limits on military involvement in domestic policing and political matters. Maybe they just can do more pull ups and pushups than tough-guy Pete.
On those grounds–especially, the last one–a lot of white guys would be in trouble, because, well Pete, I’ve seen your pull ups, and they suck.