Most veterans are horrified the words even have to be uttered, but apparently, nothing’s off limits under President Joe Biden’s radical excuse for Pentagon leadership.
“DRAG SHOWS HAVE NO PLACE IN OUR MILITARY,” Rep. Mark Alford, R-Mo., tweeted in all caps—not for the first time. “How many times do we have to say it?”
Several, it appears. But thanks to House and Senate Republicans, the GOP is doing more than saying it. They’re fighting it.
In the first major showdown over Biden’s wildly woke policy, conservatives came out swinging with amendments to gut the extreme ideology infecting our ranks.
“I think it’s time for us to do something, to make our voice known that … we will not let this happen in the U.S. military,” Alford insisted during the House Armed Services Committee’s mark-up session for the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA.
“Woke ideology [has] no place in our military. Zero. Bupkis. That’s not the way to recruit.”
Of course, if you asked Army Secretary Christine Wormuth (who said last October that she wasn’t even sure “what ‘woke’ means”), she’d tell you that it isn’t the radicalization of the military that’s hurting recruitment—it’s the people pointing out the radicalization of the military who are.
“That drip, drip, drip of criticism about a ‘woke’ military is having some counterproductive effects on recruiting, Wormuth said. ” … We are a ready Army, not a ‘woke’ Army.”
Call it what you want, Republicans say, but whatever it is, it’s incapable of finding and retaining good men and women to serve.
“We’ve reached a critical point, a critical juncture in our nation’s history,” Alford told Family Research Council President Tony Perkins on “Washington Watch.”
“With recruitment falling, [we missed] our mark in the Army by 25% last year,” the Missouri Republican said. “The Navy [is] just barely meeting its goal. The Marines did meet their goal. But as we’re facing this [persistent] threat from communist China, we need every able-bodied American who wants to sign up to be in our military to do so. Only 9% of Americans, young people, want to join the military.”
And there’s a reason for that, Alford continued:
We’ve lost a sense of patriotism in our country. But also the woke indoctrination of our young people is creeping into our military. The drag shows that we’re seeing on naval asset ships and on military bases, and also [these] digital ambassadors [who are] trying to recruit people into the military who agree with their woke lifestyle. We need to put an end to that. And last Wednesday, I’m proud to say I was part of a team of Republicans who did something about it.
One reporter characterized what the GOP did as “tak[ing] a buzzsaw to wokeness in the military.” With a slew of amendments on the House and Senate side, Republicans defunded or outright purged Biden’s outrageous changes from the Trump era.
Together with fellow House Republicans Jim Banks of Indiana, Matt Gaetz of Florida, and Michael Waltz of Florida, and even Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., Alford took direct aim at some of the president’s worst cultural offenses. Under the language adopted, the GOP is one step closer to:
- Deciding Defense Department positions on merit and “equal opportunity,” not the Democrats’ phony notions of “equity.”
- Killing the Navy’s controversial “digital ambassador” program, which used the salacious posts of Petty Officer 2nd Class Joshua Kelly (stage name Harpy Daniels) to help with recruitment.
- Banning drag shows and Drag Queen Story Hours on military bases.
- Cutting the political position of DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) chief at the Defense Department.
- Banning taxpayer funding for critical race theory at U.S. service academies.
“These things together are going to work in concert to try to restore some sanity back to the process,” Alford explained, “and, in return, get young people interested in joining the military again.”
The bipartisan bills now head to the House and Senate floor for passage.
Alford talked about how his office was inundated after the news broke that the Navy was using a half-naked drag queen to promote the military to young people.
“When this story came out,” Alford told Perkins, “I had people in our district—veterans, fathers, and grandfathers—call our office and say, ‘Hey, I am not going to encourage my grandson or son or daughter or granddaughter to be in the military, because it has gotten way out of hand.’”
. . . . (read more on the Daily Signal)
Also see: What Military People are Saying: Evidence DEI/CRT hurts recruiting
Leave a Comment