The Media Research Center served as Trump Regime Media on behalf of Pete Hegseth in order to drag his nomination as secretary of defense across the finish line, and it has defended him ever since, no matter how stupid. Take, for example, Hegseth’s summoning of generals from around the world to Washington so he could berate them. Intern Isaac White huffed in a Sept. 28 post:
On Friday morning, Group Chat participants on CNN This Morning were rounded up to criticize President Trump and Secretary Hegseth’s military authority. This came after Hegseth made a rare move to summon all top U.S. military leadership to Virginia next week.
Sabrina Singh, a former Deputy Press Secretary at the Pentagon under Biden — CNN leaves out the Biden/Democrat part — accused the Republicans of politics: “These are officers that have served, some upwards of 30 years in the military, under different Presidents, both Democratic and Republican. […] They don’t serve at the pleasure of one person.”
All U.S. service members swear an oath to the U.S. Constitution. But the Constitution places them under the authority of the Commander-in-Chief, which is the President. And so long as the President doesn’t direct any of them to violate the Constitution and federal law, they are obliged to obey.
[…]There is unquestionably a legitimate reason to summon all of the U.S. military’s top officials to one location. And while Hegseth holding his cards close to his chest may be unsettling for many, that alone isn’t reason enough to cause “panic.” But, in all fairness, this came right after Putin’s aggressive wartime posturing and provocations towards NATO members. Time will tell.
For the berating itself, Craig Bannister served up a fit of stenography dutifully parroting Hegseth’s rants:
“Because this job is life and death, standards must be met,” Secretary of War Pete Hegseth told military leaders Tuesday, declaring an end to the radical liberal ideologies that have weakened and infected the nation’s armed services.
“No more identity months, DEI offices, dudes in dresses. No more climate change worship, no more division, distraction, or gender delusions,” Hegseth said. “As I have said before and will say again: we are done with that s**t.”
Then the whining resumed. Nicholas Fondacaro groused in his Sept. 30 hate-watch of “The View”:
Proving that they would literally oppose anything and everything that came from the Trump administration, the liberal ladies of ABC News’s The View collectively decried War Secretary Pete Hegseth’s desire for all military service members to be physically fit. On Tuesday, one called it “bizarre,” another called it a “very retro vision” of America’s military, while yet another whined about Hegseth “fat shaming” generals who let themselves go and were not leading my example.
[…]Faux conservative Alyssa Farah Griffin bellyached about Hegseth calling out some of the overweight generals she worked it when she worked in the Pentagon’s press office. Despite never actually serving in the military, Farah Griffin falsely claimed she “served” alongside those generals. Behar joined her in huffing about the “fat shaming” they received:
Jorge Bonilla grumbled:
ABC News has absolutely flipped their wig over what is commonly known as the “come to Pete” speech, delivered by the Secretary of War himself in front of the nation’s top military brass assembled at Marine Corps Base Quantico (VA). So much so that for a moment, correspondent Martha Raddatz seemed to forget Secretary Hegseth’s actual job.
[…]The first thing that immediately pops to mind is the effort made at World News Tonight to avoid uttering the words “Secretary of War.” Thus, Pete Hegseth is referred to as “Secretary Hegseth” or “Hegseth.” Both of which are fine once viewers are told what he is the secretary of. But it appears that ABC would rather gag than say “Secretary of War.”
The next is Martha Raddatz derisively referring to Secretary Hegseth as “former weekend Fox and Friends” host”, as if Hegseth had delivered his speech from the curvy couch. Now that he is the Senate-confirmed Secretary, what purpose is there to deemphasizing Hegseth in this way, except petty protest?
The rest of the story is basically Raddatz emoting with every basic proposal laid out by Hegseth- whether on weight standards or physical training or anything else. How dare this Secretary of an indeterminate department set standards for the people under his charge! Whether on weight, physical fitness or anything else, Raddatz has some whiny little aside.
The course correction was long overdue and the American people voted for it. You couldn’t tell this is the case from watching legacy media accounts.
Mark Finkelstein insisted that an MSNBC panelist told a “blatant lie” in claming that Hegseth’s “woke” military “does not and never has existed,” referring to Hegseth’s description of such as “identity months, DEI offices, dudes in dresses”:
Identity Months: Check! Before Hegseth abolished them, the US military used official resources to host celebrations and events for: National African American/Black History Month, Women’s History Month, Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, Pride Month, National Hispanic Heritage Month, National Disability Employment Awareness Month, and National American Indian Heritage Month.
DEI Offices: Check! Before President Trump issued an Executive Order ending them, there were DEI offices and programs throughout the military, employing as many as 188 people. Every branch of the military had a DEI office. In 2021, the Air Force was the first to create one, pursuant to the orders of then Secretary of the Air Force–Frank Kendall.
As reported by Fox News, in 2023, The Air Force was looking for a “supervisory diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility officer for Air Force headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, which will pay anywhere from $155,700 to $183,500 per year.” The person who fills this position will serve as a “first-level supervisor” who will direct employees assigned to the Air Force’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion. Similar positions were being filled across the country.
Other DEI efforts before the Trump administration ended them included mandatory seminars for cadets in military academies that included “structures of white power” and “white rage.”
[…]Dudes in Dresses: Check! For example, view the photo here of members of the military’s LGBTQ organization posing with the then-Secretary of Defense Ash Carter at the end of Obama’s second term. Shown are biological men in skirts, and biological women dressed as men.
Why is Finkelstein so obsessed with “dudes in dresses”? Is there something you’d like to share with the class, Mark?