Virginia Democratic Senator Tim Kaine called out Republicans after noticing they misspelled "military" in their presentation griping about "DEI" during the Senate confirmation hearing of former Fox News host Pete Hegseth for the Secretary of Defense position, which would put him in charge of the nation's armed forces.
Missouri Republican Senator Eric Schmitt used the hearing as an opportunity to rail against diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives that the GOP has argued are discriminatory and try to address racial discrimination by disadvantaging other groups, particularly white Americans.
Schmitt praised Hegseth—an Army National Guard veteran who a Defense Department official said would not meet the qualifications for even a much lower-level position—before launching into his rant:
“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."
"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.”
And yet for all his complaints about "wokeness" and his apparent desire to reform the military he claims to care about so much, Schmitt spoke in front of a sign reading, “DEI in our Miltary.”
You can see it below.
C-SPAN
And this did not get past Kaine, who quickly called this out in a post on X:
"GOP members complaining about reduction of military standards while using a chart that misspells the word military!"
You can see his post below.
The criticism came hard and fast.
If confirmed by the Senate, Hegseth could act on Trump's campaign promises to remove generals he claims are pushing progressive diversity policies within the military—policies that many conservatives oppose.
This could put Hegseth at odds with Air Force General C.Q. Brown, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and a seasoned fighter pilot with extensive command experience in the Pacific and Middle East, whom Hegseth has criticized for "pursuing the radical positions of left-wing politicians."
Despite limited management experience, Hegseth would oversee 1.3 million active-duty service members and nearly 1 million civilian military employees. Trump, announcing his pick, said that "with Pete at the helm, America's enemies are on notice - Our Military will be Great Again, and America will Never Back Down."
