The Pentagon appears to be at war, but with the wrong “enemy.” The Department of Defense launched a PR offensive on "Tucker Carlson Tonight" after the Fox News host warned viewers this week about the U.S. military’s preoccupation with gender and diversity, even as China—a real adversary—is increasing its military might and placing an emphasis on the masculinization of its society.
“Pentagon brass issued hostile statements. People in uniform sent out videos on social media,” Carlson said Thursday night in response. “The DOD even issued a news release attacking us: "Press Secretary Smites Fox Host". (Smites! Like we’re a hostile foreign power.) We suspect this is one war they might actually win. They’ve got a manpower advantage.”
"I want to be very clear right up front, that the diversity of our military is one of our greatest strengths.... What we absolutely won't do is take personnel advice from a talk show host or the Chinese military.” -@PentagonPresSec https://t.co/cQooUm529d
— Navy Chief of Information (@chinfo) March 12, 2021
"I want to be very clear right up front, that the diversity of our military is one of our greatest strengths," Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby said in a news conference earlier in the day. "I've seen it for myself in long months at sea and in the combat waged by our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. I've seen it up on Capitol Hill just this past month. And I see it every day here right at the Pentagon."
Kirby said the military won't be taking “personnel advice” from someone like Carlson or the Chinese military. “Maybe those folks feel like they have something to prove — that's on them. We know we're the greatest military in the world today and even for all the things we need to improve, we know exactly why that's so."
Carlson said that while he could show plenty of tapes from the Pentagon’s reaction to his show, the issues with the U.S. military are far greater than a feud between them.
The Department of Defense has never been more aggressively or openly political. There are, at present, 2,500 American troops stationed in Afghanistan. They remain there to prevent the fall of Kabul to extremists. Simultaneously, there are 5,000 troops in our own Capitol, also as protection against "extremists," meaning people who voted for the losing candidate in the last election. Judging by those numbers, the Pentagon is twice as focused on controlling our own citizens as it is on controlling the Taliban.
Meanwhile, as Lloyd Austin hyperventilates about White supremacy, there are real threats out there, and the biggest ones continue to be ignored. Those threats aren’t in Syria or suburban Virginia, and they’re not domestic extremism, at least not right now.
The main threat we face, as everyone who is honest knows, is the government of China. China is ascendant. Their economy will soon outpace ours. China now has the largest navy on the planet. Why do they have that? Why did they feel the need to build it? Does that have potential consequences for us? Yes.
If China moved against Taiwan, how would we respond? More likely, if the Chinese decided to close international shipping lanes, it would cripple our economy. If they decided to shut down our internet, it would bring our life to a halt. If they decided to occupy Malaysia, that would be a grave concern to the world. If any of these things, or 100 other things that might take place, actually happen, what exactly would our Pentagon do about it? Can the U.S. military still win a real war? (Fox News)
Those are the real questions the Pentagon should be focusing on, Carlson argued, because they're the only ones that are important, "which may be why Joe Biden wants to talk about maternity flight suits."