Pete Hegseth Confirmed as Defense Secretary

Which thread should we reply to?

 

But good enough for government work

 

Air Force Begins Dismantling DEI Programming

 

LOL at people who are terrified about replacing our generals, given our generals.

 

Did he say something terrible that I missed? He's a mouthpiece much more than anything else, and he showed it here, but I don't think he said anything absurd.

 

Dude said nothing.... "we are going to think outside the box"...."definition of insanity is doing the same thing" (he didnt say it correctly)... "unique and dynamic problem solving"..."creative solutions"... "looking at all option on the table"... "complex and high level"

What a joke of a team.

 

While I strongly oppose any programs that give preference based on race, gender or ethnicity Trump's war on DEI has gone way too far. DEI like CRT is a vague term that hasn't really been defined. I suspect his motivation is based on two factors. First it's an appeal to his low information supporters who believe that they may have been or could be victimized by preferential hiring or promotion practices and secondly, it's also personal with Trump. I suspect that he still resents that he and his father were defendants in the largest housing discrimination case in history and that they were forced into agreeing to a large settlement.

I would add that I saw an interview with a retired general who defended DEI programs at the service academies and elsewhere in the military. Paraphrasing him, the US military has the largest most diverse workforce of any employer in the world. Effectively managing diverse subordinates (soldiers, airmen and sailors) is a matter of readiness. The goal of DEI in the military isn't to compensate for a history of prior discrimination it's to ensure the effectiveness of the military.

I would concede that there probably have been some instances in which less qualified individuals were promoted or place in positions for which they were not the most qualified. That being said they were few and far between. Those situations should never occur and a good argument could be made the focus should be ensuring that they do not. Trump's EO and the directives implementing it from Hegseth and other Trump appointees go far beyond fixing the problem and in the end could cause more albeit different problems than those that they are supposedly trying to remedy.