Trump Administration Injects Even More Bigotry Into The US Military

Failures

from the make-America-segregated-again dept

Trump claims to love the military. Of course, he loves himself even more. And he tends to view those injured, killed, or captured by enemy forces as “suckers” and “losers.” He also considers people who volunteer to serve this country as idiots, since the idea of self-sacrifice for the greater good is the antithesis of cutthroat capitalism, where only zero sum deals are acceptable.

But he’ll wave the flag, hug the flag, hold military parades on his birthday, and otherwise pretend to be the most patriotic of Americans, when he’s really just the most Trump in a long line of Trumps.

Whatever perceived failures America might have can be fixed by the art of the deal dude, if his internal delusions are to be believed. Surely the problem isn’t the nation’s inability to sincerely address its shortcomings. No, the problems are all “democrat” things, like diversity, equitable treatment, respect for other people, and tolerance of ideas that might clash with our subjective beliefs.

Trump’s return to office has ushered in a new era of revisionist history. It’s simply not enough for the alleged Leader of the Free World to suggest the liberals have us all wrong. He must write his version of history into the permanent record, whether it’s by allowing military bases to reclaim their Confederate warlord names or by insisting national parks be more blindly patriotic, rather than dispassionately presenting historical facts to visitors.

Pete Hegseth — Fox New contributor and alleged sexual harasser — now heads the military. So far, he’s having trouble commanding any respect, especially since he seems to view any covert military actions as chatroom fodder. Worse, he’s seemingly incapable of admitting any wrongdoing, much less taking personal responsibility for his errors. Hegseth says a lot of stupid shit about “lethality” but fails to understand the thing that makes the military work is its high level of personal accountability, something plenty of cop shops who cosplay as soldiers also fail to comprehend.

Those failures aside, what’s happening now is only going to make the military worse. And it’s going to further damage a relationship with the nation as a whole that is already well on its way to “irreparable” thanks to Trump, Hegseth, and pretty much everyone in the current administration.

While this administration is certainly hateful enough to desire a steady separation of black people from government paychecks, it’s too cowardly to start providing separate bathrooms and water fountains for non-whites. Instead, it’s going to do shady shit like this, which comes with enough implausible deniability the administration will never truly be held accountable for its not-so-on-the-sly bigotry.

The Army is preparing to roll out a new policy that could lead to soldiers diagnosed with a chronic skin condition that causes painful razor bumps and scarring to be kicked out of the service — an issue that disproportionately affects Black men.

The new guidance, expected to take effect in the coming weeks, would bar permanent shaving waivers and require medical personnel to craft formal treatment plans for affected troops, according to multiple service officials and internal documents reviewed by Military.com.

Soldiers in need of prolonged waivers may be directed to get laser treatments. Those who need shaving exemptions for more than 12 months over a two-year period could be kicked out of the Army. 

These waivers — which were created for the purpose of retaining more soldiers, especially the group that makes up nearly 25% of new recruits. People identifying as white have steadily abandoned the armed forces, dropping from 44,000 recruits in 2018 to just over 25,000 as of two years ago.

As Military.com points out, the shaving exemption was created to retain black soldiers back in the early 1970s. And while the government will be offering laser treatment, these treatments can lead to permanent scarring and/or changes in skin pigmentation.

The other argument — that trimmed beards prevent proper gas mask/respirator use — is also bullshit:

[A] 2021 study from Military Medicine, a peer-reviewed medical journal, found there’s no conclusive evidence that a well-groomed, modest beard interferes with mask function.

The only excuse offered for this transparently racist mandate by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth sounds like the sort of thing uttered by a stock redneck character written by the laziest of hacks:

“We kicked out good soldiers for having naked women tattooed on their arms,” Hegseth said in a March statement criticizing what he characterized as bad policy decisions by past administrations. “And today we are relaxing the standards on shaving, dreadlocks, man buns, and straight-up obesity. Piece by piece, the standard had to go — because of equity.”

When men were men and had naked women on their arms and mudflaps, says the SecDef born in 1980. “Because of equity,” says the guy who managed to land a top government job because he looked semi-sober during Fox News broadcasts and, coincidentally, had actually spent some time in the military.

But it’s not just black people Hegseth wants vanished from the military, if not history itself. It’s also gay people. No one anywhere was crying out for this supposed wrong to be righted, but here’s Johnny on the Spot doing it anyway:

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered the Navy to take the rare step of renaming a ship, one that bears the name of a gay rights icon, documents and sources show.

Military.com reviewed a memorandum from the Office of the Secretary of the Navy — the official who holds the power to name Navy ships — that showed the sea service had come up with rollout plans for the renaming of the oiler ship USNS Harvey Milk.

A defense official confirmed that the Navy was making preparations to strip the ship of its name but noted that Navy Secretary John Phelan was ordered to do so by Hegseth. The official also said that the timing of the announcement — occurring during Pride month — was intentional.

Yep, everything about this sounds exactly like Hegseth and the Trump Administration, from the wholly unnecessary renaming of ship that no one had said anything about for nearly a decade to the issuing of the mandate during Pride month because otherwise people might think this is just casual bigotry, rather than deliberately targeted, maximally cruel bigotry.

This isn’t a one-off either. Hegseth wants more ships renamed. Can you guess why?

The documents obtained by CBS News also show other vessels named after prominent leaders are also on the Navy’s renaming “recommended list.” 

Among them are the USNS Thurgood Marshall, USNS Ruth Bader Ginsburg, USNS Harriet Tubman, USNS Dolores Huerta, USNS Lucy Stone, USNS Cesar Chavez and USNS Medgar Evers. 

These are the actions of the people “leading” this nation. This is how they behave — like tyrants and bullies, rather than public servants or, you know, actual leaders. It’s a multi-trillion dollar circle jerk attended by every frat boy, himbo, bimbo, and substance abuser willing to hitch their wagon to Trump’s delusions of grandeur. Unfortunately for the people who actually make America great, we’re not only expected to cover the tab, but live in a nation that’s becoming increasingly hostile to most of the people who reside in it.

Filed Under: army, bigotry, dei, erasing history, harvey milk, hatred, homophobia, navy, racism, trump administration