Fox News host Tucker Carlson’s riff on how China is making their young men more masculine while President Joe Biden is focusing on inclusivity for women has sparked anger from progressives in the military and from some military leaders.
Carlson on Tuesday evening noted the Chinese Ministry of Education in January released a proposal to cultivate students’ masculinity amid a Chinese military buildup.
Carlson then played a clip of Biden from earlier this week, where he introduced two female generals he approved for promotion and he talked about the many things the U.S. military is doing to make it more accommodating to women such as designing body armor for females, creating flight suits for pregnant women, and updating requirements for their hairstyles.
“Some of it is going to take an intensity of purpose and mission to really change the culture and habits that really cause women to leave the military,” Biden said.
Carlson said:
So we’ve got new hairstyles and maternity flight suits. Pregnant women are going to fight our wars. It’s a mockery of the U.S. military. While China’s military become more masculine as it’s assembled the world’s largest navy, our military needs to become — as Joe Biden says, more feminine, whatever feminine means anymore, since men and women no longer exist. The bottom line is, it’s out of control, and the Pentagon is going along with this. Again, this is a mockery of the U.S. military and its core mission, which is winning wars.
Progressives serving in the military expressed outrage on Twitter, calling for Fox News to no longer be played on military installations. Some called on military leaders to weigh in.
The Army’s senior enlisted leader tweeted:
Women lead our most lethal units with character. They will dominate ANY future battlefield we’re called to fight on. @TuckerCarlson’s words are divisive, don’t reflect our values. We have THE MOST professional, educated, agile, and strongest NCO Corps in the world.
The Army’s commander for its Training and Doctrine Command, Gen. Paul E. Funk II, also tweeted, “Let’s be clear…women make our military stronger.”
Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby also commented on the uproar over Carlson’s segment Thursday.
“What we absolutely won’t do is take personnel advice from a talk show host,” he said during an off-camera, on-the-record gaggle with reporters.
Later Thursday, Carlson tweeted that he plans to respond tonight at 8 p.m. Eastern.
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