Hegseth Should Resign​
Resign, Pete.
Pete Hegseth’s time as Secretary of Defense has been marked by a march from meritocracy to mediocrity. Let’s review the evidence below:
The Evidence
01
Dumbing down the Academies
​
Prioritizing physical fitness and marksmanship over academics
Air Force Academy drops “educate” from mission statement
Shutting down clubs for women and people of color
02
Pentagon banned attendance at think tank conferences​
03
Army made combat medicine, law of war, and code of conduct training optional, removed resilience training entirely
04
Canceled the effective Women, Peace, and Security program ​
05
Trump to interview 4-star candidates, placing loyalty above competence​​
06
Ended Command Assessment Programs
A four-day-long in-person assessment of command candidates for the first time tested senior leaders alongside a large group of their peers, with consistent standards. Some failed basic evaluations that their records showed they had passed… More importantly, these programs exposed toxic leaders and those who lacked the maturity or judgment for command. Those who had slipped through thanks to the “old boys’ network” were found out and de-selected. The program has proven so successful that it was expanded to other levels and recommended for other services. The “old boys’ network” is back in charge.​
Gender and racial preferences. Meritocracy means choosing the best person regardless of personal characteristics. But for Hegseth, straight white men should get affirmative action. That means:
Marginalizing
Women
-
Disbanded DACOWITS, other teams removing barriers
-
Senior military women leaders fired
-
Jen Easterly, accomplished woman veteran with lengthy resume, fired from West Point job
-
Army plans to close Army Women’s Museum
-
Ending travel policy for abortion care
-
Air Force brings back unnecessary flight restrictions on pregnant crew members
-
Reports that sexual assault response and prevention programs are being marginalized, staff reduced
-
New rules to counter “false accusations” will discourage reporting of sexual assault
Marginalizing
People of Color
-
Removing sites honoring military women and people of color
-
Sergeants Major Academy students banned from writing about women or minorities
-
Stop recruiting and supporting Black Engineer Awards
-
Ordered review of shaving waivers – mostly affecting Black service members; Army ends permanent shaving waivers
-
Reinstating Confederate monument
-
Reversing base names
Marginalizing LGBTQ+ People
-
​Proven-effective transgender service members discharged despite lower court wins, denied earned benefits
-
Pentagon strips name of USNS Harvey Milk during Pride Month, is reconsidering ships named after veterans Medgar Evers, Harriet Tubman, and others.
In Service to His Radical Religious Beliefs...
-
Women should submit to men, not be in leadership over them
Women don’t belong in military combat roles
-
Voting rights for women should be repealed
-
Slavery had benefits for both Black and white Americans
We’re not opposed to him having personal beliefs; we’re opposed to him imposing his religion on the troops under his command:
Sponsored prayer services in the Pentagon featuring pastors opposed to women in leadership
Social media posts in support of his church​
As if that wasn’t enough, he fails the basic tests of character and integrity:
Overall Lawlessness
-
Firing top lawyers in DOD
​Exposing classified info on unauthorized channels/ Signalgate
Hegseth supports deployment to US cities against Americans
Hegseth paid $50k to woman who accused him of sexual assault
Hegseth “Deus Vult” tattoo linked to white supremacists
Overall Incompetence
Incompetent leadership leading to losing his staff
Lack of respect from the troops
​Trump’s Jun 15 “birthday parade” cost $30-$40M and required 6,700 soldiers, causing canceled training and cuts to funding for moldy barracks… and was a failure.
Every day that Pete Hegseth is in charge, our military gets weaker.
​
He must resign.
