Another Sign of the Apocalypse - The Right's Attack on the Military
The right wing's attack on the military demonstrate that these are peculiar times.
We know that we are living in mighty strange times.
One of the surest signs is the right-wing’s persistent denigration of the US military.
Before the current freefall of the right’s morals and ethics highlighted (or lowlighted depending on how you look at it) by the rabid love for the former president, our military and law enforcement were two of the most hallowed groups in the reactionary pantheon.
Now, they are dispensable and open to attack and criticism. Law enforcement’s turn came on January 6 when the usual “law and order” crowd chanted “F—k The Blue” while storming and desecrating the Capitol.
Once the military broke ranks with the former president on key issues, they opened themselves up for criticism and ridicule, which is ongoing and palpable.
Some examples:
Tucker Carlson, who is always front and center for these kinds of attacks, has made several disparaging comments. He criticized the military for tailoring women’s combat uniforms by calling them “maternity flight suits,” and going on to say that
“While China’s military becomes more masculine as it's assembled the world’s largest navy, our military, as Joe Biden says, needs to become 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 it. Again, this is a mockery of the U.S. military and its core mission, which is winning wars.”
When current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley argued that the military was not pushing troops to accept Critical Race Theory, Carlson called him “a pig” and “stupid.”
He also accused the Pentagon of transporting illegal aliens from an Air Force base in Texas.
Right-wing writer Daniel Greenfield has written a pamphlet entitled “Disloyal: How The American Brass is Betraying Our Country.” The pamphlet’s description reads in part:
“The disturbing portraits of America’s top military brass…show that to a man they have betrayed their oaths and their county and imposed on the servicemen and women under their command an alien ideology that attacks our Constitution, preaches hatred for our country and sows racial division in the military ranks. If the troops tasked with fighting our Marxist and Islamist enemies in a dangerous world are indoctrinated with hatred for their country, their Constitution, and its values, who will defend us?”
(It’s almost amusing that people who value diversity and equality are always accused of preaching hatred and sowing division. For the people who say this kind of nonsense, the truth is the equivalent of wearing a shoe two sizes too small)
Finally, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz said that “perhaps a woke, emasculated military is not the best idea,” and that U.S. troops were at risk of “becoming pansies.”
The nation’s right-wing and the vast majority of today’s Republican Party are narrowing themselves to where their list of admirers are the former president, European dictators, and hardly anyone else.