Rep. Matt Gaetz slammed the Biden administration’s pursuit of “diversity, equity, and inclusion,” saying it’s hurting America’s military readiness and actually promoting racism within the ranks.
“Under [President] Joe Biden, one thing has become clear — the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) has embraced leftist ideology,” the Fort Walton Beach Republican said in his most recent newsletter to constituents.
“This includes requiring the use of gender identity pronouns and introducing highly inflammatory Marxist ideologies among the ranks. Our troops need combat training, not diversity and inclusion training. It’s complete nonsense, and it must come to an end.”
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Gaetz, in the newsletter, included a video of his exchange last Thursday with Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Gilbert Cisneros, who also serves as the Pentagon’s chief diversity and inclusion officer.
During a House Armed Services Committee hearing, Gaetz asked Cisneros about an investigation he was supposed to have conducted into Kelisa Wing, the Defense Department’s former Education Activity Chief of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
Wing, who is black, had posted on her personal Twitter account about a DEI session she apparently had conducted.
“I’m so exhausted at these white folx in these PD [professional development] sessions. This lady actually had the CAUdacity to say that black people can be racist too,” Wing tweeted.
Her tweet added, “I had to stop the session and give KAREN the business.” She alleged that blacks cannot be racist because they are not the majority and don’t have “power.”
Gaetz noted that was just one comment in a thread of racist tweets.
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When questioned by Gaetz, Cisneros said he personally didn’t agree with Wing’s statements, but he refused to answer when Gaetz asked him, as the top DEI official in the Defense Department, if blacks could be racist.
Gaetz also pointed out that even after six months of an alleged investigation, and even after she openly “attacked white colleagues,” with a tweet that was issued in the middle of the work day, Wing was not fired but simply transferred.
The congressman then asked Cisnerson if tolerating such anti-white behavior was hurting recruiting.
Under Biden, Gaetz noted, military recruiting has “fallen off the table” to the lowest levels in at least a decade.
“When you have employees that you don’t fire who do racist things, and say racist things, then you really hurt the ability to recruit people who want to be part of a diverse and inclusive force,” Gaetz told Cisneros.
Cisneros suggested the department couldn’t do anything about Wing because she sent the tweet from her personal account.
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“When caucasian members of the military post about the Second Amendment or supporting building the [border] wall, you all seem to be on a white supremacy snipe hunt,” Gaetz said. “You seem to take people’s personal views and weaponize them against them” in those cases.
In his newsletter, issued Friday, Gaetz added, “It is ironic that while Wing’s job is to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion, the American taxpayer is forced to pay her to spread hate and create division.”
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