Matt Gaetz Throws a Colossal Shit Fit Over the Military Acknowledging Racism Is Real

Authored by vanityfair.com and submitted by elliottbaytrail

One of the defining features of the modern Republican Party is its insistence that systemic racism isn’t real and that if it is, the actual people who are suffering from any bigotry are white. This position explains why GOP lawmakers and other conservatives absolutely hate the idea of critical race theory, which holds that U.S. society and institutions are inherently racist because they exist to maintain economic, social, and political inequalities between white people and people of color, particularly people who are Black. Conservatives, who write entire books about liberals supposedly being easily “triggered,” throw colossal shit fits at the mere mention of CRT, and want it banned from schools, hysterically claiming that it’s basically child abuse. Still, you’d think they would defer to the U.S. military when it comes to the topics that it is allowed to discuss with cadets before sending them out to defend the country, which Republicans frequently talk a big game about having the utmost respect for. But you would think wrong!

Claiming on Wednesday that teaching trainees about critical race theory would be “divisive,” Florida representatives Michael Waltz and alleged sex offender Matt Gaetz demanded General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, defend his position that learning about the history of this country is actually extremely important. Which he did, vigorously.

“I’ve read Mao Zedong. I’ve read Karl Marx. I’ve read Lenin,” Milley said. “That doesn’t make me a Communist. So what is wrong with understanding—having some situational understanding about the country for which we are here to defend?” Milley continued. “And I personally find it offensive that we are accusing the United States military, our general officers, our commissioned, noncommissioned officers of being, quote, ‘woke,’ or something else, because we’re studying some theories that are out there.… I do think it’s important, actually, for those of us in uniform to be open-minded and be widely read…and it is important that we train and we understand.” Milley added that, as a white person, he wanted to understand “white rage,” and the impact it may have had on the January 6 attack on the Capitol. “What is it that caused thousands of people to assault this building and try to overturn the Constitution of the United States of America? What caused that? I want to find that out. I want to maintain an open mind here, and I do want to analyze it.… It is important that the leaders now and in the future do understand it.”

Of course, that lucid, well-articulated answer didn’t sit right with Gaetz, who literally shook his head in punk-ass defiance as Milley was speaking:

...and then subsequently suggested generals like Milley are the reason “we” have lost wars abroad:

Gaetz obviously wasn‘t the only one getting his knickers in a twist over the idea of education in the military. In response to Milley’s testimony, Fox News’ Laura Ingraham declared that Congress should say, “We’re not going to give you a penny until all of this is eradicated from the military budget,” adding that she was “totally outraged by [Milley] and his ridiculous response today.”

Just something to remember the next time Republicans claim they’re the only party that respects the U.S.’s armed forces, which they will, probably, like, tomorrow.

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Brian_Lefebvre on June 25th, 2021 at 00:19 UTC »

Milley literally just said that we should be more thoughtful, well-read, and open-minded. Naturally, Gaetz and probably the rest of the GOP took offense to that.

Comprehensive-Run861 on June 24th, 2021 at 21:07 UTC »

We've been in Iraq and Afghanistan longer than any of his girlfriends have been alive

Thirty_Helens_Agree on June 24th, 2021 at 20:44 UTC »

Wait until he hears that the Navy considers climate change to be a national security threat.