Trump’s embattled secretary of defence nominee expresses contentious views on gay service members in latest book

Summary

Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump’s embattled nominee for defense secretary, has denounced policies allowing openly gay troops and women in combat roles as part of a “Marxist” agenda undermining military readiness.

In his book The War on Warriors and past interviews, Hegseth criticized the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” and argued that inclusivity erodes standards.

Accused of misconduct, his views against women in combat and seeing inclusivity as a threat to national security have been closely examined during his confirmation process.

  • Keeponstalin@lemmy.world
    3·
    1 day ago

    You’re both right. The existence of LGBT people and feminism does threaten the ‘legitimacy’ of religious fundamentalists (namely Evangelicals and Dominionists in America) by undermining their masculine authority they claim to de ordained by God. It’s more than just a numbers game. They certainly want a huge indoctrinated following. To do that they need to constantly persecute and ‘cure’ LGBT people and feminists, otherwise their ‘legitimacy’ would crumble from within the evangelical movement.

    American Fascists by Chris Hedges

    “These men suffered a loss of their own masculinity,” Roberta Pughe says, “so they have taken on this extreme form of masculine power, the power to oppress and to dominate. On the extreme end of the masculine continuum, it is the oppressive force that kills, that destroys. There is no room for anything else. Everything else is a threat. The feminine is a threat. Children are a threat. Homosexuality is a threat because it embraces a feminine, nurturing side between men. All power has to be concentrated at the top and be destructive.”

    “The goal of the movement is to create a theocracy, but they must dominate women first to keep the system in place,” Pughe says, the late afternoon light spilling into the windows of her office. “They want to have one nation under God, based on their view of God and their interpretation of the rules that this peculiar God puts in place. … They know the family’s falling apart. The divorce rate is high. Families are in flux. Roles are in flux. Men and women are trying to figure out what we’re doing together. And the church is filling the niche, providing the extended family. There is no extended family, so the church is providing it for these people. Their ticket to power is family values. That’s the hook. People are hungry for that. But with this church family comes the imposition of an extreme male power structure. First, they use this power structure to control the family, then the church, and finally the nation.”

    The use of control and force is also designed to raise obedient, unquestioning and fearful children, children who as adults will not be tempted to challenge powerful male figures. These children are conditioned to rely on external authority for moral choice. They obey out of fear and often repeat this pattern of fearful obedience as adults.