I asked Team Trump why they now hate a 'woke' bill he himself signed into law
I asked Team Trump why they now hate a 'woke' bill he himself signed into law | Opinion Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth attacked a 'woke' law that came from Trump's first term. Somehow it's still Biden's fault.
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Hegseth calls for 20% cut in four-star generals and admirals
Defense Sec. Pete Hegseth announced a plan to cut 20% of active duty senior generals and admirals.
President Donald Trump's Cabinet members during his second term are so dedicated to pitting Americans against Americans in their war on "woke" that they don't mind if Team Trump trashes Team Trump to accomplish that.
Case in point: Pete Hegseth, the guy who instilled so much confidence in America by vowing to give up drinking if he was approved as Trump's secretary of Defense, has expressed some strong feelings on the topic of "Women, Peace, and Security."
Hegseth posted on social media on April 29 that he had "proudly" ended that program at the Department of Defense, which he derided as "yet another woke divisive/social justice/Biden initiative" that had been "pushed by feminists and left-wing activists."
Hegseth added "GOOD RIDDANCE WPS," while acknowledging that he would still execute "the minimum of WPS required by statute."
I guess we should pause here to appreciate that a member of Trump's Cabinet is saying publicly that he will obey a federal law, even if all Hegseth can muster here is the minimum. That's a tall order for most on Team Trump these days.
We should also note that Trump signed into law the Women, Peace, and Security Act of 2017 during his first term in office, after that legislation was sponsored by Rep. Kristi Noem (now Trump's secretary of Homeland Security) and cosponsored by Sen. Marco Rubio (now Trump's secretary of State).
However, the messaging of Trump's second term, that "woke" is evil and any effort to address diversity, equity and inclusion is somehow anti-American, is so strident that it doesn't matter that those attacks target Trump's first term.
Why does Team Trump now disagree with itself? I asked.
The point of the law: to make it a priority of the U.S. government to include women around the world in efforts to prevent and resolve conflicts. But that was eight years ago, before efforts at DEI in things like war and peace became a key element in Trump's war on woke hysteria.
I wondered: Did Hegseth let Trump, Noem and Rubio know that he was torpedoing a federal law they all had a hand in crafting? I got some answers, sort of.
Let's start where this started. I sent that question to the Pentagon, where a spokesperson told me, "We have nothing further to add above and beyond what the secretary posted here," while sending me the same link to Hegseth's post that I had asked about.
Responsive? Yes and no, right? They got back to me to point me at the thing I had just pointed at for them.
The White House wasn't much better. An "administration official" – that's what they asked to be called – didn't even try to answer when I asked if Trump shares Hegseth's assessment of the Women, Peace, and Security Act.
Instead, the "administration official" noted that former President Joe Biden's administration linked the program to climate security while also taking an "inclusive, intersectional approach."
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That's code for daring to acknowledge that the world's climate is linked to security issues, and that people of various races, genders, classes and sexual orientations live on the same planet.
The Department of State was even more vague when I asked whether Rubio agreed with Hegseth's assessment. A "senior State Department official" – that's what they asked to be called – ducked that question while saying that the Women, Peace, and Security Act was "a noteworthy initiative aimed at empowering women and girls" that the previous administration "exploited to push progressive causes."
The Department of Homeland Security didn't respond when I asked whether Noem agrees with Hegseth about the program. She might have been busy cosplaying as a commando or posing for selfies in a foreign prison.
Noem, speaking as a member of the U.S. House in June 2017 as her colleagues prepared to pass her legislation, said she was "confident" it would produce "sustainable outcomes" that touch on America's security.
"Research covering conflicts from Northern Ireland to Africa has shown that peace agreements are 35% more likely to last at least 15 years when women are involved," Noem said from the floor of the House. "Even knowing this, women are many times left out during negotiations."
Does that sound "woke" to you? That sort of talk has no place in this new Trump administration. So, blame bouncing the program on Biden and get on with it.
Remember when Team Trump loved inclusion? Here's what they said.
A few problems there:
Rubio, for one, doesn't seem ready to move on. In an April speech at the International Women of Courage awards ceremony, he proudly noted that he cosponsored the Women, Peace, and Security Act.
The secretary of State called it "the first comprehensive law passed in any country in the world – the first law passed by any country anywhere in the world – focused on protecting women and promoting their participation in society."
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Again, pretty woke, right?
And I found plenty of times when Trump touted the law in the White House archives for his first term.
Trump, in a "presidential message" to acknowledge International Women's Day in 2020, called it "the first standalone, comprehensive legislation of its kind anywhere in the world."
It's entirely predictable, and reliably disingenuous, for Team Trump to now blame Biden while trashing legislation pushed for and passed by Team Trump.
PolitiFact, the fact-checking organization run by The Poynter Institute, dug into Hegseth's claims and reported on May 6 that very little has changed in the implementation of the Women, Peace, and Security Act, aside from some rhetoric.
"We found that the program did not significantly change from President Donald Trump's first presidency to President Joe Biden's tenure," PolitiFact wrote. "The Biden administration used some words and phrases in program plans that a Trump plan did not use, such as 'LGBTQI+' and climate change, but the program goals remained the same."
The goals are the same. But Team Trump's war on woke changed the playing field. So they'll just pretend a focus on Women, Peace, and Security is an antiquated idea from a bygone age: Trump's first term.
Follow USA TODAY columnist Chris Brennan on X, formerly known as Twitter: @ByCrisBrennan. Sign up for his weekly newsletter, Translating Politics, here.
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