Biden's DEI promotions

 Daily Caller:

Several of the military officers whose promotions are held up due to a senator’s fight with the Pentagon have supported left-wing cultural stances and diversity initiatives, according to a Daily Caller News Foundation review of social media posts, Pentagon materials and public footage.

Republican Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville has single-handedly blocked numerous officers’ confirmations in protest of Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin’s directive that the military fund out-of-state travel for female troops seeking abortions, initiating a game of chicken between Tuberville and the Pentagon that shows no sign of stopping. Yet several of the candidates in line for promotion have a history of making political statements and backed or spearheaded internal Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives related to race and sexuality, according to a Daily Caller News Foundation review of publicly available information.

“Comments by even a handful of the Biden Pentagon’s general officer nominees are instructive as to defense policy, as opposed to mere talking points,” William Thibeau, director of the American Military Project at the Center for the American Way of Life, explained to the DCNF.

“You win on what you focus on. In other words, what the commander talks about typically becomes the focus for the unit writ large,” he said.

For example, Tuberville’s hold applies to Air Force Gen. Charles. Q. Brown, who was recently nominated to replace Gen. Mark Milley as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, according to NBC News. Brown gained notoriety when he made a rare public statement on race in the midst of nationwide rioting and protests following George Floyd’s murder in 2020.

In August, Brown ordered the Air Force’s recruiting wing to cultivate an applicant pool that meets racial and gender percentage quotas, a memo shows. The order was meant to ultimately increase diversity in the Air Force itself.

“I hire for diversity,” he told Air and Space Forces Magazine in 2020.

Additionally, with Brown as chief of staff, the Air Force commissioned a racial disparity review focusing on African-Americans, along with a second study of disparities between people of other ethnicities/gender identities and white, heterosexual males, according to an interview with U.S. News.
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Cain oversaw the institution of a DEI office at Eglin, one of the first in the Air Force, calling it his “most significant long-standing accomplishment” in a June 2022 exit interview.

“Leaders must view the accomplishment of [diversity and inclusion] goals and objectives as an important part of their responsibilities,” states the office’s Diversity & Inclusion Strategic Plan for 2021 – 2026, which Cain personally approved.
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If you think diversity is more important than merit, you are making a mistake that makes the whole enterprise weaker.  You also wind up pushing an agenda that does not reward those the best, brightest, and most hardworking regardless of ethnicity.  What kind of team would a coach have if players were selected because of ethnicity instead of merit?   Would an NBA coach survive if he decided he needed to add some short white guys to his roster to increase diversity?