Pete Hegseth blocks Navy promotions, targets women and Black officers
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has blocked at least 40 senior military promotions this year, pausing multiple Navy admiral nominations and withholding confirmations for officers headed to general and flag ranks. About half of the promotions Hegseth paused were women or officers from minority groups, and the moves followed a secret internal vetting process that screened candidates for views and public statements. The action removes experienced leaders from consideration, centralizes promotion control in the Pentagon, and risks weakening both diversity in senior command and operational readiness by sidelining officers recommended by military selection boards.
pete hegseth is engaged in open racial discrimination against black officers. the clear message is that there is no place for black or women leadership in his military
jamelle1020merit, you see, is when you ignore the qualifications of an officer and deny them a promotion because they are black, and promote a less qualified alternative because he is white
hotelalhamra.bsky.social31The poor institutionalist NYT can never just come out and say what we all know is true. Hegseth is not engaged in a “war on diversity” he is a member of misogynistic white Christian nationalist religious cult. He is openly promoting white supremacy (and Christian nationalism) in the military.
DisheveldYoshi28“War on diversity” is a crazy way to refer to neo-segregationists doing Jim Crow shit
Maia25actually racism in professional settings is *only* dei. i am a centrist pundit making 6 million dollars a year
atrapter.bsky.social21calling it a "war on diversity" is really just intentionally obfuscating what is going on here
Robert Wilde182029 Democratic trifecta should pass legislation authorizing civil lawsuits against him for this.
redlishka9.bsky.social18Five bucks says he was passed over for promotion while in the ranks and believes it was because of his race and gender and not because he is a an utter and complete tool. Now he gets his “revenge” by making the military less prepared than ever.
Richard E Frankel12Whiskey Pete is one of the best examples you can find to disprove the notion of white supremacy.
Wedge Antilles 🇨🇴🇺🇸8F'ing republicans, man. Their racism and misogyny is just so disgusting. I don't get why and how they get off on this.
Kathryn of Tarth6His ASSUMPTION that women and POC got there because of WOKEness (as HE defines that) is racism, AND sexism incarnate. He has NO idea that to be WOKE means to be enlightened about how things work in society, which of course he isn’t. It’s pure dramatic irony for him to invoke wokeness at all.
Pop-up Leftist Cwab Depot5It’s a clear violation of the law, but all the mechanisms that are supposed to enforce those laws are also in the hands of white supremacists.
Jack Brand5Pete Hegseth pontificating about people unqualified for their position is beyond peak irony.
Silly B Man4Literally every white GOFO will need to put in for retirement on January 21, 2029. They are automatically suspect. Caesar’s wife must be above suspicion.
Andy Lewis/The Optionist4I hate the NYT framing of this. Implicit in the "war on diversity" headline is the idea that these promotions were based on that. Why not "Hegseth's campaign to desegregate the military" or more accurately "Hegseth's racist campaign ..."?
donpatriot.bsky.social4In my heart of hearts this is the guy I’ll most enjoy seeing thrown in prison for the rest of his fucking life.
Colin Elves3Okay, so reading between the lines he’s saying that white guys are just inherently less capable than everyone else. They just can’t compete if there’s any competition at all.
Jennifer Lee 🪁3I keep waiting for him to get fired. I’m surprised Trump hasn’t blamed him for Iran.
Renee (paix120)3Sounds like something a guy with white nationalist tattoos would do with that kind of power
Adam O3This, plus the outrageous waste of bombs and missiles in Iran and the Caribbean, will set our military back decades. China is laughing their ass off.
Harriet T is my hero3On top of being openly racist and misogynistic, hegseth is a mass murderer and war criminal. The senate can freeze his travel budget?
Mike Lowder3And not a single GOP member of congress cares.
BullmastiffLA3about those tattoos... always assume the worst.
Uno3When Hegseth talks about merit, I always remember his mom had to save his nomination, his brother has an office next to him in the pentagon, and his wife attends sensitive military meetings with him.
Jeff Terflinger2Yep, he's a white nationalist racist.
Seulement Moi2How big would the armed forces be if every non-white, non-male simply let their contacts expire?
Dona Dickinson2Denying these promotions makes us lose wonderful leaders. Tammy Duckworth Lloyd Austin Just two examples of leaders he would have stopped. This is egregiously wrong for our country and our military. He should be impeached and removed.
MaryM2It is not a war on diversity. It is blatant misogyny and racism.
AllCaps-222Not a war on diversity. A war on competency.
Julie Hotard Ph.D., writer, effects of disinfo on social systems2Yes. It also goes beyond that. Even ppl who are pro-COVID vaccines or attended diversity events. Authoritarians start by scapegoating a few groups. But they aim to control every1. They just don't admit it bc "I aim to control every1, including U" is a poor campaign slogan bsky.app/profile/donm...
Regina Schrambling 2Someone needs to tell him "just following orders" is no defense.
Feathered Stone2Look Republicans if you don’t want us to call your racist stop doing racist shit
#LestWeForget2Put an openly racist, homophobic misogynistic alcoholic in charge and none of this should be any surprise. The US has become a cesspool run by a gang of quacks and con artists #RapistInCharge #PedoPresident #GOPComplicit #ReleaseTheTrumpEpsteinFiles.
Allan Schlosser2Hegseth equal parts fascist, racist, misogynist and xenophobe. Then there's that little matter of being manifestly unqualified.
philipfrankenfeld.bsky.social2The target for this? Warrantedly insecure white people who are no longer advantaged by their skin color in a meritocratic, increasingly technologically complicated, dynamic, changing society. Your. Free. Ride. Is. Over.
Patricia2Denying men and women the ability to advance their careers, after they have clearly made the choice to be career military, is ignorant and cruel. They have put in the same work as white men have, and deserve the same accolades and promotions.
Mr. Spookytime Grift2Bright side: once this shitstain regime is gone, we're gonna need to fire a lot of the assholes who went along with it, leaving lots of openings for new promotions.
Emily Green2Copying gift link here: www.nytimes.com/2026/06/19/u...
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again Pete Hegseth and Donald Trump are re-segregating the American military by race and sex Secret Vetting and Blocked Promotions: Inside Hegseth’s War on Diversity www.nytimes.com/2026/06/19/u...
zoophagous.bsky.social8What they're doing is disgraceful. I'm also confident they will fail. I was in the Marines under Regan. It was a true meritocracy. The majority of the men and women I served under were Vietnam vets and they did not tolerate even a whiff of racism. That was nearly 50 years ago.
accidentalflyer 🇨🇦🇹🇼🇺🇦5Pete Hegseth and Donald Trump are making sure if the US gets into a peer-level war, America will lose.
Grungehamster4Following in the footsteps of Woodrow Wilson.
Susan loves democracy3And this article should be titled: War on Competency.
C C Humphrey3They have absolute contempt for women and non-white people
kimdrury2.bsky.social3And the headline leaves out the real news " . . . endangering our military readiness."
whykiki.bsky.social3They think white men should own everyone and run everything. If they had their way, PoC and women couldn't vote and women would be legally required to have children and stay married against their will.
L. Guapo2Do they even deny this?
weknew.bsky.social2Bitter, incompetent, sociopathic, passed-over Major ruining the lives of patriots and professional soldiers is a really crappy timeline to be in.
Pilotken2Hegseth partially getting revenge for his military career stalling, lots in common with his boss blaming everyone else for his obvious failures
"So far this year, Mr. Hegseth has blocked the promotions of at least 40 senior officers to general and admiral ranks. About half of those are women or members of minority groups." This is an unprecedented effort to whitewash military leadership. www.nytimes.com/2026/06/19/u...
Don Moynihan122This is politicization: Hegseth had a secret process to create oppo files on military nominees. "Once the reviews led by each military service were complete, Mr. Hegseth’s staff conducted their own searches to make sure that the services had not missed or intentionally ignored anything."
sandy2012.bsky.social6The very first impeachment should be Hegseth. it’s So obvious he has to go. Then Patel. I’m thinking Trump would resign before it’s his turn. I know. Wishful thinking.
experimental22.bsky.social6Please look at that photo. It is white nationalism in action. The one nonwhite person is one of those being targeted by MAGA Klansman Pete Hegseth. For Hegseth, only white males are actual humans. Everyone else is an inferior being.
In related news about half the US military is women and people of color. White male just under 50%. Is he blocking ALL promotions, except white males?
Lori Barnett3“White”wash being the operative words.
Diane in Ohio3Do we need any more proof of their racism and misogyny?
DeMooper2I hope if Dems win in 2028 the first thing the Sec Def does is promote all those who were screwed over. I hope the second thing she does is review the semi competent MAGAs who were unfairly promoted.
Pete Hegseth is ignoring a framework set in place by Congress and military boards to advance a racist agenda. He is engaging in viewpoint discrimination: refusing to advance candidates for relatively anondyne statements related to diversity, equity and inclusion, www.nytimes.com/2026/06/19/u....
Professa Murray37Again, I would begin the process of impeachment against Hegseth on Day 1: he has ignored Congressional orders, he is conducting kill-strikes in the Caribbean, he conducted strikes that violate war powers, and he got us into a losing war in Iran. He is a disaster.
Professa Murray21We should call this what is: it is McCarthyite witch hunt and we need to stop it dead before it effects our military preparation.
Professa Murray21And all this lecturing about “merit” coming from a man creditably accused of rape, corruption, and who is only qualification appears to be he is was on Fox, is galling to say the least.
Ryan5Maybe time to stop confirming weak, pathetic racist clowns to leadership positions
gingkotree06.bsky.social2The entire trump kakistocracy must be ousted and punished. They cannot be allowed to continue their destruction of the USA. The American people have suffered enough due to felon rapist trump and his ugly racist outlaw agenda. Impeach, remove, convict and imprison trump now!
In April, Pete Hegseth makes flu vaccine optional for armed services, saying vaccine mandates "weaken our warfighting capabilities." ~60% of Air Force doesn't get vaccinated. Two months later, flu outbreak races thru big Air Force base. Air Force re-implements mandatory vaccine policy at base.
𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚕𝚎𝚜 𝙲. 𝙼𝚊𝚗𝚗23I'm not certain, but as far as I can tell this is the first major flu outbreak at a US military facility since the US licensed the initial inactivated influenza virus vaccine in 1945. (Corrections welcomed if I've missed something.)
Halfbroke Horsewoman 🌻🏇🌻2Not for nothing, it’s June. You have to be darned unlucky AND be unvaccinated to come down with influenza in June. Guessing there’s no HEPA filter in the HVAC system either.
