‘Sick And Tired!’ Joe Scarborough Slams Republicans Cheering ‘Outrageous Lie’ Military Is ‘Weak And Woke’ In Backing Pete Hegseth

Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough slammed Senate Republicans for cheering the “outrageous lie” that the military is “weak and woke” in backing President-elect Donald Trump’s defense secretary nominee, Pete Hegseth.

The topic of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), a policy the nominee has promised to expunge at the Department of Defense, was raised by lawmakers representing both parties during Hegseth’s confirmation hearing on Tuesday.

Republicans argue that the diversity initiatives have led to incompetence in a military run by “woke” generals. Hegseth himself has written that women should not take up combat roles in the military and railed against “woke” practices for undermining readiness. Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) seized the platform to launch an attack on DEI practices during the hearing.

Beginning with commentary on the hearing at the opening of Wednesday’s show on MSNBC, Scarborough lamented that there was too much to unpack and that it would take “four hours just to get through the misinformation that was put out there.”

Rounding on his former colleagues in the Republican Party, the host then unleashed on their approval of Hegseth’s stance and lionizing of his qualifications as an “insult” to ranking veterans who had served the country.

This idea, Republicans, that we need somebody with ‘dust on their boots’ and this position and the suggestion that we haven’t had people with dust on their boots in this position, is either willfully lying or willfully ignorant! We have had actually some of the most decorated, heroic, brave, battle tested men that have been holding the top positions over the past 4 to 8 years in the military, and yes women as well that have been there.

So the idea that this is some feel good exercise ignores the fact that whether from ‘Mad Dog’ [James] Mattis to General [Mark] Milley, you have people that have been fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, were there at the worst times in Fallujah… And it’s just an insult, just an absolute…

And again, there is so much to talk about here, but we’ve just got to go full stop because I’m sick and tired of people tearing down the men and women in uniform that are protecting us. And I’m sick and tired… You know, people want to lie about the economy, they can lie about the economy. I don’t take that as personally. I mean, because that’s their own problem, because they’re going to be judged by how they do compared to the United States economy right now, which is the envy of the world. We have record low jobless rates. The stock market is at record highs. I mean, they’ll have to deal with that. But this insult that somehow our military is weak and woke is just an outrageous lie. And it’s an insult to our men and women in uniform.

Watch above via MSNBC.