Joe Scarborough Attacks Pete Hegseth’s ‘Insane’ DEI Obsessions While Treating Sailors Like ‘Trash’

Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough slammed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for having an “insane” obsession with DEI and service members’ “testosterone levels” while treating sailors on his naval vessels like “trash.”

The tirade came as multiple outlets reported on anonymous text messages from sailors detailing the reportedly deteriorating conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, including alleged food shortages and desperate sailors attempting to jump overboard amid the strain of the prolonged mission in Iran.

More than 5,000 sailors and Marines departed San Diego aboard the Lincoln on Nov. 21 for a deployment originally expected to end in May, but the mission has since stretched beyond eight months.

After the MS NOW crew detailed the reports, Scarborough unloaded, reflecting on his time on the Armed Services Committee as a congressman and warning the problem amounted to issues of “military readiness.”

“You have to make sure the rotation is such that people can do the rotation, they can do their duty, then they can get home, they can get back on base, they can rest up, they can be again prepared,” he said.

“There is no rotation,” co-host Mika Brzezinski added.

Scarborough continued: “I’ve never seen anything like this before. And again, this is the problem. This is what happens when you have a defense secretary that’s obsessed about the color of people’s skin, whether somebody is a man or a woman, testosterone levels, this obsession over DEI, and that’s all we ever hear about. And what we’re not hearing about is, well, the basics – the basics always start with readiness.”

After noting that the key to helping service members be “militarily ready to go” comes down to “normal rotations” – as a starter – he ripped Hegseth again for doing the “exact opposite.”

“This is insane by any measure at all. And so, think about it, we have this happening on, on the USS Lincoln, we have our sailors being treated like third-class citizens, treated like trash, actually, so we’re not taking care of job one – which is again, military readiness – and secondly, we’re not even able to keep count of the munitions that we have,” he blasted. “Pete Hegseth’s DOD has run out of munitions to fight a hot war with Iran that Pete Hegseth told the president we should start.”

Leaning in harder on Hegseth, Scarborough lashed out at reports of allegedly racially discriminatory promotions and other obsessions: “He’s sitting around talking about testosterone levels and doing all these stupid promo videos that are supposed to make him look tough, obsessing over somebody is black or white, obsessing over taking down the pictures of the man who flew more combat missions than anybody else in the history of the United States military – but because [veteran pilot] Chappie James was black, Pete Hegseth had to take the picture down.”

“These are the things he’s obsessed on,” he added. “You know, we hear for years — oh my God — they’re too concerned about DEI, it’s getting in the way of the mission. No, it’s just the opposite. It’s Pete Hegseth, who is so obsessed with the, the color of somebody’s skin or whether it’s a man or a woman that’s doing the mission, or whether the person is black or white, that’s doing extraordinary things to protect and defend the United States of America, he’s so obsessed over the little things that readiness is falling by the wayside.”

Brzezinski joined in, mocking Hegseth’s Signal chat leak that revealed plans to bomb Houthi rebels, slamming him for “showing off” in chat, and firing key analysts who could assess whether the U.S. had bombed a school during the opening day of the Iran war.

“So, not taking care of first things first, he’s actually worried about social issues and social policies inside the Pentagon, instead of making sure we have the munitions we need and making sure that our military men and women are ready for warfare,” he concluded. “And they get, like, sane, rational rotations, like every other commander-in-chief and every other secretary of defense before him actually did.”

Watch above via MS NOW.

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