Tom Cotton Tells Fox News the U.S. Military Might ‘Not Be Sufficiently Prepared’ for Battle Because It’s Teaching Critical Race Theory

 

Appearing on Fox News a day after he had a testy exchange with Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin during a committee hearing, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) said he’s concerned about Critical Race Theory weakening the U.S. military. In the hearing, Cotton read letters from service-members who said they’re concerned by what they’re seeing.

Fox News anchor Martha MacCallum referenced the letters, and Cotton told her there were many more concerns where those came from.

“The anecdotes I read yesterday for Secretary Austin are genuinely alarming,” said Cotton. “But I can tell you they’re just the tip of the iceberg.”

Cotton said friends in the U.S. Army have told him that the branch has held trainings “that were pushing Critical Race Theory concepts, like America is an inherently racist nation, or that some races are inherently oppressive or privileged.”

The senator said he’d been inundated with hundreds of such examples since he and Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) asked for “whistleblowers” to come forward. He added that there are “real and tangible costs that our troops will be the ones to bear, should they go to war not sufficiently prepared because we wasted so much time on this nonsense.”

Under the Biden administration, the Department of Defense has hired a deputy inspector general for diversity and inclusion in order to rout out any white supremacist or other extremist activity in its ranks. Secretary Austin has also reversed a Trump-era ban on diversity trainings in the armed forces.

“What will happen, said Cotton, “If we allow this kind of training to continue at our front line units is – as I said yesterday – there’ll be growing mistrust between the races and the sexes, where very little existed six months ago. That will be damaging for morale and unit cohesion should our troops need to go to battle.”

He later added,

If Coca-Cola wants to go full woke and detract from its mission of making sugary beverages and that’s going to contribute to obesity and diabetes in America, that’s one thing. But for our military to spend its time teaching these insidious concepts to young troops – some as young as 18 years old and just out of high school – then it does detract from lethality and readiness.

Watch above via Fox News.

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Mike is a Mediaite senior editor who covers the news in primetime. Follow him on Bluesky.