Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said “diversity is our strength” is the “single dumbest phrase in military history” during a Pentagon town hall on Friday.
Since taking the oath of office, President Donald Trump’s administration has attacked diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in the public and private sectors. Technology firms, including Amazon and Meta, have begun to roll back their company’s diversity initiatives.
Hegseth’s attack on the phrase “diversity is our strength” has been done in the past by his colleagues at Fox News such as ex-anchor Tucker Carlson back in 2018.
The Defense secretary then claimed that America’s unity comes not from diversity but instead from “strength” before adding that “in this department we will treat everyone equally.”
I think the single dumbest phrase in military history is our diversity is our strength. I think our strength is our unity. Our strength is our shared purpose, regardless of our background, regardless of how we grew up, regardless of our gender, regardless of our race. In this department, we will treat everyone equally. We will treat everyone with fairness. We will treat everyone with respect. And we will judge you as an individual by your merit and by your commitment to the team and the mission. That’s how it has been. That’s how it will be. Any inference otherwise is meant to divide or create complications that otherwise
should not and do not exist.
Watch the clip above via CSPAN.