Madeleine Rowley
Appearances
Honestly with Bari Weiss
Trump’s Second Week: DeepSeek, DEI in the Military and . . . Baby Chickens?
And again, I would say, if you're spending all this time focusing on differences and identity and oppression, then you're not focusing on what the goal should be. And that should be, hey, how are we going to fight China? How are we going to fight our foreign adversaries? What's going on in the Middle East? What training are we going to do to prepare for that?
Honestly with Bari Weiss
Trump’s Second Week: DeepSeek, DEI in the Military and . . . Baby Chickens?
I totally see your point, Brianna, but I would also say, you know, I had a dad email me and send me a screenshot. One of his sons just graduated from the Naval Academy. It was a screenshot of if my roommate comes out as transgender, am I allowed to change rooms? And the policy was no.
Honestly with Bari Weiss
Trump’s Second Week: DeepSeek, DEI in the Military and . . . Baby Chickens?
Again, if the academies and the military are taking the time out to do presentations and focus on these things, yes, I think it's that mentality of when you're focusing on the wrong things, the outcome of real life situations. It's not going to be great.
Honestly with Bari Weiss
Trump’s Second Week: DeepSeek, DEI in the Military and . . . Baby Chickens?
Well, if the roommate isn't comfortable with that person transitioning, let's say if it's a male dorm and his roommate is transitioning into a female, that might be uncomfortable. I mean, is there another solution that they could come up with? Can they have their own room? I think it's wrong. to say you're not allowed to change roommates. I think that should be an option.
Honestly with Bari Weiss
Trump’s Second Week: DeepSeek, DEI in the Military and . . . Baby Chickens?
And there should be another option afforded to the transgender cadet or sailor. So I think that there are options there. I don't think it has to be so black and white, but I certainly see your point.
Honestly with Bari Weiss
Trump’s Second Week: DeepSeek, DEI in the Military and . . . Baby Chickens?
I absolutely understand what you're saying, but then it causes a logistical effect where, again, what should the military be focused on? Because we have a male who's transitioning into a female. Then what physical tests should they take? And when can they deploy? If someone is transitioning, well, they have to wait 18 months until they're in their preferred gender and then they can deploy.
Honestly with Bari Weiss
Trump’s Second Week: DeepSeek, DEI in the Military and . . . Baby Chickens?
So, again, I think that my main concern with that, it's more so a logistical situation where should the military be spending time working those things out? when they should be spending time on other things.
Honestly with Bari Weiss
Trump’s Second Week: DeepSeek, DEI in the Military and . . . Baby Chickens?
Well, I certainly think it's concerning and it should be top of mind in terms of security issues. You know, I just read an article today that all of the information on deep seek is going straight back to China. And you have to ask yourself, how is this different from the multiple, you know, hacks, the treasury hacks that are happening?
Honestly with Bari Weiss
Trump’s Second Week: DeepSeek, DEI in the Military and . . . Baby Chickens?
When we think about how much China knows about American citizens, it should be scary and it should be a top priority when it comes to national security.
Honestly with Bari Weiss
Trump’s Second Week: DeepSeek, DEI in the Military and . . . Baby Chickens?
I would disagree with that. I think this is a situation where we need something different. And that's what so far this entire Trump presidency has been. It's been a complete, you know, 180 from what we we had before with the Biden administration. I mean, we could we could look at, you know, when we talk about the disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal. Well, How did Lloyd Austin handle that?
Honestly with Bari Weiss
Trump’s Second Week: DeepSeek, DEI in the Military and . . . Baby Chickens?
You know, no one was fired because of that. Thirteen soldiers were needlessly killed. It was an absolute disaster. We also have unvetted Afghan refugees that, you know, came into our country and we don't really know what their backgrounds are. I mean, so that was another effect from that. We can also talk about we have the pier in Gaza.
Honestly with Bari Weiss
Trump’s Second Week: DeepSeek, DEI in the Military and . . . Baby Chickens?
There's an OIG report on that that basically declared that a failed mission because the humanitarian aid that they were supposed to be delivering to Gazans was intercepted by Hamas terrorists. You know, so when we talk about what actually happened and what could happen, I would say this is turning over a new leaf here. And I would say that, you know, Pete Hegseth does have the credentials.
Honestly with Bari Weiss
Trump’s Second Week: DeepSeek, DEI in the Military and . . . Baby Chickens?
He's been in combat. He was in Afghanistan. He served at Guantanamo Bay. You know, if you listen to his book, War on Warriors, he's seen it all. And I think someone like that is the the perfect person to disseminate this information and to deal with our foreign adversaries to include China. I think we need to put a stronger foot forward here when it comes to our military and foreign policy.
Honestly with Bari Weiss
Trump’s Second Week: DeepSeek, DEI in the Military and . . . Baby Chickens?
And I think that's exactly what President Trump and Secretary Hegseth are currently doing and plan to do. And not to mention that he has good communication skills. He was on a Fox News host for, I think, a decade. So I'm not too worried about how he disseminates that information. And I don't think that it's necessarily a bad thing that we have a little bit more of this warrior ethos.
Honestly with Bari Weiss
Trump’s Second Week: DeepSeek, DEI in the Military and . . . Baby Chickens?
The military is the military, and it's supposed to be a lethal force. And we need to get back to that.
Honestly with Bari Weiss
Trump’s Second Week: DeepSeek, DEI in the Military and . . . Baby Chickens?
Well, I would say that those decisions aren't made inside a vacuum. I mean, he has an entire team around him. I would also say that I would argue that he's sort of taking politics out of it rather than injecting politics into it. And he's getting back to the basics here. You know, he's removing the DEI and getting back to all we see is green or all I see is green, as they say in the military here.
Honestly with Bari Weiss
Trump’s Second Week: DeepSeek, DEI in the Military and . . . Baby Chickens?
And he has questioned women in combat, which I think could be like an entirely different conversation. But I think like when it comes to his judgment in particular, I know there have been those allegations that came up at his confirmation hearing, but I don't think that there's anything that we can go off of to say that he's not capable of making those decisions.
Honestly with Bari Weiss
Trump’s Second Week: DeepSeek, DEI in the Military and . . . Baby Chickens?
Again, I think if we look at the past, we had Lloyd Austin. We can question those decisions that he made when it comes to Afghanistan, when it comes to escalating in the Middle East between Israel and Hamas. We can look back at both of those situations and ask, you know, did Lloyd Austin have the right judgment? Did the American military do enough there?
Honestly with Bari Weiss
Trump’s Second Week: DeepSeek, DEI in the Military and . . . Baby Chickens?
Again, I think Pete Hegseth is going to bring a different kind of leadership that the military has needed for a long time.
Honestly with Bari Weiss
Trump’s Second Week: DeepSeek, DEI in the Military and . . . Baby Chickens?
And I want to point out quickly that, you know, Defense Secretary Ash Carter under Obama didn't serve in the military at all. So I think at least we have a solid foundation of that when it comes to Pete Hegseth.
Honestly with Bari Weiss
Trump’s Second Week: DeepSeek, DEI in the Military and . . . Baby Chickens?
Always a pleasure, Peter. Thanks so much for having me.
Honestly with Bari Weiss
Trump’s Second Week: DeepSeek, DEI in the Military and . . . Baby Chickens?
I think Jay Bhattacharya is a great pick. I completely agree. And I think this goes back to that element of common sense. Dr. Jay Bhattacharya is obviously a doctor. But I think there were a lot of Americans when COVID was happening and all these lockdowns were happening and the lockdowns went on for months and months and months. He was against those lockdowns.
Honestly with Bari Weiss
Trump’s Second Week: DeepSeek, DEI in the Military and . . . Baby Chickens?
And so we're normal, everyday Americans. So I think, again, there's that meld there. And I think that he's a great pick. And I think he'll do lots of great things.
Honestly with Bari Weiss
Trump’s Second Week: DeepSeek, DEI in the Military and . . . Baby Chickens?
Yeah, and I would say certainly Trump picked allies to, he nominated allies to his cabinet. I mean, like what president wouldn't? And I understand, Peter, your point on, you know, why would he pick Jay Bhattacharya, who is clearly very, you know, credentialed for his role, and then RFK, or as you would say, Pete Hexeth.
Honestly with Bari Weiss
Trump’s Second Week: DeepSeek, DEI in the Military and . . . Baby Chickens?
But again, I think that the entire theme of the Trump presidency is going to be doing something different. So while Senator Tom Cotton might be a very obvious pick for Secretary of Defense, I I think that, you know, Pete Hegseth was the let's change it up. We need something completely new here. And I think that's exactly what he did. So I think we have this. And I think it's going to be good.
Honestly with Bari Weiss
Trump’s Second Week: DeepSeek, DEI in the Military and . . . Baby Chickens?
I think it's a good mix of, again, I think that the Americans are tired of this traditional political, you know, they don't want politicians. I think the general body of the U.S., they don't want these typical politicians in these roles. They want something different. And that's what Trump did. And I think that's what we're going to see in the months moving forward with these picks.
Honestly with Bari Weiss
Trump’s Second Week: DeepSeek, DEI in the Military and . . . Baby Chickens?
Absolutely. We can attribute the increase in egg prices almost solely to the bird flu, the avian flu, which is sweeping across the nation. I think that it's going to take time, but it's absolutely going to happen.
Honestly with Bari Weiss
Trump’s Second Week: DeepSeek, DEI in the Military and . . . Baby Chickens?
Gosh, I am just so split on this. I would say it's too high.
Honestly with Bari Weiss
Trump’s Second Week: DeepSeek, DEI in the Military and . . . Baby Chickens?
Thanks so much, Peter. Always a pleasure.
Honestly with Bari Weiss
Trump’s Second Week: DeepSeek, DEI in the Military and . . . Baby Chickens?
Sure. So I would say this really began in 2011 when the Defense Authorization Act in 2009 commissioned a military diversity report. And from that report, we have recommendations given that sort of reverberated throughout the military organization. The main one being the focus change. Pre this report, it was mostly a colorblind military.
Honestly with Bari Weiss
Trump’s Second Week: DeepSeek, DEI in the Military and . . . Baby Chickens?
And this report specifically says we need to acknowledge our differences. We need to talk about our differences and we need to do something. We need to recruit more minorities. We need to allow women into combat roles. And so from this 2011 report, we see some initiatives start cascading down, especially when it comes to women in combat roles.
Honestly with Bari Weiss
Trump’s Second Week: DeepSeek, DEI in the Military and . . . Baby Chickens?
You have the former Defense Secretary Ash Carter in 2015 officially opening up those combat roles to women, also allowing transgender people to serve in the military. And so from there, you have 2015. And then 2020 hits, and it's the summer of 2020, and you have the BLM riots.
Honestly with Bari Weiss
Trump’s Second Week: DeepSeek, DEI in the Military and . . . Baby Chickens?
And from those riots, I think that, you know, as everyone was sort of trying to show solidarity, the military did the same. Biden issued two executive orders, and from those executive orders came several reports. Everything sort of cascades down from these reports. And what we have is, for example, in 2021, the Air Force set up their diversity and inclusion office within the Pentagon.
Honestly with Bari Weiss
Trump’s Second Week: DeepSeek, DEI in the Military and . . . Baby Chickens?
And that's where I spoke to General Christopher Walker, who goes by Mookie. That's his call sign. I spoke to him about his experience in that office. So we have all these things that are cascading down from these reports. And those things really solidify in 2020 as diversity and inclusion offices are being set up within each military branch and within each military academy.
Honestly with Bari Weiss
Trump’s Second Week: DeepSeek, DEI in the Military and . . . Baby Chickens?
Sure. So I would argue that as a result of this 2011 report, which was, you know, it's directly the antithesis of a 1992 presidential commission set up by George H.W. Bush. And from that report, we have that there should be equal opportunity within the military. So women and men should be afforded the opportunity to go for and be involved in the military and in equal aspects as long as
Honestly with Bari Weiss
Trump’s Second Week: DeepSeek, DEI in the Military and . . . Baby Chickens?
The needs of the military aren't negatively impacted. So as long as those standards are the same and the needs of the military aren't impacted and it doesn't impact our readiness, equal opportunity is important. And then you have this 2011 report that says we need to focus on our differences. And it's sort of put our differences under a microscope.
Honestly with Bari Weiss
Trump’s Second Week: DeepSeek, DEI in the Military and . . . Baby Chickens?
We need to set up these diversity and inclusion offices. So that sort of turns it on its head and that changes the entire focus of the military. The military, its whole purpose is to defend our country, to defend America, to be ready to fight lethally and to defeat our enemies.
Honestly with Bari Weiss
Trump’s Second Week: DeepSeek, DEI in the Military and . . . Baby Chickens?
It really goes back to the resources, the time spent on these initiatives. I can tell from experience, my husband's in the U.S. Army. Yesterday, he was away jumping out of airplanes. So when you have these initiatives, time is finite. Time is a finite resource. That's when you're spending time in these initiatives.
Honestly with Bari Weiss
Trump’s Second Week: DeepSeek, DEI in the Military and . . . Baby Chickens?
DEI trainings and you're having these guys do DEI trainings and you're having them go to presentations and you're having your leaders, your commanders talking about, you know, we need to talk about our differences. That takes up time.
Honestly with Bari Weiss
Trump’s Second Week: DeepSeek, DEI in the Military and . . . Baby Chickens?
And not to mention the millions of dollars that have been spent on DEI initiatives when we have naval ships that are practically falling apart because we don't have the people that necessary to fix these ships. So I think it's all about priorities here. And then we see the degradation as time goes on.
Honestly with Bari Weiss
Trump’s Second Week: DeepSeek, DEI in the Military and . . . Baby Chickens?
Well, I think that's the perfect analogy. I mean, a team is a team, right? And I spoke to Dr. Anna Simon. She's retired now, but is a professor at the Naval Postgraduate School. And she specifically studied combat teams. And what she told me when it comes to and combat teams specifically is, you know, of course you want diversity in terms of capabilities. You want your radio guy expert.
Honestly with Bari Weiss
Trump’s Second Week: DeepSeek, DEI in the Military and . . . Baby Chickens?
You want your engineer. You want your sniper. And you want a commander. And you want all these people who have specific specialties who come together under one mission. And that's where... As Secretary Hegseth said in my piece, he said, unity is strength, and that should be the focus.
Honestly with Bari Weiss
Trump’s Second Week: DeepSeek, DEI in the Military and . . . Baby Chickens?
When you are out and you're a combat team and you're on a mission, what it comes down to is if you're focused on, like you mentioned, identity, you know, who I am, and you can't trust the person next to you to have your back to cover you. You can't be worried about when you're in these situations. When you're at war, how would this person handle this mission?
Honestly with Bari Weiss
Trump’s Second Week: DeepSeek, DEI in the Military and . . . Baby Chickens?
How would this person handle if something went wrong? I want them to handle it how? I would handle it. And I can trust that they would. So she calls it a mutual indispensability. It's an I need you, you need me cohesiveness. And in order to be successful on these combat teams, you need that complete trust, that complete cohesiveness.
Honestly with Bari Weiss
Trump’s Second Week: DeepSeek, DEI in the Military and . . . Baby Chickens?
And as I spoke to one retired Green Beret, they don't care what color you are as long as you have my back and I have yours.
Honestly with Bari Weiss
Trump’s Second Week: DeepSeek, DEI in the Military and . . . Baby Chickens?
And that's why really quickly they call the military the great equalizer because you could have a kid from inner city Baltimore and you could have a kid who grew up on a farm and all of a sudden they're in the same unit and they have to work together and they learn to work together.
Honestly with Bari Weiss
Trump’s Second Week: DeepSeek, DEI in the Military and . . . Baby Chickens?
So when you inject these political DEI initiatives into the military, into military teams, that's the antithesis as to what the military is supposed to be.
Honestly with Bari Weiss
Trump’s Second Week: DeepSeek, DEI in the Military and . . . Baby Chickens?
Well, I think, I mean, again, it goes back to what are we spending our time on? Does the military need to be spending time on sitting in meetings talking about if drag shows should be allowed on military bases?
Honestly with Bari Weiss
Trump’s Second Week: DeepSeek, DEI in the Military and . . . Baby Chickens?
I mean, I think anyone with a lick of common sense would say, no, top brass doesn't need to be sitting in meetings talking about this, except for that is what happened in 2021, as reported in my piece. So the diversity and inclusion team at the Pentagon took a class taught by a Georgetown professor at Georgetown University. I think this was in 2022.
Honestly with Bari Weiss
Trump’s Second Week: DeepSeek, DEI in the Military and . . . Baby Chickens?
where the professor did a lesson on how all white people are oppressors and black and Hispanic people are inherently oppressed. I mean, what kind of message is that sending? And then if you have the top brass taking these classes and taking in this messaging, well, what does that do? That trickles down. I mean, the military is a hierarchical organization. The one thing that people do in the
Honestly with Bari Weiss
Trump’s Second Week: DeepSeek, DEI in the Military and . . . Baby Chickens?
So you're taking these orders down from the top and you're absorbing, you know, what these generals and top brass are taking in. And it trickles all the way down. So I would say, should we spend time on this? And secondly, it sends the wrong message. Brianna, you probably know this as well. I mean, the military has a very difficult time making their recruitment numbers.
Honestly with Bari Weiss
Trump’s Second Week: DeepSeek, DEI in the Military and . . . Baby Chickens?
Tom Cotton wrote a really in-depth report. where he set up a whistleblower line where active duty members and veterans could write in. And what we have happening here is we have people in their 20s who were in the military telling their brother, don't join, don't do it. I know dad did it. I know I'm doing it. Don't do it. And that negatively impacts recruitment. And there was a lot of that.