The II Marine Expeditionary Force has apologized for a Twitter conversation with right-wing commentators about recent comments by Fox News presenter Tucker Carlson about what he believes is the feminization of the U.S. military.
Carlson, whose popularity is due in part to his exciting coverage of identity politics issues, sparked outrage among military figures and others last week when he complained that President Joe Biden was “transitioning” America to a more “female” army presided over.
“Pregnant women are going to wage our wars,” Carlson said Tuesday. “While China’s military becomes more masculine as the world’s largest fleet is formed, our army – as Joe Biden says – needs to become more feminine.”
II Twitter’s Twitter account of the MEF added its voice to the criticism of the far-right television host and posted a photo of a female Marine wearing a comrade. “What it looks like in today’s army @TuckerCarlson, “wrote the account.” Go right before you leave, boomer. “
One user replied, “Please concentrate on China and not on Tucker Carlson. This indicated a dismissive question from the Marines account, which reads, ‘Come back if you have served and been pregnant.’
Right-wing figures shared the exchange and criticized the Marines report for embarrassing a U.S. citizen and politicizing back and forth about Carlson’s comments.
The far-right activist and conspiracy theorist Jack Posobiec, who has long been criticized for spreading far-right propaganda and disinformation, asked on Twitter: ‘Are these official statements of the @iimigofficial about how the Marines view American citizens? ‘
Co-extremist commentator, conspiracy theorist and anti-feminist Mike Cernovich said the Marines report declared a ‘propaganda war against Tucker Carlson’, and told followers: ‘The military is not what you think it is. . “
Right-wing political strategist Bryan Dean Wright, meanwhile, said the Marines’ posts were inappropriate for a non-partisan organization.
“With U.S. Marines tweeting biased views on government bills – and keeping their jobs all the time – we have crossed a red line,” Wright wrote. “The Republic will not last long if our military, intelligence and law enforcement become political instruments,” he said, adding: “We are in desperate trouble.”
The II MEF bill later apologized in response to a tweet sent by Bill Melugin, reporter Fox 11 in Los Angeles, saying it was’ pretty wild to get this tweet from an official U.S. military account. ‘
The II MEF report said: “We are human and we have confused ourselves. We intended to address female marines and it was an effort to support them. They are an important part of our corps and we need to know that. “Set fire and ensure the utmost professionalism in our tweets.”
Carlson’s comments were constantly condemned by serving and former military officials. Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said he shared the ‘disgust’ expressed after the Carlson show, adding: ‘What we absolutely will not do is seek staff advice at a talk show host or the Chinese army. ‘
Army Sergeant Major Michael Grinston was among those who came out to defend their female comrades. Grinston said Carlson’s comments were “divisive” and did not reflect the Army’s values.
“Women lead our deadliest units with character. They will dominate ANY future battlefield we are called to fight,” Grinston wrote. “We have THE MOST professional, trained, agile and strongest NCO corps in the world.”
Phillip Faraone / Getty Images for Politicon