Military leaders, veterans and veteran groups are attacking Fox News host Tucker Carlson after he attacked the idea of pregnant women serving in the military.
Carlson called women in “motherhood flight suits” a mockery of the U.S. military, while also making a transphobic side of his speech during a broadcast Tuesday night. His segment was in response to President Joe Biden’s recognition that the military had adapted women’s combat uniforms during his remarks on International Women’s Day.
“As 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 – which means feminine, as men and women no longer exist,” Carlson said. “The bottom line is that it’s out of control, and the Pentagon is going along with it. Again, this is a mockery of the U.S. military and its nuclear mission, which wins wars. ‘
The Department of Defense would not seek personnel advice from a “talk show host or the Chinese military,” Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said Thursday in a response to the comments.
“Maybe people feel like they have something to prove, it depends,” Kirby said. “We know we are the greatest army in the world today, and even for all the things we need to improve.”
Kirby added that the military is “better and more effective” if they represent the entire American people.
A number of active military members, veterans and veteran groups have been concerned about Carlson’s remarks and regularly remarked that the Fox News host has never served in the military.
“I have served with women who have risked their lives to protect our country. “Tucker did not,” he said. Mikie Sherrill, DN.J., a former Navy helicopter pilot, said in a tweet. “While he demeans those who serve, our army remains the best fighting force, largely due to our wonderful maids.”
Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Il, a veteran of the army who lost her legs during a deployment in Iraq, responded to Carlson with a tweet referring to his brief appearance on ‘Dancing with the Stars’.
“While practicing his two-step approach, American female warriors hunted down Al Qaeda and proved the strength of America’s women,” Duckworth said. “Happy late International Women’s Day for everyone except Tucker, for whom I can dance even better than.”
Duckworth is also particularly the first sitting senator to give birth while in office and brought her newborn daughter, Maile, to a Senate floor vote in 2018.
Scott Stalker, a senior commander of the U.S. Space Command, reduced Carlson’s comments to what he called ‘drama TV’ in a video posted on Twitter on Thursday morning. Stalker said Carlson’s opinion was based on an actual zero-day service before he offered his own service, which he said was based on 28 years in the military.
“The decisions were made by medical staff, commanders and our civilian leadership, which allows women to have more time with their children to recover, to be fit and ready,” Stalker said.
“To take the necessary time that our medical staff needs, which in fact makes us a more lethal, ready and fitter force,” he said. “The bottom line is that we value women in our armed forces.”
Carlson tweeted that the press release of the Dept. of Defense attacked his show “as if we were a hostile foreign power” and said he would respond to his show Thursday night.
Fox News did not immediately respond to a request for comment.