Republicans had long been the political party dedicated to supporting the armed forces. However, in a new push to label the military as too woke, they have launched an attack on military leadership. 

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin III, who is Black, has been the subject of ire as he has focused on rooting out extremism within the ranks and has issued a mandate that troops complete a diversity and inclusion training program. 

U.S. Army (retired) General Lloyd Austin speaks after being formally nominated to be Secretary of the Department of Defense by U.S. President-elect Joe Biden at the Queen Theatre on December 09, 2020 in Wilmington, Delaware. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Conservative talk show host Tucker Carlson mocked Austin’s commitment to battling climate change. “This nation’s most formidable foe, the new secretary of Defense just announced, is the weather itself,” he said. 

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Carlson previously made statements that the U.S. military is weak compared to China. According to a Politico report, Austin responded to the comments with “revulsion.” 

Sen. Ted Cruz recently mocked a video created by the U.S. Army telling the true story of Cpl. Emma Malonelord who was raised by two mothers and who enlisted in the army after graduating at the top of her high school class. However, the military was forced to disable comments on the YouTube video as people mocked Malonelord and her story. 

Cruz mocked the ad by sharing a viral TikTok video comparing Malonelord to the Russian military, writing, “Holy crap. Perhaps a woke, emasculated military is not the best idea….” 

Army vets, including Sen. Tammy Duckworth, criticized his remarks. 

However, he did not back down, writing in a follow-up, “I’m enjoying lefty blue checkmarks losing their minds over this tweet, dishonestly claiming that I’m ‘attacking the military,’ Uh, no. We have the greatest military on earth, but Dem politicians & woke media are trying to turn them into pansies.”

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Experts say rank-and-file members are fed up with being used as political tools by both parties. One anonymous source advised Republicans and Democrats to not “use an apolitical tool of national security for domestic voting games. Sure, we are a microcosm of society. But that’s not for politics to play with.”

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