Attempting to undercut President-elect Trump's nomination of Pete Hegseth as defense secretary, Wednesday's Morning Joe misled on the key issue of the physical fitness of female soldiers.
After playing a clip of Hegseth expressing his opposition to women in combat, and proposing that the military adopt the same gender-neutral fitness standards that were in place in 1995, the show brought on NBC national security editor David Rohde, who said:
I think clips like the one you played will raise major issues. There are women in combat. And women who engage in ground combat have to take physical tests. Can they pick up and carry another soldier who is wounded is one of them.
Rohde's statement implied that female soldiers would be capable to "pick up and carry" a wounded soldier just like a male soldier can. That's not true.
As explained in this AP article titled "Army eases fitness test standards for women, older troops," in 2022: "The Army has scrapped its move to have a physical fitness test that is gender-and age-neutral, and will now allow women and older soldiers to pass while meeting some reduced standards."
Rohde disdainfully dismissed as "political talking points" Hegseth's opposition to women in combat and his call to reinstate gender-neutral fitness standards.
But under the current, woke, standards, women are not be required to drag as much weight, or run as fast, as men. Consider how that could affect outcomes when women attempt to carry wounded soldiers off the battlefield.
Question for Joe Scarborough: If one day you were wounded on the mean streets of Nantucket, who would you want carrying your 6'4" frame to safety? A burly man, or a weaker, slower woman?
It's also worth noting that Mika Brzezinski tried to downplay Hegseth's service by simply calling his a "Fox News host" and quickly glossing over the fact that he's "a military veteran who served with the Army National Guard." What she failed to mention there was his 20 years of service, his combat tours, and how he's highly decorated.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
MSNBC's Morning Joe
11/13/24
6:02 am ETMIKA BRZEZINSKI: We'll start this morning with Donald Trump's pick for Secretary of Defense. He has chosen Fox News host Pete Hegseth as the next leader of the Pentagon. Hegseth is a military veteran who served with the Army National Guard.
In a statement, Trump described Hegseth as, quote, tough, smart, and a true believer in America First. During an interview on a podcast just last week, Hegseth criticized what he called woke policies in the military, and said that women should not be allowed to serve in combat.
[Cuts to video]
PETE HEGSETH: There's a chance to course correct it, but it would take a new Trump administration going after it really hard.
SHAWN RYAN: How would they correct it?
HEGSETH: First of all, you got to fire, you know, you got to fire the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and you got to fire, obviously, you're going to bring in a new Secretary of Defense.
But any general that was involved, general, admiral, whatever, that was involved in the DEI, woke [bleep ] has go to go. Either you're in for war fighting, and that's it. That's the only litmus test we care about. We've got to get DEI, CRT out of military academies. You're not training young officers to be baptized in this type of thinking.
And then, whatever the standards -- whatever the combat standards were, say, I don't know, in 1995. Let's just make those the standards.
[Transition]
I think a huge one is women in combat, and quotas. I think the way they pushed that under Obama, in a way that had nothing, zero, to do with efficacy, zero to do with lethality and capability.
RYAN: You don't like women in combat?
HEGSETH: No.
RYAN: Why not?
HEGSETH: I love women service members who contribute amazingly. Because everything about men and women serving together makes the situation more complicated. And complication in combat means casualties are worse.
[Cuts back to live]
JOE SCARBOROUGH: So, Willie, obviously, a lot of concern among Democrats, among some Republicans. But this, obviously, is going to be, I think I saw Jake Sherman say yesterday, this might be the biggest challenge of any pick so far to get through.
(...)
WILLIE GEIST: Let's bring in NBC News national security editor David Rohde. David, good morning. What reaction are you hearing to this, at least, nomination to be Secretary of Defense?
DAVID ROHDE: It is a surprise, and I think when clips like the one you played come out, it's gonna raise major issues.
There are women in combat. Women who engage in ground combat have to take physical tests. Can they pick up and carry another soldier who's wounded, is one of them.
And most of all there's very large number of women who are combat pilots, very experienced ones.
And so, again, I think he should have his hearings and he should talk through these ideas. But they're more, I guess, talking points, political talking points, versus the concrete realities of these policies. So it is a surprise.
There's been good, I think, picks that are more centrist like Marco Rubio, that have been, I think, seen in a positive light by national security experts. But this one is definitely a surprise.
