On her Wednesday show, MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell spread misinformation by suggesting Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth opposes the existence of female military pilots, thereby disrespecting those women who have suffered greatly in service to their country. On Thursday, instead of issuing a correction, Mitchell doubled down and repeated the claim.
Speaking with former NATO commander and retired Admiral James Stavridis, Mitchell declared, “So, one of the things that they call woke is women, Donald Trump hasn't, but certainly Pete Hegseth has, women in combat, I referenced earlier, I was thinking earlier of, you know, Tammy Duckworth, the senator from Illinois who suffered so grievously after serving in Iraq, the women pilots, women have contributed a lot to this to this military.”
Earlier in their conversation, Stavridis was level-headed enough to praise Hegseth’s service and skills as a communicator, claiming “that is a significant part of the role of Secretary of Defense.”
Unfortunately, Stavridis didn’t push back this time, “Enormously, and just two weeks ago in the Navy, we lost two young naval aviators, flying one of our most advanced jets, F/A-18 Growler, we call it, they were lost in those kind of high-intensity operations.”
Not only did Stavridis not correct the record, he then threw in another suggestion that has no basis in fact, “I have served as captain of a ship that had about 20 percent of my crew were women, it was an exceptional combat ship, Andrea, and it also won the Battenberg Cup as the top ship in the Atlantic Fleet, couldn't have done it without the women who were part of the crew.”
Stavridis comes from a world where everyone aboard a ship is equally vulnerable during combat, but there is nothing to suggest that Hegseth would remove women from sea duty because he was talking about roles “where strength is a differentiator.”
As for Mitchell’s second round of fake news about pilots, it was true on Wednesday, and it was still true on Thursday that Hegseth has explicitly said, “Gimme a female pilot all day long. I have no issues with that.”
This bit of fake news has appeared elsewhere, with CNN's Kaitlan Collins bringing on Duckworth herself to shame Hegseth based on a complete strawman, "you're also someone whose helicopter was hit by an RPG. You lost your legs and partial use of your right arm, because of it. What was -- what did go through your mind, as a woman, who has served, when you heard him saying that women should not be in combat roles?"
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) November 14, 2024
Here is a transcript for the November 14 show:
MSNBC Andrea Mitchell Reports
11/14/2024
12:54 PM ET
ANDREA MITCHELL: So, one of the things that they call woke is women, Donald Trump hasn't, but certainly Pete Hegseth has, women in combat, I referenced earlier, I was thinking earlier of, you know, Tammy Duckworth, the senator from Illinois who suffered so grievously after serving in Iraq, the women pilots, women have contributed a lot to this to this military.
JAMES STAVRIDIS: Enormously, and just two weeks ago in the Navy, we lost two young naval aviators, flying one of our most advanced jets, F/A-18 Growler, we call it, they were lost in those kind of high-intensity operations. I have served as captain of a ship that had about 20 percent of my crew were women, it was an exceptional combat ship, Andrea, and it also won the Battenberg Cup as the top ship in the Atlantic Fleet, couldn't have done it without the women who were part of the crew.
