On Thursday’s CNN This Morning, the Group Chat turned Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s proposal to screen troops for testosterone deficiency and offer treatment into fresh culture-war fodder.
Host Audie Cornish teased the segment by asking if Hegseth is "looksmaxxing the military." As you'll see in the screencap, a subsequent chyron cast the looksmaxxing as fact.
Even more outrageous was panelist Harrison Mann's description of the program as "gender-affirming care." Mann is a former Army officer who resigned in protest over U.S. support for Israel’s war against Hamas, comparing Israel’s actions in Gaza to the Holocaust.
Mann snidely mocked:
"Is it good to offer everybody in the military gender-affirming care who wants it? Absolutely. I don't think that privilege should only be reserved for Pete Hegseth's conception of his ideal man."
In other words, Mann wants the Pentagon to pay for sex-change surgeries and hormones for troops demanding it.
Cornish agreed with Mann, saying that "a lot of people" are viewing the program as gender-affirming care. She noted Sen. Tammy Duckworth's description of the program in those terms.
Mann claimed that Hegseth wants:
"A white male military [and] is firing or killing the careers of every black or female senior officer he can get his hands on. He has his vision of like sweaty masculinity, kind of Pete Hegseth type of guy. He is trying to make the military look like that."
CNN Mocks Hegseth's Testosterone Program As 'Looksmaxxing, Gender-Affirming Care' pic.twitter.com/U5E1r1bYRX
— Mark Finkelstein (@markfinkelstein) July 16, 2026
The initiative is simple enough: service members 30 and older would be required to test, those under 30 could volunteer, and anyone diagnosed with a deficiency could choose treatment. No one would be obliged to take treatment.
Cornish was clearly skeptical about the program. Beyond her "looksmaxxing" introduction, check out her dubious head-bowing smile 15 seconds into the video clip as she kicked off the discussion. And Cornish concluded the segment by facetiously suggesting:
"I could be testing T-levels to come on the panel, too. I think that's only fair."
Republican strategist Mike Dubke injected—excuse the pun—a note of realism. He cast the program as part of the Trump administration's obvious goal of recruiting young men to the military.
CNN showed itself incapable of discussing basic military readiness without injecting identity politics and hyperbole. Hegseth’s focus on stronger, fitter troops was mocked as extremism, while gender surgeries were cast as essential “care.”
The contrast speaks volumes.
Here's the transcript.
CNN This Morning
7/16/26
6:10 am EDT
AUDIE CORNISH: And then the Pentagon, they want to test the troops' testosterone. Is Hegseth looksmaxxing the military?
. . .
PETE HEGSETH: I'm authorizing a new screening program for testosterone deficiency for our service members, ensuring you have the right testosterone levels to operate at your absolute best.
CORNISH: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wants our troops to be tested for testosterone deficiency. He says it'll make them stronger. So here's how the plan will work. Anyone 30 years and older will be required to test. Those under thirty, they can volunteer. And anyone diagnosed with a deficiency can voluntarily choose to receive treatment.
. . .
Since it was me and Meghan and Mike, we had to bring in more testosterone, that's why Harrison is here.
. . .
HARRISON MANN: Is it good to offer everybody in the military gender-affirming care who wants it? Absolutely. I don't think that privilege should only be reserved for Pete Hegseth's conception of his ideal man, and that's what he's doing right now.
CORNISH: I think you've now hit on a culture war nerve center when you said gender-affirming care. This is what a lot of people are saying here, Senator Tammy Duckworth, saying it "Sounds like gender-affirming care to me."
And of course, like, I'm not holding my breath for his perimenopause screening --
MEGHAN HAYS: He doesn't promote women, so it doesn't matter.
CORNISH: This is an issue that's at the nexus, I think it's at the junction of like, Chad Lookmaxxing Boulevard and RFK Way, like, there's a world that is obsessed with testosterone.
. . .
MIKE DUBKE: There is one thing that Pete Hegseth and this administration is focused on, and that is recruiting more young men --
CORNISH: Yes.
DUBKE: -- especially, but young people to the military. We went through years of having, missing our military recruitment numbers.
CORNISH: Yes, I want to show that. The Military News has been reporting about the best numbers in fifteen years, so I know that's what you're talking about.
DUBKE: Yes! And, and I think this is part of it. And I think this is part of it, that we are, that they are focused on this. And this may seem bizarre on its face, that video that you showed, but it is part of this recruitment of young men, joining the military.
. . .
MANN: The vision is not silly, and that's basically a white male military in Pete Hegseth's image. Like that's why he thinks about this stuff.
DUBKE: Now I think you've gone overboard.
MANN: That's why he thinks about this stuff. He is firing or killing the careers of every black or female senior officer he can get his hands on, and we can't understand the other culture war stuff outside of that context. He has his vision of like sweaty masculinity, kind of Pete Hegseth type of guy, he is trying to make the military look like that.
CORNISH: I could be testing T levels to come on the panel, too.
DUBKE: [flexing in jest] I've been [inaudible] about that right now.
CORNISH: I just think that is only fair.
