In a high-octane exchange, Pete Hegseth defended his sensible decision to rename US military bases after the Biden Administration bowed to woke pressure to erase historical names associated with the Confederacy. Senator Angus King (I-ME), an Independent who caucuses with the Democrats for voting and committee assignment purposes, whined about Confederate figures like Robert E. Lee, whom King labels a traitor, but got completely shown up.
For context, Hegseth argued that renaming bases like Fort Bragg erases history and disregards the emotional connection service members have to these names, putting the woke activist back in his place in epic fashion.
In any case, King began his tirade with tired woke talking points. The senator whined, “I grew up in Virginia, where Robert E. Lee was revered…His birthday was a school holiday. But as I grew older and learned more about American history, I learned that he fit the classic definition of a traitor.”
Still not done, the Democrat continued complaining. The woke activist continued, “He took up arms against his country. He broke his oath as a member of the United States Army, which he took upon entering his career at West Point… You said, we’re returning these bases to their original names. Robert E Lee, leading General of the Confederacy, Pickett, the other names. Why are you doing this?”
Continuing to besmirch Hegseth’s character, King complained, “I don’t understand what the motivation is to rename bases for people who took up arms against their country on behalf of slavery. What possible motivation can there be for this? Who is telling you to do this? Who is urging you to do this?”
Firing back in epic fashion, Pete Hegseth confidently answered, “Senator, the veterans and service members across the country who have deployed from Fort Bragg or Fort Benning or Fort Hood or Fort Pickett. There’s a legacy. There’s a connection to those bases and to those places, to what they train for there, what they did for, and what they came home back to that matters to them.”
Pulling from his own experience, Hegseth stated, “Ask enough of them, as I do all the time before and later, and we recognize the service of those who were put into the replacement, no one’s disputing that. I would never dispute that. What we’re looking at is erasing history, erasing names, erasing base names that service members are tied to people that serve at Bragg.”
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Delivering a devastating rhetorical blow to the woke senator, the SecDef noted, “Ask people to serve at Fort Bragg or Fort Benning, if they like, the fact that the names have been returned and to a man and to a woman, they will tell you, ‘Thank God we’re back to Fort Bragg…'”
Watch the clip here:
Melting down in epic fashion, King made a weak attempt at a comeback, saying, “We’re not erasing history, Mister Secretary, we’re recognizing history and recognizing that mistakes have been made in this country. The greatest of all was the Civil War, where people took up arms against their country on behalf of the institution of slavery and to continue the practice of recognizing those people and honoring them by naming these bases. I believe it is an insult to the people of the United States.”
Featured image from embedded video