Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joints Chiefs of Staff, sparked Republican outrage after he defended teaching critical race theory at the US Military Academy, The Week reports.
Milley, who held the same role under former President Donald Trump, took issue with questions from Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz about whether the military was becoming “woke” before West Point cadets have a class called “Understanding Whiteness and White Rage.”
"I want to understand White rage. And I'm White. And I want to understand it,” Milley responded. "What is it that caused thousands of people to assault this building and try to overturn the Constitution of the United States of America? What caused that? I want to find that out. I want to maintain an open mind here."
Milley said it was “offensive” that lawmakers like Gaetz called troops “quote ‘woke’ or something else, because we're studying some theories that are out there."
"I've read Mao Zedong. I've read, I've read Karl Marx. I've read Lenin. That doesn't make me a communist," Milley said. "So what is wrong with understanding, having some situational understanding about the country for which we are here to defend?"
Defense Secretary rejects CRT claims:
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin rejected Gaetz’s claim that the military was teaching critical race theory.
"I don't know what the issue of critical race theory is and what the relevance [is] here with the department," Austin said. "We do not teach critical race theory. We don't embrace critical race theory and I think that's a spurious conversation... We are focused on extremist behaviors and not ideology, not people's thoughts, not people's political orientations. Behaviors are what we are focused on."
Ingraham suggests defunding the military:
Fox News host Laura Ingraham was so “outraged” by Milley’s comments that she suggested defunding the military.
"We are sending our tax dollars to this military in an attempt to weed out so-called 'extremists,'" Ingraham said, claiming that the “extremists” are merely "conservative evangelicals."
"Why is Congress not saying we're not going to give you a penny until all this is eradicated from the military budget?” she questioned. “Nothing. 'This is my offer to you: nothing.’"
Ingraham went on to accuse Milley of spreading a "far-left Marxist racist ideology" in the military, adding, "I am totally outraged by him and his ridiculous response today."
