Pentagon blasts Fox News host Tucker Carlson’s ‘China masculine, US feminine’ comments about military
- Pentagon accuses Fox News host of demeaning US military with anti-woman segment
- Carlson said China’s military was becoming ‘more masculine as it assembles the world’s largest navy’
The Pentagon strongly rebuked Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson Thursday for calling the rise of women in the US military “out of control” and a “mockery” of its war-fighting mission.
Spokesman John Kirby said Defence Department Secretary Lloyd Austin and other top officers shared deep “revulsion” over Carlson’s comments late Tuesday, which accused President Joe Biden of making US defence forces “more feminine”.
Carlson “essentially demeaned the entire US military and how we defend and how we serve this country,” Kirby said.
“The diversity of our military is one of our greatest strengths,” said Kirby.
“What we absolutely won’t do is take personnel advice from a talk-show host, or the Chinese military,” he said.
Women constitute about 17 per cent of the 1.3 million active duty forces, serving in nearly every type of job, Kirby noted, including flying jets and commanding ships.
On Tuesday Biden nominated two women to four-star general positions leading combatant commands – elite appointments that were stalled under previous president Donald Trump.
