“Foolish and reckless political leaders set the wrong compass heading and we lost our way. We became the ‘Woke Department.’ But not anymore” This was Pete Hegseth, the Defence Secretary of the United States addressing the Marine Corps at Quantico this week. The villainization of ‘wokeness’ does not surprise. All Republicans under Trump are trained to parrot the idea. By their standards, the word ‘woke’ bypasses other derogatory terms, even the most racist ones, in offence.
But, Hegseth doesn’t stop there. He gives out a warning, “If the words I’m speaking today are making your hearts sink, then you should do the honourable thing and resign.” That the administration is on its spree to ‘cleanse’ all government departments of DEI, and that this includes the armed forces, was made very clear, if it wasn’t already. “No more beardos”, he exclaimed. On the face of it, this seemed like a remark about grooming and professionalism, and nothing else. But the deeply racist intent with which this was spoken, and has made its impact thus, charts out the path of regression that Trump & Co. are conjuring up.
In the US, shaving waivers are granted to the armed forces, particularly because of pseudofolliculitis barbae — a painful condition caused by ingrown hairs in people with curly facial hair, on constant shaving. This policy of offering medical waivers began during the Vietnam war when the military started recruiting Black men in large numbers. But, Hegseth’s new directive, which he made public again at Quantico, now gives them a single year to solve whatever medical issue warrants such a waiver. The Department of ‘War’ has also lifted any and all religious exemptions that are usually granted to soldiers from the Sikh, Norse Pagan, and Muslim communities. The accusations of ‘unprofessionalism’ that Hegseth raises, are coloured by the type of overt racism that this administration does not shy away from.
However, this is not the first time that targeted attacks have been made via policy against people of colour. Earlier this year, Trump began laying off federal employees. Roughly 12% of the federal workforce is constituted by Black women. Then, as now, the administration was far more concerned about managing the growing ‘woke’-ness of government departments, than about efficiency. You can have the highest expertise, but your appointment can still be knocked off the platter if you’re not an anti-woke culture fit. No service guarantees, no dignified departures. Peggy Carr, the first Black woman to lead the National Center for Education Statistics, was abruptly escorted out of her office this February after 35 years of service. Within days, contracts were slashed, key data projects collapsed, and for the first time in its history, the NCES missed a federal reporting deadline. Departments and agencies such as Education, Veteran Affairs, and Health & Human Services, all which employ many women and people of colour, have seen the biggest employment cuts under Trump this year.
Back to Hegseth’s speech. He also demanded that fitness tests for combat roles stick to the “highest male standard”. To this, he added, “I don’t want my son serving alongside troops who are out of shape, or in combat units with females who can’t meet the same combat arms physical standards as men”, because it involves “life and death”. Hegseth imagines up an issue of incapacity. Women have always qualified for combat roles after passing the same standards that men in these positions do — without any preferential treatment. To then dog-whistle his way into claiming that women are far less qualified, and have been receiving considerable leeway in service, serves the lone purpose of bringing traditionalism back into the mainstream of politics.
The Trump administration’s singular condition for elevation — or acceptance — to departmental positions has been loyalty. Take, for instance, the appearance of Stephen Miran (the President’s nominee to the Federal Reserve) before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, in September this year. Senator Elizabeth Warren prefaced her question to Miran by demanding that Miran respond only with a yes or no. She then asked, “Did Donald Trump lose the 2020 Presidential election?” To this, Miran responds, “Joe Biden was certified by Congress as the President of the United States.” This, of course, underscored the absolute worship that Trump’s nominees pledge to the President, risking the independence of the office they occupy. Standards of ‘professionalism’ do not apply to these men or women.
Trumpian politics, now also made evident for the armed forces by Hegseth, is too dangerous to dismiss as mad man’s rhetoric. It threatens to dismantle years of reform, remove protections promised to the marginalised and deepen existing inequalities. Discriminative employment policies, informed by identity politics, will turn more arbitrary under this administration. The President and his team is essentially turning every federal agency and department into a tool of partisan war. Only from a man who crowns his gold-plated Oval Office as the “best ever” could you expect this.
