Mark Kelly claims he has ‘evidence’ Hegseth fires people because they are Black or women

BS BULLETIN:

Sen. Mark Kelly accused Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth of firing military leaders because they are Black or women.
CBS host Margaret Brennan immediately noted that Hegseth would deny the accusation.
Kelly pointed to the racial and gender makeup of officers passed over for promotion as evidence of what he called a broader “pattern,” while the Pentagon says personnel decisions are merit-based.

Sen. Mark Kelly made an extraordinary accusation against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over his shake-up of the military’s senior ranks — and CBS’s Margaret Brennan immediately reminded viewers that the defense secretary disputes it.

During an appearance on “Face the Nation,” Brennan asked the Arizona Democrat about Hegseth’s plans to reduce the number of generals and admirals by 20 percent.

Hegseth has characterized the reductions as part of an effort to streamline military leadership and impose greater accountability. Critics have described his broader removal of senior officers as a purge.

Kelly offered a considerably more serious interpretation.

“Well, he often fires people because of the color of their skin or because they’re women,” Kelly said.

Brennan immediately interjected.

“He would deny that.”

“Of course he would deny that,” Kelly responded. “I think anybody would deny that.”

Kelly then offered what he considers evidence for his accusation.

“When you have a list of seven people who don’t promote from one-star to two-star, and five of them are either Black or women, it’s pretty obvious,” he said.

Kelly argued that Hegseth has established a “pattern,” also pointing to the removal of Gen. CQ Brown Jr., who is Black, as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The Pentagon has previously rejected similar accusations from Kelly.

After the senator made comparable allegations this summer, the department said military promotion decisions were based on merit rather than race or sex.

Hegseth himself has made eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion programs one of the defining features of his Pentagon tenure.

During his recent address to military leaders, Hegseth said the department would be “color-blind, gender-neutral and merit-based.”

He also defended his removal of senior officers and rejected descriptions of the changes as an indiscriminate purge.

Kelly sees something very different.

The senator accused Hegseth of seeking military leaders personally loyal to him and President Donald Trump and said the defense secretary “has no idea what he’s doing.”

There has unquestionably been substantial turnover at the Pentagon under Hegseth, including the removal or sidelining of numerous senior officers.

But Kelly’s assertion goes further than documenting who was removed. He is alleging why Hegseth removed them — specifically attributing personnel decisions to race and sex.

The statistics Kelly cited may form part of his argument, but by themselves they do not establish Hegseth’s motive.

Hegseth and the Pentagon deny Kelly’s allegation.

MY QUICK TAKE

This is where Washington’s DEI argument starts chasing its own tail.

For years, conservatives argued that military personnel decisions shouldn’t be made because somebody is Black, white, male or female. The standard should be competence, readiness and mission.

Hegseth comes in promising exactly that — “color-blind, gender-neutral and merit-based” — and now Kelly’s evidence that the system is discriminatory is essentially that he counted the race and sex of the people who didn’t get promoted.

If Kelly has evidence that Hegseth actually ordered officers removed because they were Black or female that’s a serious story and America should see it.

But demographics alone don’t establish motive.

There’s another historical irony here. For decades, liberals argued that unequal statistical outcomes could themselves be evidence of institutional discrimination, while conservatives insisted that individual decisions had to be examined on their merits.

That argument apparently survived the DEI wars just fine. It simply moved into the Pentagon.

If you’re going to accuse the secretary of defense of deliberately firing somebody because of the color of his skin, however, the standard ought to be considerably higher than: Look at the spreadsheet.

That’s not defending Hegseth.

That’s defending evidence.