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Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) measures have created their fair share of controversy. While some claim that DEI is “designed to make people of various backgrounds feel welcome” in the workplace, there have been numerous instances in which the opposite seems to be the case. In fact, countless experts have exposed DEI as none other than a “well-funded Marxist movement.”

Far from promoting “inclusion,” DEI has been criticised as both excluding and destroying anything that impedes its radical agenda. And there are several examples. As The Washington Stand reported in August 2023, NASCAR was caught in the act of banning white applicants from their “Diversity Internship.” Just last month, a report revealed that Pentagon schools were guilty of pushing “DEI propaganda on the children of armed servicemembers stationed abroad.” But perhaps most notable are the cries about how DEI is hurting the U.S. military.

On Friday’s episode of Washington Watch, Matt Lohmeier, executive vice president of Stand Together Against Racism and Radicalism in the Services (STARRS), discussed the impact DEI has had on the U.S. military. “There is a growing influence, and it’s a negative influence, in the Defense Department ever since [the Biden] administration came to office.”

Lohmeier explained how the Trump administration, “through executive order, abandoned altogether and made illegal Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion trainings involving critical race theory vocabulary.” And yet, when President Joe Biden stepped in, all of the removed DEI programs were brought back “with a bang.”

According to Lohmeier, this can’t be surprising when people such as Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Mark Milley, and current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Charles Brown, all consider themselves “a friend to these initiatives.”

He added, “All of these senior leaders buy into this policy that’s been established by this administration, and it has found its way into every branch of the military, in all of the military workplaces, to a lesser or a greater degree.” And now, Lohmeier pointed out, DEI has been included “across all of the [military] service academies.”

Offensive

Lohmeier, who served as a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force and Space Force, described some of what the DEI indoctrination entails, including “training slides … at the Air Force Academy saying that they shouldn’t be using terms such as mom and dad.” And this, he huffed, “is absurd to the American mind and to your common American.”

Not only is it absurd, Lohmeier went on to say, but it’s “offensive to these servicemembers who signed up thinking that they were doing a noble service to their country and getting trained to be leaders and future officers in the United States military, to be bombarded with this propaganda and rhetoric that is so divisive.”

But beyond the damage pertaining to U.S. troops, Lohmeier explained that DEI is also “hurting our recruiting and retention efforts, as everyone has seen.” And considering the numerous ways DEI and the current administration have decreased military readiness, Lohmeier expressed his personal opinion is that “this presidential election … is as critical of an election as we’ve ever had before.”

Ultimately, “the American people know that every aspect of this [administration] has been highly politicised, and we need to remove that highly-politicised influence from the uniformed services so our troops can be united once again.”

Danger Zone

Guest host and former Congressman Jody Hice agreed, stating it’s “one thing for corporations to focus on DEI and lose profits and lose customers. But it is an entirely different matter when the military focuses on DEI,” because “the consequences there are much more significant than just losing customers or profit.” It involves the security of the country. Lohmeier agreed, adding that this same concept is true in the medical field

“[T]he operating room is a great example,” he said. “You don’t want the medical industry… de-emphasising merit and getting a surgeon in there based on the colour of their skin or their ethnicity or their religious background.” Not only is that illegal, as he stated, but it’s “all the more so in the United States military, where lethality matters [and] where a very particular mission set matters” that affects a nation.

He continued, “You don’t want to de-emphasise merit and sacrifice merit for the purpose of establishing… or pursuing race quotas.” Lohmeier noted, “[T]here is a minority… of the population that does, in fact, buy into this idea that diversity means pursuing race quotas.” But “when you do that in the military, you lose lethality.”

And yet, it seems that as the ideology behind DEI initiatives becomes more blatant, the pushback against it has grown stronger as well. Considering this, Hice asked, is it possible “the tide [is] turning on DEI?”

Lohmeier replied, “I’m encouraged some days of the week when I see news headlines saying or suggesting that certain businesses or corporations are abandoning their DEI initiatives.” Or, at the very least, he added, “backing off from aggressively pursuing those initiatives.”

However, Lohmeier admitted, “[E]very time I get encouraged [when] it seems like one or two institutions have backed away from it … two or three more have just doubled down their efforts and dug in their heels even more aggressively.”

He concluded, “[T]here’s no doubt … there continues to be a fracturing influence of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives, even through corporate America.” But by challenging it more and more, Lohmeier believes there is hope for the future.