Pete Hegseth Takes His Petty Bullshit To The Legacies Of Ruth Bader Ginsburg And Thurgood Marshall
This is why we can't have nice things. The post Pete Hegseth Takes His Petty Bullshit To The Legacies Of Ruth Bader Ginsburg And Thurgood Marshall appeared first on Above the Law.
Pete Hegseth is not particularly qualified to be the Secretary of Defense. The former cable TV host is best known for domestic abuse allegations and alcohol use, but he’s loyal to MAGA and so, he got the nod to lead our nation’s military. He’s taken Donald Trump’s war on DEI very seriously, in the process forcing out qualified military leaders and damaging institutions. In one particularly nasty and vindictive move, Hegseth ordered the USNS Harvey Milk — named for the Navy vet and gay rights activist, renamed to aligned with the priority of “reestablishing the warrior culture.” And of course, the move coincides with Pride Month, because the cruelty is absolutely the point.
The renaming has been slammed by Democrats. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said it was “an utter abomination in terms of the extreme MAGA Republican effort to continue to erase American history, and we’re not going to allow it to happen.” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said on social media that Hegseth “should be ashamed of himself and reverse this immediately.”
And Nancy Pelosi said, “The reported decision by the Trump Administration to change the names of the USNS Harvey Milk and other ships in the John Lewis-class is a shameful, vindictive erasure of those who fought to break down barriers for all to chase the American Dream.” That’s right, because according to reporting by CBS News, Hegseth is also looking into undermining the legacy of other civil rights icons, stripping the names of naval ships including the late Supreme Court justices Thurgood Marshall and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who are slated to have have naval vessels named after them. Other ships on the Navy’s renaming “recommended list” are the USNS Harriet Tubman, USNS Dolores Huerta, USNS Lucy Stone, USNS Cesar Chavez, and USNS Medgar Evers.
The USNS Thurgood Marshall and the USNS Ruth Bader Ginsburg were scheduled to be the second and third John Lewis-class of underway replenishment oilers named after Supreme Court justices. Despite the big talk from Hegseth about renaming being linked to “warrior culture,” the USNS Earl Warren is not currently being considered for renaming. I wonder what’s different about Justice Warren that he gets to keep a ship named after him…
Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1 or Mastodon @Kathryn1@mastodon.social.
The post Pete Hegseth Takes His Petty Bullshit To The Legacies Of Ruth Bader Ginsburg And Thurgood Marshall appeared first on Above the Law.
