If you watch cable news, which I don’t recommend, or if you spend a lot of time on the website formerly known as Twitter, which I also don’t recommend but more hypocritically, you have probably heard or seen complaints about Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s effort to hold the promotions of U.S. military officers under review by the Senate. Hawks and “former” intelligence and defense officials with commentator status and the rest of the Nikki Haley fan club claim the delay in pay raises puts America’s national security at risk. 

But as former all-star editorial fellow and contributing editor Harry Scherer’s reporting makes clear in “Coach Courageous,” the focus of these candidates’ efforts in our armed forces has not been American preparedness, but rather the implementation of an abortion and equity regime that demands scrutiny from our political representatives. The real question might be, in response to cries that these sorts of delays didn’t used to happen, why weren’t candidates for high rank in a civilian controlled military receiving more civilian scrutiny before? 

Scherer writes:

But the DEI interest of Army and Navy nominees might be superseded by that of the Air Force. Benjamin Jonsson, nominated for promotion to brigadier general, wrote an op-ed in the Air Force Times in July 2020 titled, “Dear white colonel…we must address our blind spots around race.”

Jonsson’s tone echoes the earnestness of a middle school persuasive essay, complete with frequent repetition of the phrase “Dear white colonel,” and an intemperate reference to the summer’s hottest read: “Start by developing a game plan. A good primer is to read or listen to the short book, ‘White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism’ by Robin DiAngelo.”