Among the numerous ways the press and the Democrats have been flustered with the new arrival of Donald Trump played out this weekend with the combined efforts to have DEI standards expunged from the military, and the narrow confirmation of Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense. To see just how much of a cherished cudgel DEI has become for the left just listen to the wailing about these cuts and the pushback seen concerning thee effort.
The Air Force in particular has been apparent in its desire to keep DEI standards in place through various means, moves that one needs to question as becoming mutinous, as they are openly defying a presidential order. In a number of cases we have examples from last week of different USAF training facilities openly rebranding their DEI teaching classes, in open defiance of the order to close these down. Another tactic came to light this weekend, one of “malicious compliance”, whereby opponents of a mandate enforce any and all letter-of-the-law requirements in an effort to bog down enforcement through excessive bureaucratic moves and other pernicious applications of a mandate.
As the confirmation of Pete Hegseth was about to take place the press lit up with a scathing story that the Air Force was removing a number of training videos, allegedly a result of the DEI removals. Most damning was one video on the history of The Tuskegee Airmen, and it was charged that this was done as a result of the new Trump regulations. After this story exploded, and following the Hegseth confirmation, there was a day of furious social media rage, and then by Sunday the new defense leader declared this was to be rectified immediately.
Numerous news outlets ran the story, with accusatory verbal fingers pointed at the Trump Administration, carrying all manner of racism implications. Leading the charge was The San Antonio Express, and its military reporter Sig Christenson. The initial coverage declared how this had been an order from President Trump, despite the lack of evidence and the defiance of basic analysis.
Removing these videos from training modules for instructing newly admitted airmen had no reason to be removed, as they were not to be affected by DEI programs or hiring standards. It was clear this decision was made internally at the USAF and the quick reversal by Hegseth was appropriate, but the press did its job of catering to leftist desires by attempting to generate outrage.
Amen! We’re all over it Senator. This will not stand. https://t.co/Hii282f1d8
— Pete Hegseth (@PeteHegseth) January 26, 2025
The subterfuge gets more revealed in the following coverage. Christensson declared the videos were reinstalled in the training modules as a result of “Reversing course in the face of an uproar”. Left unsaid was how the uproar was a fabrication made by him and the rest of the media. The updated reports all state how it was the Air Force that returned the videos to the training courses, yet all the prior coverage insinuated that taking down videos of the history of the POC squadron, as well as the history of the female WASP flyers, was at the behest of the new White House mandates. The language used indicated how this was to be perceived.
The Tuskegee Airmen were described as “victims” in the decision, while it was reported the videos were “stripped from the basic curriculum” as a result of “Obeying a Trump order”. The video of the WASP organization was “spiked”, and these were a direct result of “President Donald Trump’s assault on federal diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives”.
The San Antonio Express, Reuters, and others cited anonymous sources within the Air Force as their origination for these moves, another indication this was an intentional dose of negative PR for the new mandates. If this was all done at the direction of the White House there would be no need to speak off the record, as it would be pointed at as a direct order being followed. Instead it tracks with the other efforts seen from various air bases to shield and obfuscate their efforts to continue the implementation of the DEI programs.
It is a clear sign of how the media are willing to play the compliant mouthpieces of the activists on the left. However the diminished impact of the press that has become a reality over the past year meant that this tempest was quelled quickly. No longer are they the driver of political narratives as they had been in years past.
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