A major announcement by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that he is canceling the Women Peace and Security program at the Defense Department that was instituted during Donald Trump's first term left an MSNBC panel scratching their heads Wednesday morning.
According to a report from Politico on Tuesday, Hegseth described the program in a post on X as: "yet another woke divisive/social justice/Biden initiative that overburdens our commanders and troops — distracting from our core task: WAR-FIGHTING."
However, as the report noted, "Trump signed the program into law and multiple members of Trump’s current cabinet backed the effort as members of Congress."
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As the "Morning Joe" panel noted, this is yet another misstep by the embattled Hegseth who was given a lukewarm endorsement by Trump in a recent interview with The Atlantic this week with the president admitting, "I think he's gonna get it together."
Noting his latest cancellation of another program, co-host Mika Brzezinski, pointed out, "It seems awkward, but you know, Pete, he doesn't believe women should serve in the military or was, you know, has said that at one point and –– doesn't want that program and that is just awkward."
"Did he not have some process or staff member who said, 'Hey boss, you should just know this was the origin of this?'" MSNBC contributor Richard Haas added with a laugh. "I mean, there's a pattern here you announce policies and afterwards you do the homework as opposed to the other way around."
"You know, maybe they're letting him hang, maybe they knew exactly what he was doing," Brzezinski suggested.
"Look, I mean, I think we're all waiting on Pete Hegseth to show some evidence of competence," conservative columnist David French later added, "Just some, I mean, we have this pattern that we have seen from the beginning, which is he face plants publicly in some dramatic way, and then he runs out and does push-ups with the troops to sort of show that he's a man of the people. Then he comes back out and face plants again and got to run and go do burpees with the troops, this time to sort of show he's a man of the people and just this, this cycle. I think it is growing exhausting for some people within the Trump inner circle."
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