The military: Hegseth's escalating culture war

Hegseth's censorship requires professors "to indoctrinate, not educate."

(Image credit: Andrew Harnik / Getty Images)

published 20 May 2025

The U.S. service academies are under attack—by the Pentagon, said Greg Jaffe in The New York Times. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth last week ordered West Point and other military academies to purge their libraries of books covering "divisive concepts" such as race, gender, and the treatment of Native Americans. The service academies, Hegseth and President Trump declared in a memo, cannot teach that "America's founding documents are racist or sexist." The Defense Department suggested using search terms including "anti-racism," "diversity in the workplace," "gender transition," "white privilege," and "critical race theory" to weed out forbidden books. The Naval Academy has already purged almost 400 books, including acclaimed works by Toni Morrison and Maya Angelou. As Trump and Hegseth "ratchet up the pressure" in the culture wars, several West Point professors have resigned in protest, while the academy's leaders find themselves "in an increasingly difficult spot."

After 13 years teaching philosophy at West Point, I am resigning because the academy has "abandoned its core principles," said Graham Parsons, also in the Times. Hegseth's censorship requires professors "to indoctrinate, not educate." The claim that historical realities like racism and sexism "are too dangerous even to be contemplated" by cadets is absurd. So is telling future military leaders they can't "question their own government." Meanwhile, the Supreme Court last week temporarily allowed the Pentagon to enforce Hegseth's ban on transgender troops, said Mark Joseph Stern in Slate. Litigation over that ban continues in lower courts, but the military's estimated 1,000 members who self-identify as transgender now have 30 days to resign and leave, despite no evidence they undermine military readiness. "No more dudes in dresses," Hegseth sneered.

It's Hegseth, not trans troops or books, who's undermining the military, said Laura Jedeed in The Nation. With his "penchant for sharing classified information" on unsecured apps, the unqualified former Fox News host "is a liability in every possible sense." His top aides have already quit or been fired. Hegseth is keeping his job for one reason: Trump has long fantasized about invoking the Insurrection Act and sending the army into the streets to round up migrants or protesters. Trump knows that many career military officers believe they serve the Constitution, not an authoritarian president, and might say "no" to an illegal order. Hegseth's mission is "changing that 'no' into a 'yes.'"