Don Lemon pointed out the irony of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and the Trump administration’s efforts to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs within the military, calling Hegseth a “DEI hire.”
“In his definition and the Trump administration’s definition of diversity, equity and inclusion, Pete Hegseth is a DEI hire,” Lemon said on “The Dan Abrams Show” Tuesday. “Pete Hegseth is not qualified for that position, and he shouldn’t be in that position.”
The former CNN host added: “So, therefore, it’s very tough for me — and many people in America — to take him seriously about anything.”
Lemon’s comments came after host Abrams played footage from Hegseth’s speech to top U.S. military officials assembled at the Marine Corps Base in Quantico, Virginia, on Tuesday.
While outlining the Trump administration’s expectations of the U.S. military alongside President Donald Trump himself, Hegseth proclaimed the end of “woke” culture and “politically correct and toxic ideological garbage” in the armed forces while criticizing the policies of former administrations.
“This administration has done a great deal from day one to remove the social justice, politically correct and toxic ideological garbage that had infected our department, to rip out the politics,” Hegseth said. “No more identity months, DEI offices, dudes in dresses.”
Hegseth added: “No more climate change worship. No more division, distraction or gender delusions. No more debris. As I’ve said before, and will say again, we are done with that shit.”
Hegseth’s speech was widely criticized. Retired Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling called his and Trump’s remarks during the meeting “insulting” and “offensive.”
Lemon told Abrams that Hegseth’s comment to military leaders “kind of proves my point.”
“If we were done with that, I don’t think he would be secretary of defense,” Lemon said after the clip.
Hegseth, a former Fox News host and decorated Army National Guard veteran, was a highly controversial pick for defense secretary, given his lack of senior military or national security experience.
Lemon alluded to this, citing a “Republican friend of mine who is a lawmaker and also served” saying that Hegseth “couldn’t even make it to a certain rank level that he would even qualify to be a leader in the military or leader in the Defense Department.”
Elsewhere during the episode, Lemon said he didn’t “understand why [Hegseth is] there.”
“I just don’t get it. I really don’t get it, Dan. I don’t get where we are right now, especially with these people who are not qualified, who are put in these positions [of power] because they’re compromised in some way and Donald Trump elevated them because they’ll do anything that he says,” Lemon added.
Watch the exchange on “The Dan Abrams Show,” beginning at the 9:43 mark below.