Senator Tammy Duckworth didn’t mince words this weekend when she went toe-to-toe with the Donald Trump administration’s muscle-flexing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, blasting his latest attempts to dial back progress for women in the military. If anyone’s keeping score, Duckworth isn’t playing nice and for good reason!
The Sunday showdown kicked off as Duckworth, an Army veteran who lost her legs in Iraq, shredded Hegseth for trying to “push women out of the military,” calling Pete Hegseth “the least qualified secretary of defense in our nation’s history” live on CBS. Duckworth was anchoring her rebuke with hard facts: The women Pete Hegseth targets have gone through elite training, graduating from Ranger School and SEAL tryouts that even some of Hegseth’s “bros” couldn’t pass. She argued that it’s not just about physical standards.
Duckworth dismissed Hegseth’s “boys club” combat fantasy as bad policy and bad math: “Our military could not do its job of protecting America and keeping us safe without the women who serve in the military,” she insisted.
She pointed out that high standards don’t need gender policing; they need fairness and recognition for those who’ve earned their stripes. So what set off Duckworth’s volcanic response? Hegseth, flanked by President Trump and squadrons of brass at Quantico, stood up last week and declared it was high time for combat jobs to return to “the highest male standard.”
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The outcome was that He said that women who don’t fit these specs will be excluded, and he’s okay with that! Pete Hegseth shrugged, feeding rumors that the fundamental objective is exclusion and not excellence.
“If that means no women qualify for some combat jobs, so be it,” he said.
He even jabbed at “fat generals and admirals,” as it seems that everyone in the Pentagon, from cadets to chiefs, has an issue with physical fitness. Hegseth has continued to make controversial statements. He’s been playing musical chairs at the Pentagon, firing senior aides one after another, including Navy Chief of Staff Jon Harrison, a key administrator who reshaped the Navy, according to Politico.
These abrupt ousters come as President Trump tries to revive America’s lagging shipyards, though critics argue the shakeups are more about consolidating power than boosting productivity. Senator Ruben Gallego of Arizona didn’t hold back either, calling Pete Hegseth a “laughing stock” and warning that such heavy-handed tactics only alienate Pentagon leaders and risk top-down chaos, especially with America’s adversaries surpassing the productivity of U.S. shipyards. At its heart, Duckworth’s smackdown is a stand for the hundreds of thousands of women who wear the uniform. Her message is that combat standards should be about excellence, not exclusion!
As politicians play power games, America’s security depends on the skills and sweat of everyone qualified, not just those who fit into a “highest male standard” box. For Duckworth, the battlefield is about resilience, smarts, and grit. Her comeback is that diversity strengthens the armed forces, and rolling back women’s rights puts all soldiers at risk of fighting old wars instead of future ones.
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