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- US war veteran Sen. Tammy Duckworth tore into Fox host Tucker Carlson over his recent comments.
- Carlson ranted about women troops and accused Biden of making a “mockery” of the armed forces.
- “While he was practicing his two-step, America’s female warriors were hunting down Al Qaeda,” Duckworth said.
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Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth didn’t mince words on Thursday when reacting to Fox News host Tucker Carlson’s recent comments about women in the military.
“F— Tucker Carlson,” Duckworth, who is an Iraq War veteran and Purple Heart recipient, tweeted. “While he was practicing his two-step, America’s female warriors were hunting down Al Qaeda and proving the strength of America’s women.”
“Happy belated International Women’s Day to everyone but Tucker, who even I can dance better than,” she added. “…and we all know it was his female partner who did all the hard work.”
-Tammy Duckworth (@TammyforIL) March 11, 2021
On Tuesday’s episode of his primetime show, Carlson accused President Joe Biden of trying to feminize the military and making a “mockery” of the armed forces.
“So we’ve got new hairstyles, maternity flight suits,” said Carlson. “Pregnant women are going to fight our wars.”
“It’s a mockery of the US military,” he added. “While China’s military becomes more masculine … our military needs to become, as Joe Biden says, more feminine – whatever feminine means anymore, since men and women no longer exist.”
Carlson went on: “The bottom line is, it’s out of control and the Pentagon’s going along with this. Again, this is a mockery of the US military and its core mission, which is winning wars.”
The primetime star drew swift backlash and ridicule over his remarks. Military women who are pregnant are exempted from arduous duties and deployments, and the services have strived to make the uniforms they wear more comfortable as one part of a campaign to keep more mid-career women in the service. Women make up approximately 16% of the armed forces.
There is little love lost between Duckworth and Carlson. In 2020, Carlson questioned the Democratic senator’s patriotism and called her “deeply silly.” Duckworth is a former US Army helicopter pilot who lost two of her legs after a 2004 rocket propelled grenade struck her aircraft in Iraq; Carlson was rejected by the CIA after college and has not served in uniform.
After Carlson’s broadcast, the US Army’s official Twitter account blasted out several tweets featuring photos of women serving in different roles in the military.
-Dave Brown (@dave_brown24) March 11, 2021
Several senior Army officials ripped Carlson, saying he “couldn’t be more wrong,” while the Pentagon said the military won’t take advice from a talk-show host.
“We still have a lot of work to do to make our military more inclusive,” the department’s spokesperson told reporters. “What we absolutely won’t do is take personnel advice from a talk-show host or the Chinese military.”
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