Gaetz to Defense Secretary Austin: “I’m Embarrassed by Your Leadership” — Cites Socialism Lectures, Pronoun Training, and “Blown Calls” on Russia

On 4/6/2022, Rep. Matt Gaetz delivered a fiery exchange with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin during a House Armed Services Committee hearing, accusing the military of “force-feeding wokeism” while losing to China on hypersonics and blowing strategic assessments on Russia and the Taliban. Gaetz cited a National Defense University lecture promoting “democratic socialism” as a strategy against China, mandatory pronoun training, and CRT at West Point. When Austin accused Gaetz of being “embarrassed by your country,” Gaetz fired back: “I’m not embarrassed by my country — I’m embarrassed by your leadership."

"Embarrassed by Your Leadership”

The exchange’s climactic moment came when Austin tried to deflect Gaetz’s criticism. “The fact that you’re embarrassed by your country—” Austin began.

“No, no. I’m embarrassed by your leadership,” Gaetz shot back. “I am not embarrassed by my country. I wish we were not losing to China.”

“It is so disgraceful that you would sit here and conflate your failures with the failures of the uniformed service members,” Gaetz continued. “You guys said Russia would overrun Ukraine in 36 days. You said the Taliban would be kept at bay for months. You totally blew those calls.”

Socialism at the National Defense University

Gaetz confronted Austin with a specific lecture at the taxpayer-funded National Defense University. “The National Defense University had Thomas Piketty come, and this was the title of his lecture: ‘Responding to China: The Case for Global Justice and Democratic Socialism,’” Gaetz said.

He read the university’s own promotional statement. “Mr. Piketty will argue that the right answer lies in ending Western arrogance and promoting a new emancipatory and egalitarian horizon on a global scale — a new form of democratic and participatory, ecological and post-colonial socialism,” Gaetz quoted.

“Why would we invite people we don’t agree with to evangelize views and values that we don’t share at the National Defense University, when we should be learning strategy about how to combat our enemies?” Gaetz asked.

Austin said he didn’t know about the lecture. “I don’t know what the content of this particular speech was,” Austin said.

“Mr. Secretary, I’ve shared with you the context. The context wasn’t ‘better understand socialism so we can defeat it.’ The concept was that it’s time for socialism,” Gaetz said, noting the lecture was drawn from Piketty’s book “Time for Socialism."

"Blowing a Lot of Calls”

Gaetz catalogued military leadership’s failed strategic assessments. “You guys have been blowing a lot of calls lately on matters of strategy, Mr. Secretary,” Gaetz said. “You told us that Russia couldn’t lose. You told us that the Taliban couldn’t immediately win.”

On hypersonics, Gaetz pressed Austin. “We’re behind in hypersonics. Who’s ahead?” Gaetz asked. Austin deflected, but Gaetz countered: “Your own people brief us that we are behind and that China is winning.”

Gaetz listed the threat indicators. “China last year flew more sorties over Taiwan than ever before. North Korea is on pace to shatter prior records for the number of missiles they are testing,” Gaetz said. “We got time to embrace critical race theory at West Point, to embrace socialism at the National Defense University, to do mandatory pronoun training."

"Force-Feeding Wokeism”

Gaetz drew a through-line from Obama to Biden. “I saw that the Obama administration tried to destroy our military by starving it of resources, and it seems the Biden administration is trying to destroy our military by force-feeding it wokeism,” Gaetz said.

“Maybe we would be better at strategy if the National Defense University actually worked a little more on strategy and a little less on wokeism,” Gaetz concluded.

The Readiness Question

The exchange went beyond political theater to raise a substantive readiness question. The military had failed to predict the speed of the Taliban’s advance, underestimated Russia’s willingness to invade Ukraine, and was falling behind China on hypersonic weapons — while simultaneously dedicating institutional resources to pronoun training, CRT instruction, and academic lectures promoting socialism. Whether one agreed with Gaetz’s framing or not, the question of whether cultural programming was displacing strategic preparation was being asked not just by politicians but by active-duty service members and veterans across the country.

Key Takeaways

Gaetz told Austin “I’m embarrassed by your leadership” after Austin accused him of being embarrassed by his country — Gaetz said he was embarrassed by strategic failures, not service members.
The National Defense University hosted a lecture promoting “democratic socialism” as the strategy to combat China, funded by taxpayers.
Gaetz cited failed assessments on Russia (“overrun Ukraine in 36 days”), the Taliban (“kept at bay for months”), and falling behind China on hypersonics.
He accused the military of prioritizing CRT at West Point, socialism at NDU, and mandatory pronoun training over actual strategy.
Austin said he didn’t know about the socialism lecture; Gaetz said the context was unmistakably “it’s time for socialism.”

Transcript Highlights

The following is transcribed from the video audio (unverified — AI-generated from audio).

The fact that you’re embarrassed by your country— No. I’m embarrassed by your leadership. I wish we were not losing to China.
The National Defense University lecture: Responding to China — The Case for Democratic Socialism. The context was that it’s time for socialism.
You guys told us Russia couldn’t lose. You told us the Taliban couldn’t immediately win. You’ve been blowing a lot of calls.
Your own people brief us that we are behind on hypersonics and that China is winning.
We got time for CRT at West Point, socialism at NDU, mandatory pronoun training.
The Obama administration tried to destroy our military by starving it. The Biden administration is trying to destroy it by force-feeding wokeism.

Full transcript: 1085 words transcribed via Whisper AI.