WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) – The Pentagon is withdrawing the planned promotion of an admiral who allowed a drag show to be performed on an aircraft carrier.
Last month, the U.S. Department of Defense announced President Donald Trump’s nomination of Rear Adm. Michael “Buzz” Donnelly to the rank of vice admiral and command of the 7th Fleet, the largest overseas force in the U.S. Navy.
However, the Daily Wire reported that it soon began questioning the Trump administration about Donnelly allowing Yeoman 2nd Class Joshua Kelley to perform as drag queen “Harpy Daniels” at a “Morale, Welfare, and Recreation” event on USS Ronald Reagan while the ship was under Donnelly’s command. LifeSiteNews has previously covered Kelley’s controversial role as a “digital ambassador” for the Navy.
“(A) source at the Defense Department said that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is withdrawing Donnelly’s nomination to lead the 7th Fleet,” the Wire reported. “Hegseth is looking for a new 7th Fleet commander, the source shared.”
The Wire also noted that Donnelly’s previous promotion to his current position was one of the many military promotions that Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama delayed for months in protest of the Biden Pentagon’s insistence on subsidizing abortions in the military.
The steady rise of “woke” ideology within the military, which has persisted and grown since the Clinton years despite the presidencies of Republicans George W. Bush and Trump’s first administration, were intensified by former President Joe Biden, who upon taking office quickly moved to open the military to recruits suffering from gender dysphoria in a reversal of Trump policy, then had Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin launch a review of supposed “domestic extremism” within the military that many saw as a pretext to purge conservative views from the ranks. Under Biden, the military also mandated COVID-19 vaccines and promoted LGBT “pride.”
In the first month of his second administration, Trump began the reversal of past presidents’ politicization of the military by reestablishing the transgender military ban; by reinstating soldiers who had been discharged over COVID shots with their former ranks, back pay, and benefits; by ordering the elimination of “Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion” (DEI) programs from the military and discharge of service members afflicted with gender confusion. The administration also banned LGBT and “Black Lives Matter” (BLM) flags from being flown at U.S. embassies and other State Department facilities and ended observation of all identity-based “cultural awareness” months, including LGBT Pride Month.
