Hegseth stripping Harvey Milk's name off Navy ship is weak and insecure | Opinion

In a display of infantile weakness, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered the U.S. Navy to remove iconic gay rights activist and Korean War veteran Harvey Milk’s name from a ship.

A Pentagon official told Military.com the ship renaming was intentionally announced during Pride Month, presumably because faux tough guys like Hegseth and others in the Trump administration mistakenly equate toughness with being a complete (expletive).

In a statement, a spokesman for the Department of Defense said: “Secretary Hegseth is committed to ensuring that the names attached to all DOD installations and assets are reflective of the commander in chief’s priorities, our nation’s history, and the warrior ethos.”

Hegseth's plan to scrub Harvey Milk's name from a ship is peak insecurity

The “warrior ethos,” Secretary Hegseth? Are you an insecure 12-year-old?

Nothing says indomitable warrior quite like, “I’m afraid of this boat’s name.”

A true warrior would be familiar with American history and would know that Milk served as a U.S. Navy operations officer on rescue submarines during the Korean War, then went on to become the first openly gay man elected to public office in California. He was serving on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors when he and the city’s mayor were assassinated in 1978.

Milk served in the Korean War and earned his place in history

A true warrior would recognize that U.S. service members throughout history have proudly served, fought and died for the rights of all Americans to speak and live freely.

A true warrior would be appalled to read the statement Milk’s nephew Stuart Milk, who chairs the Harvey Milk Foundation, had to release in response to Hegseth’s pathetic renaming plan, saying of the slain activist: “His legacy has stood as a proud and bright light for the men and women who serve in our nation's military – including those who have served on the USNS Harvey Milk – and a reminder that no barriers of race, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, religion, or physical infirmity will restrain their human spirit.”

Hegseth apparently sees US Navy ship names as 'woke'

The New York Times reported that there are other ships named after civil rights leaders that might be renamed under Hegseth’s feeble leadership. The names include Thurgood Marshall, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Harriet Tubman and Cesar Chavez.

Make no mistake that behind these decisions is an administration limply fighting back against any incursion on the power of straight, White men, wholly unaware that people with real power don’t need to exert their will on others.

Announcing that you’re stripping the name of a gay rights activist from a Navy ship at the start of Pride Month is, of course, a transparent provocation.

To insecure, whiny, entitled men who spend their days listening to other insecure, whiny, entitled men, it’s a show of strength. It’s something they can smirk about as they exchange awkward high fives.

Hegseth and others in the Trump administration don't know true strength

But that’s not strength. It’s not a “warrior ethos.” Heck, it’s not even an ethos. It’s just a bunch of unconfident losers trying to push others down to make themselves feel tall.

If Harvey Milk’s name is scrubbed from a Navy ship, it won’t alter his legacy. His name, decades upon decades from now, will still echo in the pages of history, the hearts of students of civil rights and the mind of any soldier with a true warrior ethos.

Pete Hegseth's name, on the other hand, will prompt only one response: “Who’s that? Never heard of him.”

Follow USA TODAY columnist Rex Huppke on Bluesky at @rexhuppke.bsky.social and on Facebook at facebook.com/RexIsAJerk