Sometimes, I almost feel bad for them. Democrats lately haven’t been on their A-game. Their attacks on President Donald Trump and his allies have been more cringe than sharp.
Enter House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), who recently beclowned himself in a video message in which he lambasted Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth because the U.S. Naval Academy removed almost 400 books believed to push far-leftist ideology.
In the video, he refers to Hegseth as a DEI hire. But in this case, he stressed that DEI stood for “dumb effing individuals” who “try to test our resolve and cancel our history.”
“The latest is a book ban at the Naval Academy that removes works, including those about slavery, the civil rights movement, and the Holocaust,” Jeffries lied. “At the same time, keeping books written by Adolf Hitler. Apparently, for these extremists, racist, Nazi ideology and white supremacy is okay.”
We're going to keep the pressure on these extremists who continue to try to whitewash our history. They tried to cancel Jackie Robinson. We reversed it. They tried to cancel Harriet Tubman. We reversed it. They tried to cancel the Tuskegee. We reversed it. We're going to keep the pressure on until this book ban is reversed and Pete Hegseth is fired.
Senate Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries gets all dressed up to go on a social media rant about "so-called Secretary of Defense" Pete Hegseth.
— DeVory Darkins (@devorydarkins) April 13, 2025
"These DEI hires in the Trump Administration, like Pete Hegseth, the so-called Secretary of Defense — dumb effing individuals — continue… pic.twitter.com/teYyYwUCZ2
What Jeffries failed to mention is that he and his comrades “reversed” nothing. That content was removed due to errors and misunderstandings – intentional or unintentional – of what President Trump’s executive orders regarding DEI in the federal government meant. When it was revealed that these items had either been flagged or removed, officials quickly put them back on the website.
During an appearance on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures,” Hegseth responded to Jeffries’ remarks, saying, “That’s how far [Democrats] have fallen.”
It’s astonishing, not surprising. Of course, they don't like the fact that we're ripping DEI out of the military and making it colorblind and merit-based. If their whole strategy is, I don't even know how long the video was, didn't see it, minute long videos on TikTok to call us names while we secure the southern border, kick out Chinese influence, provide the warrior culture inside our military, that's why they lost in a historic fashion to President Trump last time, and their future looks bleak as well.
Pete Hegseth hit back at Hakeem Jeffries’ “Dumb Effing Individuals” jab, calling it proof of how far Dem leadership has fallen. He defended cutting DEI from military training, focusing instead on strength, merit, and national defense. What do you think?#DOD #PeteHegseth #DEI… pic.twitter.com/uIR9KhSXpB
— Fog of Unknowns (@FogOfUnknowns) April 13, 2025
So, basically, Jeffries used what can only be described as a bad dad joke to attack Hegseth and made himself look like that awkward uncle who laughs at his own jokes.
The Democrats’ current outrage stems from reports noting that the Naval Academy removed 381 books from its Nimitz Library to comply with Trump’s executive orders on DEI. The titles being removed include works by poet Maya Angelou and noted race baiter Ibram X. Kendi, according to ABC News.
However, Commander Tim Hawkins noted that the books were not banned but moved to a different location where they are “not immediately available.”
Military leaders and education experts have raised concerns about the lack of clarity when it comes to implementing Trump’s orders. “There isn’t any clear criteria,” said Katherine Kuzminski of the Center for a New American Security. She said leaders are “scrambling” to interpret and apply the substance of the executive orders without overcorrecting.
In some of these stories, it is understandable why there might be confusion. Some might be overreacting because they genuinely are not 100 percent sure whether some content can be considered DEI.
However, I do believe that some of this is what the administration calls “malicious compliance,” meaning that some are going overboard to an absurd degree to make it appear as if this is what the president is mandating. It has created some great fodder for Democrats using these misinterpretations to slam the Trump administration. However, if Jeffries’ cringe performance is any indication, the left clearly has lost its ability to effectively race bait.