State Department is woke, woker, wokest

OPINION:

Secretary of State Antony Blinken told employees in an internal memo that went public to stop using words like “mother” and “father” and “manpower” and such, so as to “show respect” and “avoid misunderstandings” and blah blah blah, cater to LGBTQ insanity.

Yay, Team Biden. It really doesn’t get any weaker when the very agency tasked with protecting America’s security interests is more concerned with coddling the feelings of rainbow-dyed-haired losers who dress in furry cat costumes and live in mommy’s basement.

Here’s State under feckless Joe Biden and Feckless Two Antony Blinken: “In early February, just days after the United States launched dozens of strikes against Iranian-backed militants in retaliation for the killing of three American soldiers … Blinken [provided] guidance to his staffers on a really, really pressing issue facing the nation: the threat of ‘misgendering,’” wrote National Review.

So in a memo titled “Modeling DEIA: Gender Identity Best Practices,” Blinken warned of identifying a person based on appearance, name or — let’s face it — common sense, and can send a “harmful, exclusionary message.” His solution? Quit calling people “mother/father,” or “son/daughter,” or “husband/wife.”

And with that, the world just got a little bit safer. 

Not.

The State Department has been playing woke politics for some time now. In 2023, Sen. Marco Rubio and Rep. Brian Mast released a report, “Diversity Over Diplomacy — How Wokeness is Weakening the U.S. State Department.” Among its findings: In 2022, State funded “drag theater performances” in Ecuador. In January 2023, State celebrated a U.S.-Mexico-Canada call for a focus on equity and racial justice. Around that time frame, State paid — err, U.S. taxpayers paid — an LGBT activist group in Colombia that was fighting for the rights of prostitutes. In 2022, State announced a grant to “promote social acceptance of LGBTQI+ persons” in China-tied Botswana.

That’s but a drop.

Those are but a few.

But as Rubio said then: “The State Department’s misguided focus on wokeness has undermined its effectiveness.”

As Mast said then: “A woke America is a weak America.”

And the world has been listening.

Russia, China, Iran; Hamas, Houthis, Hezbollah — they’ve been listening very closely to this current weak administration’s messaging. And their takeaway has been this: America is weak. We can do as we will. And boy, have they been.

Diversity, equity and inclusion are concepts that should never be allowed to take precedence over competence, skill and ability. But this is the reality under Team Biden. The president signed an executive order in his opening days in office that required federal agencies to put DEI at the top of their priority lists and mission statements — and now America, now the world, suffer the consequences for his foolish, foolhardy ways.

The State Department is full-blown woke.

The world sees America as full-blown weak.

Only a new president, a new executive, a new commander-in-chief who understands how to wield the power of the office properly will change the perceptions of the world about America. Another four years of woke Democrats and it’s doubtful America will ever represent as a beacon of light and liberty again.

• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter and podcast by clicking HERE. Her latest book, “Lockdown: The Socialist Plan To Take Away Your Freedom,” is available by clicking HERE  or clicking HERE or CLICKING HERE.