This week, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the US Navy to rename the USNS Harvey Milk. This was a cultural victory as Hegseth wielded power to erase a homosexual icon from being celebrated. The emergence of Christian Nationalism and the broader New Christian Right has led to the questioning of William Buckley’s legacy. In line with Buckley’s legacy, National Review, the outlet he founded defended the legacy of Harvey Milk, a homosexual pederast.
In an article titled, Harvey Milk Was a Patriot, National Review goes beyond parody.
A former Pentagon official told me that Hegseth’s decision is “low-rent.” It certainly seems like a gratuitous insult. It’s one thing to properly wipe away obnoxious DEI programs that have created a playpen for superficial thinking and morale-sapping behavior at the Pentagon. It’s another to deliberately remove the name of a historically significant figure. Harvey Milk had a real association with the Navy. During the Korean War, Milk volunteered for the Navy, in which both his father and mother had served. He served as a diving officer on a submarine rescue ship. According to his biography, in 1955, at age 25 and after four years of service, he left the service “after being officially questioned about his sexual orientation.”
Clearly, the author here believes that Milk is worth celebrating, as historical significance would be attributed to Benedict Arnold, as well.
“A hard-boiled conservative in the laissez-faire capitalist mold, Harvey and (his lover) Jack spent much of the fall of 1964 rising early so they could distribute Barry Goldwater leaflets in New York City subways. . . . He had a fierce argument with President Kennedy’s move against the steel industry. The raw use of federal power in the economy made Harvey’s blood boil.” Indeed, his close friend Craig Rodwell once called Milk a fascist, which made the young securities analyst laugh.
In a laughable fashion, National Review frames Milk as a conservative politically based on his support for Goldwater in the 60s. The rest of the article hypes up Harvey Milk’s libertine political views, emphasizing his opposition to taxes.
Allowing the Pentagon to make a petty and prejudicial move against the naming of a ship after Harvey Milk sullies [Trump’s] record and is no way to build esprit de corps in our military.
National Review would publish a counterargument which focused more on the dignity of the Navy to not name ships after any politicians and saw Milk’s naval service as unremarkable.
It’s a weal argument, but then again, Buckley conservatism is pretty weak.
