Veterans associations, furious vets and military personnel are calling on their insurance company to yank ads from Fox News and Tucker Carlson’s program after he called Gen. Mark Milley, a “pig” for schooling Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) during congressional testimony.
Carlson went after the nation’s highest-ranking military officer on Thursday, saying Milley’s “not only a pig, but stupid” after the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff put Gaetz in his place. Milley told lawmakers — most pointedly Gaetz — that it’s important for military personnel to be “open minded,” “widely read” and educated about issues, including about Critical Race Theory.
“What is wrong with understanding? Having some situational understanding about the country for which we are here to defend?” an irritated Milley asked Wednesday during the House Armed Services Committee hearing, which left Gaetz shaking his head in disgust.
Carlson came back Friday to again attack Milley, slamming his remarks as “disgraceful.”
Now veterans, service members and other customers are calling on the United Services Automobile Association (USAA), a banking and insurance company which primarily serves vets and their families, to stop supporting Carlson’s show with advertising dollars.
Fox News has in the past maintained a reputation as strong defender of the military, making it an obvious choice for ads appealing to vets and service members. That reputation is deteriorating as Carlson has repeatedly attacked the U.S. military, calling it soft, woke and, to his disgust, femininized.
After the Milley attack, the nonpartisan Veterans for Responsible Leadership, went after USAA.
“So, USAA, is this who you advertise with?” asked a tweet by the group. “Asking for 18 million friends.” It later followed up: “USAA what are you going to do about this?”
The founder of advocacy group High Ground Vets, Kristofer Goldsmith, also called on USAA to “Dump Tucker.”
Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, who testified at Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, tweeted that it was “past time to boycott Fox and companies advertising on Fox.”
USAA customers alerted the company on social media — and in phone calls — that they would cancel their insurance policies unless the company pulled its ads.
The company did not immediately respond to requests from HuffPost to comment.