Military to Remove 'Enola Gay' Photos for Violating DEI Rules

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56. MaddowBlog-The White House's find-and-replace problem becomes even more embarrassing

The White House’s find-and-replace problem becomes even more embarrassing

The White House’s find-and-replace problem becomes even more embarrassing - MSNBC

No words - at least that I can state here.

— (@buzzard123.bsky.social) 2025-03-07T17:46:07.252Z

Link to tweet

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/white-houses-find-replace-problem-becomes-even-embarrassing-rcna195342

The Trump administration, for example, has launched a bizarre crusade against diversity, equity and inclusion efforts throughout the federal government, including the Internal Revenue Service’s procedural handbook for employees. Officials, however, weren’t paying close attention to the details......

But to fully appreciate the absurdity of the GOP’s Ctrl-F problem, consider this amazing report from The Associated Press.

References to a World War II Medal of Honor recipient, the Enola Gay aircraft that dropped an atomic bomb on Japan and the first women to pass Marine infantry training are among the tens of thousands of photos and online posts marked for deletion as the Defense Department works to purge diversity, equity and inclusion content, according to a database obtained by The Associated Press. The database, which was confirmed by U.S. officials and published by AP, includes more than 26,000 images that have been flagged for removal across every military branch. But the eventual total could be much higher.

There’s a lot to unpack in the AP’s report, which has not been independently verified by MSNBC or NBC News, but of particular interest is the way in which the Trump administration reportedly approached photographs of a historically significant airplane.

“In some cases, photos seemed to be flagged for removal simply because their file included the word ‘gay,’ including service members with that last name and an image of the B-29 aircraft Enola Gay, which dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, during World War II,” the AP reported.

Almost exactly 30 years later, Donald Trump’s Pentagon is concerned about images of the airplane, not because of its payload, but because of the word “gay.”

Perhaps we should be relieved that the Republican administration didn’t try to rebrand the plane as “Enola Homosexual”?