Republican says military needs recruits who ‘rip out their own guts’ – not drag queens

Virginia Republican Senate candidate Hung Cao doubled down on remarks he made during a debate Wednesday night when he suggested that drag queens – and people tolerant of them – don’t have the strength to serve in the military, asserting: “I just said what everyone believes as fact.”

NBC News reported that the disparaging comments came during a televised debate with Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine when Cao, a MAGA-backed Navy veteran, was asked to explain his past views on how military recruitment efforts could be affected by diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DEI, initiatives.

“When you’re using a, you know, drag queen to recruit for the Navy, that’s not the people we want,” according to a clip Cao posted to his 94,000 social media followers after the debate. “What we need is alpha males and alpha females who are going to rip out their own guts, eat them and ask for seconds. Those are young men and women that are going to win wars.”

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Later reached for comment, Cao’s campaign told NBC in a statement attributed to the candidate, “I just said what everyone believes as fact.” He then restated his debate response, according to the station, before adding that men and women who "rip out their own guts" are the ones who "are going to win wars. Not drag queens."

Cao’s statements provoked strong reaction on social media.

“I’m a lifelong Virginia Republican. Hung Cao’s performance in tonight’s U.S. Senate debate —and throughout the campaign — is terrible,” Reed Howard, chief strategy and public affairs officer at Future Caucus, wrote on X. “Our party should be embarrassed we nominated him.”

“Hung Cao's bigotry is palpable as he attacks LGBTQ Virginians,” the liberal Super PAC American Bridge 21^st Century wrote to their followers.