Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao had his own words about soldiers ripping out their own guts and eating them quoted back to him on Thursday—forcing him to react to them.
Cao was on Capitol Hill testifying before the House Armed Services Committee when his bizarre declaration made during his failed 2024 GOP Senate bid was brought up.
Democratic Rep. Chrissy Houlahan noted that Cao had some “interesting” statements during his debate.
“You said, ‘what we need is alpha male and alpha females who are going to rip out their guts, eat them, and ask for seconds—those are young men and women that are going to win wars,’” Houlahan read. “Mr. Secretary, did you say that, and do you stand by that?”
“Absolutely, ma’am, I did say that, and I stand by it,” Cao responded.
Cao went on to share that when he commanded a training center, it had one standard only, “it didn’t matter if you were a man, woman, black or white, because the sea’s unforgiving and things like war, hardship are going to kill you the same. My job is to make sure they live.
But the line of questioning perhaps did not go the way some might have expected because Houlahan responded “perfect” to his answer and said, “I agree with you.”
“It is really wonderful to hear that you are supportive of everyone serving in the military, brown, white, black, or women, as you mentioned, especially the alpha ones,” Houlahan said. “I agree with that as well. I was wondering if you might share that support of those kinds of people, women included, with Secretary [Pete] Hegseth because it seems as though he has a different perspective on this.”
“Secretary Hegseth and I are in line that as long as you meet the standards, then you’re ready to serve,” Cao responded.
During his confirmation for the job, Hegseth repeatedly came under fire for past comments that women should not serve in combat in the military.
Concerns remain after he’s fired or replaced multiple women in leadership positions as part of a broader purge of military personnel, as he continues to rant about ending “DEI” in the military.
Cao made the comment invoking cannibalism when he appeared for a debate as the Republican Senate candidate in Virginia in 2024.
“When you’re using a drag queen to recruit for the Navy, that’s not the people we want,” said Cao. “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.”
But Houlahan used the comment about “alpha females” to push support for legislation to remove gender standards from service and make them neutral, so any qualified candidates would be able to. Cao responded that he was not a member of Congress.
