Admiral’s Promotion Pulled Over Drag Queen Shows
Rear Admiral Michael Donnelly
Pentagon Pulls Promotion Of Admiral Who Allowed Drag Shows After Federalist Inquiry
By: Jacqueline Annis-Levings
The Defense Department is pulling the recommendation for Rear Admiral Michael Donnelly’s promotion, one week after the DoD refused to answer The Federalist’s inquiries, as the Daily Wire first reported.
“Secretary Hegseth has chosen to withdraw Admiral Donnelly’s nomination to lead [the] 7th fleet. The Secretary is thankful for his continued service and wishes him luck in his next position. The Department will open up nominations for the 7th fleet commander.”
Donnelly gained infamy for allowing drag shows aboard his ship, the USS Ronald Reagan, during Trump’s first term. The Federalist reached out to the White House to ask why Donnelly was being promoted despite his apparent opposition to Trump’s vision for the military, but did not receive a response. Upon reaching out to the Secretary of Defense’s Office with the same question, the Federalist was referred to Navy Public Affairs, which also did not respond.
On the campaign trail, Trump promised to fire woke generals and admirals, rid the military of other woke elements, and make the armed forces strong again. He even featured a video that spliced clips of Full Metal Jacket alongside Admiral Rachel Levine and Navy drag queen “Harpy Daniels” to illustrate the strength of the military under Trump versus wokeness under Biden.
“Harpy Daniels,” an openly nonbinary sailor and drag performer whose real name is Joshua Kelly, was crowned a Navy digital ambassador in 2022. In 2017 and 2018, he performed drag for Morale, Welfare, and Recreation Department events onboard the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan. Donnelly was the ship’s captain at the time.
YN2 Joshua Kelley aka “Harpy Danials”
This is another cost of DEI in the military- a good officer removed from consideration because of the political climate of the time. Had he refused the MWR’s idea of onboard entertainment he doubtless would have been branded an uninclusive transphobe and pilloried by what passed for DOD “Leadership” at the time. Dammed if you do..
“…wishes him luck in his next position.” Welp, he’s going to need it. Seems like I remember if one was withdrawn for a position that they had been considered for, the next position would be standing in line at the ETS Processing Point.
Sounds to me he’s got the pervert bent himself. Any self respecting office would not allow that.
Yo, Mike-y D. Having recently completed the retirement process myself, let me know if you need any pointers. Except DEI or drag stuff. I managed to go all the way without that. The VA will ask if the loss of your balls was service-connected. That may be tricky.
For real, though, while I think the drag stuff is gross I could intellectually differentiate between something funny and something sordid. I suspect the aim was for the former, but personally still not a fan. At all.
“… I think the drag stuff is gross…”
Can’t argue with that.
……..
My ex- and the current wife seem to have a thing about it and it was, and is, a point of contention.
To wit; back in 2009 or 10 I was at Benning. My then-wife found herself hanging out with an ossifer’s wife who was a slight mess.
They make plans to go to a “performance” for the alternative-lifestyled at a little B&B downtown (just up the block from Doctor Pembrook’s abode) and Miss Cant-be-wrong implores me to come ‘long with them. I emphatically tell her ‘not no, but F no’. I let her know not only do I find it off-putting (I’ve seen drag since I was a kid, my liberal parents brought us to P-Town on the Cape, iykyk) but the establishment, when operating as a venue, was on the black list of off-limit establishments as dictated by the CG’s orders.
Now I’m no prude. I’d violated that a-plenty while in Hawaii (and saw some things, man…) but I promised the Army went I put on those stripes that I’d follow the rules a little tighter than any other Soldier. It’s in the fucking oath.
I find it disturbing. I find it wastful. I find it annoying. Just like Dallas Cowboys fans! But I’ve never been excoriated by a Cowgirls fan for not liking their team. Jussayn.
Haha!
“Dammed if you do..”, and damned if you don’t. We can sit here and criticize the guy all day. I don’t know his history and haven’t even read his bio, so maybe he was a good officer, or maybe he was simply another yes-man (to the
rightleft leaders, much like Milley) who rose to prominent rank.I agree that this is another cost of DEI. It’s also a good example of why “progressive” leadership catering to the current presidential administration isn’t exactly conducive to a long and storied career in the next. Simply put, he allowed MWR to plan and stage a drag show aboard his ship, which was considered an example of our military’s strength under Biden, after Obama forced the military to not only eliminate DADT but to embrace all sexualities and all genders within the next five years. It happened under Trump 1.0, when the playboy real estate mogul turned celebrity turned CinC was learning the ropes in Washington and taking relative baby steps. Now, under Trump 2.0, the gloves are off, and the good RADM is an example of Hero to Zero.
Don’t worry, though, there are a fleet (pun intended) of rising CDRs and CAPTs waiting to help undo all of Trump’s and Hegseth’s work in an upcoming Administration. I’m sure there are a lot of LTCs and COLs out there too who admire the work of Milley and Austin.
How many other commands had drag shows?
Not many, which tells me the commander was the issue.
Go woke, go broke.
As if a Yeoman does not already have the nick name of ‘titless waves’, this YN2 re-inforces the sterotype. Got my share of teasing as a YNC, of course I gave it back to the ‘skivvy wavers, deck apes’ . etc
Was waiting for this one, thanks Chief!
I would not worry about him too much. Between his pension and all of his Board of Directors pay, he will do ok
“digital ambassador”
One who performs prostate exams.
That was funny!
Bummer.
Time to go back to DADT
If you like sticking things up your ass….keep it to your damn self!
This, but unfortunately, DADT was just a discardable Clinton-era gimmick that was tossed as soon as America’s First Black President could make it happen. From my understanding, before DADT, an NCO or officer could just outright ask a Soldier if they were gay (or queer, a fairy, faggot, etc. oh, no, now I’m cancelled for hate speech) and start the chapter paperwork immediately. Mere suspicion was enough, and there were and still are plenty of completely biased leaders in the military who would readily kick out anyone that doesn’t share the same values as themselves.
DADT eased us into tolerance, which in my opinion wasn’t the worst thing. The first half of my time in was under DADT, and we all knew or suspected certain Soldiers of pitching and/or catching for the other team. The thing was, it was their business, not ours. If they told us, they knew the consequences, but we couldn’t ask. “Keep it to your damn self” indeed.
Like it or not, we have societal norms that the vast majority of us were raised with. So, it’s perfectly acceptable for a CO to bring his wife to a function, or for an NCO to bring her boyfriend to the battalion ball. I’ll go so far as to say it wasn’t completely disruptive when that CO brought his husband (I never personally saw this) or the NCO brought her girlfriend, though I’m probably showing my late Gen-X’er take on such things. But it was no longer about merely accepting sexuality, it became our responsibility to embrace it. Those leaders weren’t flaunting their bedroom preferences in front of us; any more than their predecessors were bragging about their swinger lifestyles. Now, we have to know about the dog fetishes of COLs and how YN2 Kelley likes to spend his evenings…
Obama, and later Biden, made it not only a “norm” to see ambiguous and openly sexualized people of all persuasions in uniform, but a virtual hate crime to say anything against it.
Ironically, if he had stood up to the DEI crowd back then he would be a shoe-in for 7th Fleet Commander today. So long as he stood on principles he shouldn’t have any regrets.
If he had I doubt he would have screened for flag in the Biden DOD environment, and likely would have been fired from CO for the infamous “loss of confidence” from his DEI masters.
Some of those people are making miracle come backs in their careers. Just ask Dan Caine and Stuart Scheller. Those that went the other way, well a lot of them of them are enjoying forced retirement.
“Do I look like Ineed psychological evaluation?” – CDR Krill (Gary Busey), “Under Seige”
“Not at all.”
“I gotta change”, no don’t I say.
It was always fun when Gary Busey played the psycho. No acting is required but the “hospitality rider” budget went through the roof. I have no idea what they gave him for Valley of Wolves, but he was worth triple that as the organ harvesting jew doctor selling organs of live Iraqis to the rich.
He is a role model. Just not a good one.
I’ve had some good safety briefs from some outstanding First Sergeants, one line that stuck with me:
And:
I also learned alibis are “Hollywood bullshit”.
Don’t start fights, but if you end up in one, you better finish it.
“Had he refused the MWR’s idea of onboard entertainment he doubtless would have been branded an uninclusive transphobe …”
Except for there are other forms of entertainment the Captain could have considered.
He was the C.O. of the ship, not the MWR.
Something tells me there was a little voice inside his head (or the XOs mind) telling him a drag show on a vessel that extends American Naval power projection over the horizon was a bad fucking idea.
The American people deserve better from it’s senior military leaders. I have no pity for him.
Just my .02 cents…
We’ve come a long way since Shellback initiations when drag was just fun. Now drag is being used to push an agenda.
Bing Videos
Was this from a Shellback initiation??????????????
I had to eat truth serum mixed with 5 pounds of salt. That is how it felt.
I had to eat out of a dog dish on my hands and knees all day, among other things. And that was just a merchant ship.
Got off the ship before she switched home ports and went through the canal.
I would like to hear Ronald Reagans take on the matter but
he is unavailable for comment.
Do a seance like the one that was done with Houdini. Amazon and Ebay sell crystal balls.
A crystal ball would help
Crystal Balls was part of the problem.
Drag Shows, per se, and not the problem. They are done the world over. My problem is the prominence that is given to this specific type/niche entertainment AND the lifestyle it highlights. I mean they not bringing girls from the Cheetah Lounge to perform? Its like the non-age appropriate books they want your kids to read. Its NOT Playboy, its NOT Penthouse Letters they’re pushing. Its books/graphic novels on gay/queer/trans lifestyles they want to expose to the kids. Maybe the Admiral was just ‘going with the flow’ at the time, or maybe he was onboard with the drag promotion?
When I was in, we had girly magazines and had them in the 2nd deck chilled water space along with a fart sack for grabbing nooners above the chilled water tanks. Was a Snipe in A Div and didn’t need a fresh air chit because we were in the forward hanger bay in Air-Dale country.
Stop that naughtical talk.
My shipmate, a retired BM1 goes “of course it’d be a Yeoman.”
And if not a yeoman, some HM3 was
Here’s a different slant on it.
Captain Owen Honors, CO of USS Enterprise was removed from command for making “questionable” videos when he was XO. The videos were a little saucy but heterosexual based. He got canned and his career was over. Was a good, well liked Officer and would have made a good Flag Officer.
This guy puts on a drag show and nothing happens until now. What happened to good order and discipline? My next question is did the XO and CMC hide in the closet (pun intended) while this was going on? Did they not advise him this is a really bad idea, in a very vocal way?
I, for one, am glad he is not getting the promotion and will be packing it in (another pun intended). As SECDEF says, lets get back to lethality, people need killin’…
Echos of the 1960s….
“Maaaaaannnnn, what a drag!”
Well, seems to me he checked the political wind, and decided the drag show would plus his chances for the next promotion. He chose poorly.
Someone tried to convince me that “drag” shows were a time-honored tradition in the military, and in the Navy in particular. They tried the argument of Rogers & Hammerstein’s famous South Pacific.
This is what they are comparing current “drag” shows to in order to win an argument. BTW – I absolutely LOVE South Pacific, parents had the album, saw the move more times than I can count.
Honey Bun
Everyone is a victim of circumstance – in one way or another.
However, in this case, the Admiral demonstrated extremely “poor” leadership.
The admiral placed progressive politics, his desire to please the Biden Administration and Senate Democrats (who determine future promotion) over – “Honor, Courage and Commitment”.
It is clear, the Admiral’s self-serving approval of repugnant behavior brought discredit to the United States Navy.
This incident begs the question: if character matters…who and what else will this Admiral sell his values, principles and common sense for?
Perhaps, I’m being too critical? Perhaps, the Admiral “is” a victim of the political zeitgiest.
I would argue…it is better to fail standing on sound values and strong character…apparently, the Admiral doesn’t agree with me.
Well, maybe for a few… something about naval tradition Churchill said?
I’m surprised one of you old(er) farts hadn’t posted this yet: