General Mark Milley's Passionate Defense of Critical Race Theory Viewed Over 6M Times

A video of General Mark Milley's defense of studying critical race theory has been viewed more than 6.5 million times on Twitter.

The clip of almost two minutes shows the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Milley, defending studying the theory in order to understand race relations in the U.S.

The edited C-SPAN clip, uploaded by Rantt Media, showed him addressing the topic of critical race theory directly.

He said: "First of all, on the issue of critical race theory, et cetera. I'll obviously have to get much smarter on whatever the theory is, but I do think it's important actually for those of us in uniform to be open-minded and be widely read.

"And in the United States Military Academy is a university and it is important that we train and we understand."

Gen. Milley later added: "And I want to understand white rage and I'm white, and I want to understand it. So what is it that caused thousands of people to assault this building and try to overturn the constitution of the United States of America? What caused that? I want to find that out."

"I want to maintain an open mind here, and I do want to analyze it. It's important that we understand that because our soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and guardians, they come from the American people. So it is important that the leaders now and in the future do understand it."

Gen. Milley later said that he "found it offensive" that officers and the military were being "woke for studying theories that are out there."

As of Thursday morning, more than 113,600 people liked the video and another 35,400 had retweeted it.

Gen. Milley's comments came during a House Armed Services hearing on Wednesday, at which the general responded to an earlier question posed by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL).

Rep. Gaetz originally asked Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who is the first Black person to fill the role, about the "stand down" move to discuss extremism within the military and his concerns about critical race theory.

Referring to unnamed officers, Rep. Gaetz said: "The number one concern, often unable to speak publicly for fear of the type of retribution the Colonel (Matthew) Lohmeier faced, they say that your 'stand down' regarding extremism did not help our military, it hurt the military.

"And I want to share with you that perspective that it caused service members to otherize one another. It impaired group cohesion and, interestingly to me, I've heard those sentiments most frequently from units that are majority-minority."

He later added: "How should the Department (of Defense) think about critical race theory."

Defense Secretary Austin then denied the institution teaches critical race theory or that the department embraces it.

Newsweek has contacted Rep. Gaetz and the Department of Defense for comment.