There’s never a wrong time to upbraid the Trump administration for being insufficiently inclusive, as far as the New York Times is concerned.
The newspaper was roundly mocked on social media after fact-checking Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s reference to “our boys on those bombers” during a Pentagon briefing Sunday on the surprise U.S. attack on Iran.
“In the briefing, Hegseth referred to B-2 pilots as ‘our boys on those bombers,’ yet both men and women have trained to fly them,” Times Pentagon reporter John Ismay in a post on the newspaper’s “live updates” blog.
The newspaper’s gotcha went viral on X, but not in a good way.
“Imagine how insufferable the guy who wrote this must be,” said Erika Sanzi, outreach director of the conservative group Defending Education.
The Geiger Capital account declared: “The only thing worse than an Iranian nuke? Not using the correct pronouns.”
Asked X user MAGA Jersey Girl: “All of a sudden, they know what a woman is?”
The Times is ON IT pic.twitter.com/P7IYvLsRGj
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) June 22, 2025
The meme-making account Matt’s Idea Shop touched off a rollicking satire competition by bringing up popular references to one sex but not the other, and correcting them.
“In the song, [Cyndi] Lauper proclaimed ‘girls just wanna have fun,’ yet both girls and boys have historically enjoyed fun,” “Matt” said.
In the song, Lauper proclaimed “girls just wanna have fun,” yet both girls and boys have historically enjoyed fun. pic.twitter.com/NW07GWcHdL
— Matt’s Idea Shop (@MattsIdeaShop) June 22, 2025
“[Thin] Lizzy claimed ‘The boys are back in town’ when in fact, many girls are also back in the town,” the account also said.
Others jumped in with posts such as: “[Kenny] Loggins claimed ‘One of life’s simple joys is playing with the boys’ when in reality, playing with the girls is a joy for many.”
Mr. Hegseth’s briefing followed the mass bombing Saturday night of three Iranian nuclear-enrichment sites, which saw seven B-2 Spirit bombers drop a total of 14 30,000-pound GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator bombs.
