Fox News contributor Joey Jones, a Marine Corps veteran, called out Democratic Rep. Seth Moulton of Massachusetts on “Fox and Friends” Monday for labeling Vice President JD Vance a “pogue” during a Friday CNN appearance.
Moulton, an ex-Marine who served four tours in the Global War on Terror according to his official biography, used the term while reacting to President Donald Trump canceling a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after he and Vance argued with the Ukrainian leader during a contentious meeting prior to the planned signing of a minerals deal Friday. Jones, who served as an explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) technician, said Moulton’s use of the term was “very intentional.”
“What bothers me so much about the way Seth Moulton handled this, number one, ‘pogue’ is a very intentional word, it means ‘person other than grunt.’ So what Seth Moulton is saying, he said in 2014 actually, just about a year ago, JD Vance in describing him, said he was a combat Marine, then he goes oh, I mean actually a combat cameraman. Then he said he was a Marine Corps veteran, and he says, ‘Oh I mean combat cameraman, or combat journalist.’ And so what he’s trying to so is denigrate JD Vance’s service,” Jones told “Fox and Friends” co-host Brian Kilmeade after Kilmeade played a clip of Moulton’s comments. “But to sit there and call him a ‘pogue,’ person other than grunt, maybe he doesn’t understand this, uh, Seth Moulton, I’m a pogue, I’m a person other than grunt. I wasn’t infantry. I hope that my service doesn’t come across as cowardly to you. I hope that you respect my service. You served with [Republican Rep.] Brian Mast [of Florida]. He’s a pogue, he wasn’t a grunt, he lost his legs. I watched Brian Mast recover with his hands sown to his stomach. So, I don’t know, it’s a very intentional word.”
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Mast, a Republican congressman from Florida, served as an Army EOD technician and lost his legs due to an improvised explosive device (IED).
“Up until World War II, it was used to describe homosexuals. So, maybe he’s a historian and trying to attack him in that way, I don’t know. But Seth Moulton needs to understand that every female Marine that served in combat, was injured in combat or killed in combat prior to 2012 was a pogue, they were a person other than a grunt,” Jones continued. “And it just bothers me that we have a Marine Corps officer in Congress, regardless of what his policy positions are that doesn’t have the honor, the courage, the commitment, the integrity to sit there and take issue with JD Vance’s policy position, take issue with the outcome that may come from the policies that he and President Trump make. You can’t find an intellectual argument to tell the American people why they’re wrong? You have to call them stupid names like ‘pogue’ and coward.”
Vance served as a Marine for four years, including a tour in Iraq, according to his official biography on the White House website. He served as a combat correspondent, according to Task and Purpose.
“I would never call Seth Moulton a coward, because it takes absolute courage or complete stupidity to go on live TV as a Marine Corps officer and call another enlisted Marine who’s risen to vice president a pogue and coward,” Jones said. “That takes some sort of absolute stupid stupidity or courage, I don’t know, but I wouldn’t call him a coward. To say call JD Vance a coward and to try to denigrate his service that way, just really, it blows my mind.”
“I’d love to know how much Seth Moulton cares about those 13 mostly Marines that were killed at Abbey Gate, I would imagine it’s not a topic he broaches very often, and that, that is borderline cowardice, if you ask me,” Jones added after Kilmeade pointed out Trump still campaigned for the presidency in 2024 despite two assassination attempts.
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