Republican presidential hopeful Ted Cruz has vowed that if he wins the party nomination and is elected to the Oval Office in November, he will refuse to provide gluten-free meals to men and women serving in the US military, describing them as a paragon of liberal obsession with political correctness.
Speaking from a decommissioned WWII-era battleship to voters in South Carolina yesterday, Cruz assured his supporters that he would act to reform the US defence forces, saving it from, in his opinion, the state it is in today.
“That’s why the last thing any commander should need to worry about is the grades he is getting from some plush-bottomed Pentagon bureaucrat for political correctness or social experiments – or providing gluten-free MREs,” the candidate said, referring to the US military shorthand for ‘Meal, Ready-to-Eat’, the name applied to rations.
“If I am elected president, one of my first orders to the Secretary of Defence will be to restore the US military’s combat ethos,” Cruz added.
Gluten, a protein created when two molecules found it wheat combine, is one of the most heavily consumed proteins in the world, but can trigger an immune reaction in anyone with coeliac disease.
Gluten intolerance is most frequently found in North and Western Europe, with Ireland home to one of the highest frequencies of the disease worldwide. CNN reports that only 1% of Americans identify as coeliacs, but there is currently a popular trend against the protein, largely responsible for adding shape and texture to dough. It is this so-called healthy food movement against gluten, which Cruz equates with political correctness, which the would-be president plans to knead back into shape.
“It’s time for American to once again prioritise a strong, advanced, and robust military,” Cruz said. The Texas senator is currently polling 16 points behind Donald Trump ahead of this South Carolina Primary this weekend.
