The Democrats’ official X account deleted a post mocking a top Asian Trump aide’s height after it was widely condemned as racist.
The X account attempted to ridicule the new acting secretary, Hung Cao, who was born in Vietnam, by resharing an image of him next to former Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin.
Youngkin, who is six-foot-seven, towered over five-foot-eight Cao in the picture – leading the Democrats to mock him with an emoji of a hand with its fingers close together, commonly used to denote something small in size.
The tweet was promptly deleted by the party’s X account, but not before it drew outrage across social media.
Political commentator Lauren Chen responded: ‘Here is the official Democrats account making fun of an Asian veteran for his height.’
‘To be clear, Hung Cao is 5’8, which is the average height for a man in America,’ she added.
Another critic slammed the Democrats’ tweet as ‘racist’, saying: ‘So lemme get this straight, racist jokes are okay if it’s done by dems? Rules for thee (conservatives), not for me (Dems).’
The Democrats’ official X account quickly deleted a tweet mocking the new acting Navy Secretary because of his height after sparking backlash
The tweet was promptly deleted by the party’s X account, but not before it drew outrage across social media
Cao was named as the acting Navy Secretary this week by President Trump
After deleting the post mocking Cao’s height, the Democrats replaced it with another post branding him a ‘clown.’
The tweet pointed to several controversies in Cao’s past, including a controversial comment he made on Steve Bannon’s show Real America’s Voice in 2024.
While running for the Senate in Virginia at the time, Cao implied that he wanted to wear a Ku Klux Klan hood, telling Bannon that ‘when you give me my hood, make sure it’s got the little slits and not the circles so I can see better.’
The tweet also noted that Cao once claimed during a 2022 campaign event that he was ‘blown up in combat’, however his military record showed he never received a Purple Heart award given to soldiers injured in the line of duty, reports USA Today.
Other controversies noted by the tweet were that Cao also once claimed that he was ‘African American’ because he spent a few years in Niger as a child, and in 2023 he remarked that ‘witchcraft’ had taken over California.
‘Trump dragged our country to war and now this clown is in charge,’ the Democrats’ tweet said.
The Daily Mail has contacted the US Navy and the Democratic Party for comment.
After deleting the post mocking Cao’s height, the Democrats replaced it with another post branding him a ‘clown’
Cao’s appointment to lead the Navy came after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth abruptly fired John Phelan from the position on Wednesday, a high-profile departure given Donald Trump’s ongoing war with Iran.
The resignation came just weeks after the Army’s highest-ranking officer, General Randy George, was also told to step down and take immediate retirement.
Sources told the New York Post that Phelan was ousted after a disagreement over Trump’s plan for building a ‘Golden Fleet’ of military vessels.
‘The administration really wanted to accelerate the shipbuilding program because of the president’s agenda… and the secretary seemed incapable of accomplishing those goals and he wasn’t well liked,’ insiders told the outlet.
‘When you combine incompetence with arrogance it usually doesn’t end well.’
The Golden Fleet proposal includes building a new class of 30,000–40,000 ton, nuclear-capable ‘Trump-class’ battleships, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
The Wall Street Journal also reported that Phelan was ousted after battling with Hegseth and Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg.
Phelan’s departure from the chief Navy position comes as Trump orders ships to engage Iran in the crucial chokepoint of the Strait of Hormuz.
His exit was just the latest in a series of resignations plaguing the Trump administration at a critical time for the president.
A spokesperson for Hegseth said: ‘Secretary of the Navy John C. Phelan is departing the administration, effective immediately.
‘On behalf of the Secretary of War and Deputy Secretary of War, we are grateful to Secretary Phelan for his service to the Department and the United States Navy.
‘We wish him well in his future endeavors. Undersecretary Hung Cao will become Acting Secretary of the Navy.’
