A MAGA board favorite.
Hegseth team's reported travel invite to extremist sends clear message to military
Hegseth has faced condemnation for having his own links to right-wing extremism, and he’s complained about the military’s efforts to root out extremism from the military. His team's reported offer to Posobiec to tag along with the Pentagon sends the message that the armed forces welcome bigoted and conspiratorial extremists to join their ranks.
Posobiec, who’s been known to associate with white nationalists, was key in spreading the "pizzagate" conspiracy theory falsely accusing prominent Democrats of engaging in pedophilia. But his list of extremist bonafides extends far beyond that. Posobiec promoted the phrase “white boy summer” — which had become a rallying cry for white supremacists — at a far-right event held for then-candidate Donald Trump. And at last year’s Conservative Political Action Conference, Posobiec said his goal is to end democracy.
"We are here to overthrow it completely," he told the audience. "We didn’t get all the way there on Jan. 6, but we will endeavor to get rid of it.”
I should also note: Vice President JD Vance, then a senator from Ohio, wrote a glowing review of Posobiec's 2024 book, in which the author portrayed liberals as "unhumans."
Needless to say, the guy who pines for the end of democracy and attempts to dehumanize millions of Americans is not the kind of person who ought to be granted the privilege of traveling with the U.S. military. But the message seems clear. From banning Black History Month celebrations to abandoning the Pentagon’s traditional recruitment efforts at a top conference for Black engineers, Hegseth’s Defense Department appears intent on making the military dumber, whiter and more right-wing. Pentagon officials' reported invitation to Posobiec is startling evidence of that trend.
Hegseth team's reported travel invite to extremist sends clear message to military
Hegseth has faced condemnation for having his own links to right-wing extremism, and he’s complained about the military’s efforts to root out extremism from the military. His team's reported offer to Posobiec to tag along with the Pentagon sends the message that the armed forces welcome bigoted and conspiratorial extremists to join their ranks.
Posobiec, who’s been known to associate with white nationalists, was key in spreading the "pizzagate" conspiracy theory falsely accusing prominent Democrats of engaging in pedophilia. But his list of extremist bonafides extends far beyond that. Posobiec promoted the phrase “white boy summer” — which had become a rallying cry for white supremacists — at a far-right event held for then-candidate Donald Trump. And at last year’s Conservative Political Action Conference, Posobiec said his goal is to end democracy.
"We are here to overthrow it completely," he told the audience. "We didn’t get all the way there on Jan. 6, but we will endeavor to get rid of it.”
I should also note: Vice President JD Vance, then a senator from Ohio, wrote a glowing review of Posobiec's 2024 book, in which the author portrayed liberals as "unhumans."
Needless to say, the guy who pines for the end of democracy and attempts to dehumanize millions of Americans is not the kind of person who ought to be granted the privilege of traveling with the U.S. military. But the message seems clear. From banning Black History Month celebrations to abandoning the Pentagon’s traditional recruitment efforts at a top conference for Black engineers, Hegseth’s Defense Department appears intent on making the military dumber, whiter and more right-wing. Pentagon officials' reported invitation to Posobiec is startling evidence of that trend.
