What does a coup look like? A swift political takeover that some consider illegitimate? A seizure of military control and the purging of political opposition? The spreading of propaganda labeling political opponents as the enemy of the State?
The Left has the executive and legislative branches and the bureaucracy. If they’re able to remake the military in their image, will it be game over for constitutionalists?
The Pentagon is reportedly looking to crack down on “right-wing extremism” within the U.S. military, and the mainstream media is fomenting fears of “hate groups” in the ranks to encourage cultural engineering among the armed forces by the incoming Biden administration.
A recent article at establishment outlet Politico claims that the Defense Department is currently “confronting a resurgence of white supremacy and other right-wing ideologies in the ranks” and calls on the Pentagon to tackle the issue head-on because “former military personnel played a role in the deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol last week.”
According to the “lawmakers, retired military leaders and experts on extremism” that Politico selectively quotes, “tackling the influence of hate groups, racist propaganda and anti-government sentiment in the officer corps and enlisted ranks must be an immediate task for Joe Biden’s pick for secretary of Defense, retired Gen. Lloyd Austin.”
Politico restated what, for the Left and the establishment, is the dilemma: “The overall problem of right-wing extremism has dogged the military for decades and tends to be more severe when there is a rise in wider society.”
In other words, the problem is that too many members of the armed services are conservative. It’s long been common knowledge that current and veteran members of the military tend to swing right rather than left on the political spectrum. The Left hopes that the Biden administration will change that once and for all.
Politico notes about “right-wing extremism” in the military:
It has gained new attention in the wake of the revelation that a retired senior Air Force officer allegedly took part in last Wednesday’s riot in the U.S. Capitol and a Navy veteran who also played a leading role was arrested over the weekend. Meanwhile, a rioter who was killed while trying to break into Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office suite was also an Air Force veteran who espoused far-right and QAnon conspiracies.
Mark Pitcavage, a “specialist” on far-right groups for the Anti-Defamation League, said to the House Armed Services Committee last year that “the number of extremists in the military has increased due to a higher percentage of white supremacists attempting to join the military and the development of white supremacist leanings among some currently-serving personnel.”
“To an even greater degree than in previous surges of extremism,” he added, “the Internet has played a role in the present one, with extremist content found on websites, discussion forums, chat rooms, social media, messaging apps, gaming and streaming sites, and other platforms.”
