PENTAGON WATCH – As I wrote previously – “Despite serious constitutional concerns, lack of evidence to justify the effort, and even top commanders’ stating that they have ‘zero extremists’ in their ranks, the Biden Pentagon continues its dangerous, shamelessly politicized, McCarthy-like witch hunt against conservatives in the U.S. military.” Leading this controversial effort is Bishop Garrison, a polarizing former army officer, and West Point graduate.
Despite his honorable military service, including two tours in Iraq where he earned two Bronze Stars, and a Combat Action Badge, his ideologically biased and highly partisan political views, and statements leave much to be desired. His radical views have been lambasted by critics due to his influential new Pentagon role.
As the Daily Caller reported, “Garrison said in no uncertain terms just two years ago, prior to his appointment by Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to lead the Pentagon’s countering extremism working group, that supporters of Trump support extremism and racism.”
Support for him, a racist, is support for ALL his beliefs. He’s dragging a lot of bad actors (misogynists, extremists, other racists) out into the light, normalizing their actions. If you support the President, you support that. There is no room for nuance with this. There is no more ‘but I’m not like that’ talk. — Bishop Garrison (@BishopGarrison) July 28, 2019
Some would argue, as I have, that his comments identify Garrison as a left-wing racialist extremist.
Last month, soon after Garrison’s tweets surfaced, Fox News host, and army veteran, Pete Hegseth described Garrison as the Pentagon’s “MAGA purge man” while discussing the Pentagon’s highly politicized anti-extremism efforts.
While his defenders try to justify Garrison’s comments because he was responding to President Trump’s criticism of the late Democrat Congressman Elijah Cummings, for ineffectively representing crime-ridden Baltimore, Maryland, which Trump called “a disgusting, rat and rodent-infested mess,” there is no defense for Garrison’s comments.
Comments like those he made against all Trump supporters should bar Garrison from any policy position in the federal government, but especially from a position where he will be the arbiter of what is or is not defined as ‘extremism’ at the Pentagon. Yet, despite Garrison’s publicly stated belief that all Trump supporters are racist extremists, Biden’s Defense Department has doubled down on supporting him.
“The Department has full confidence Mr. Garrison can lead the Counter Extremism Working Group as it carries out its mission,” a spokesperson for the Department, reported the Daily Caller. “The Department is focused on addressing the corrosive and potentially dangerous behavior that can be inspired by extremist ideology – behavior that harms good order and discipline and our readiness.”
However, disturbingly, the Pentagon has yet to provide any data or statistics to show where this so-called extremist threat exists in our military, or how it is currently harming ‘good order and discipline and … readiness.’
Reinforcing the ‘witch hunt,’ or ‘fishing expedition’ nature of this politicized effort, Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said during a May 18 press conference that:
Mr. Garrison is leading the extremist working group on a number of efforts to try to help us come to grips with learning how — what the scope and scale of the problem of extremist activity in the ranks really is, and helping us divine some potential solutions, going forward.
How can the Pentagon insist there is a huge extremist problem that needs addressing, while simultaneously admitting they need to ‘come to grips’ with ‘what the scope and scale of the problem of extremist activity in the ranks really is’?
Garrison is also a vocal advocate for the radical 1619 project, having defended it against criticisms from historians in a 2019 essay calling extremism and white supremacy existential threats to the nation.
In response to the growing concerns about Garrison and the extremism effort, on May 26, 30 Republican members of the House signed a letter complaining of “creeping left-wing extremism” in the military. The letter, which was led by Rep. Matt Rosendale and co-signed by Paul Gosar (R-AZ), Greg Steube (R-FL), and others, called on Sec. Austin to “fight back” against extremism from the left.
Despite partisan and ideological attempts to exaggerate the ‘extremist threat,’ a recent study from George Washington University and the U.S. Military Academy at West Point found that only about 12% (43 out of 357) of the people charged with rioting at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 had ‘some form of military experience.’
This is almost in line with the percentage of veterans across the entire adult US population – 10%. There are 19 million veterans in the US.
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of AmericanActionNews.com
Seven Days in June…..
Most Americans don’t realize that the Military has ALWAYS been slanted extremist conservative This is the training you receive NOT to ever question authority. I was fortunate during my 8 years in Vietnam (1965-in73) my entire team was considered “liberal” We were not Democrats (they sent us there and Johnson was president)But we ALL held Liberal values. We sat around together and listened to Jane Fonda’s visit to Hanoi and cheered. Our standing assignment was to protect the CIA drug routes through Cambodia (yes, “Air America was based on a true story). My best friend while I was there was Mikhail Gerasov, a GRU equivalent of the CIA “Advisor” we were deploying all over (we managed to lose most of the CIA in the Jungle). We had lunch together for several years. His North Vietnamese would even cook around once a week and I now love Vietnamese cooking
Hallucinate much ? Bet ya do.
Pull that head out of your fifth point of contact commie!
Americans do not support Joe Biden or his agenda
Just another racist black dude. Nothing to see here…
Senile sleepy Joe Biden (99% wrong) looks more and more like the Democrat donkey’s butt every day!
Whatever Joe touches always turns to donkey used oats!
Best advice for all connservatives in the military, stay true to yourself, lay low, don’t get detected and ride this storm out…….just as the rest of us are doing, Republicans and more and more Democrats with every passing day! It’s not just extremists Biden wants out of the military…..he wants only people in there he knows he has control of for reasons no one needs to type in comments!
🦅🇺🇸🦅🇺🇸🦅🇺🇸🦅🇺🇸🦅🇺🇸🦅🇺🇸🦅🇺🇸🦅🇺🇸🦅🇺🇸
ANOTHER FUZZY JOE’S WITCH HUNTS HERE! OUT TO DESTROY THE MORAL OF THE MILITARY NOW WITH A TRUELY ” BIASED ” IDIOT WHO IS JUST AS RADICAL AS THE ONES HE IS SUPPOSED TO ELIMINATE!
Bejing Biden needs to be done. Americans better step up because he’s already nearly destroyed us and will stop at nothing. Not sure who is pulling his strings but we need to stop them.
It’s Oblozo and Susan Rice. They get their orders from Soreass and the CCP/DNC.
While I always respect the military and especially a West Point Grad and someone who served and saw combat. It seems obvious this guy is a flaming Lib and his “pre-conceived ideas” have no place in a position of authority. When your “colors” show and you ditz Trump, who despite what many people think, Trump was and will always be a “loyal American” and he truly wanted to “make America great again”. People in politics simply don’t understand that because 99.99% of them just want to “feather their own nests”. Creates of the Washington D.C. Swamp will never understand an “honest and good man”. Crooks hang out with crooks. Good guys/gals don’t hang out with “crooks and bad guys”.
No support for the Central American MIGRANT PRESIDENT-CHINA JOE BIDEN AND HIS NON AMERICAN LEGAL CITIZENSHIP POLICIES AND GIVE A WAYS TO THE ILLEGALS!
John Kirby is a complete disgrace. How that idiot ever got promoted to RADM is a travesty. He could have worked for Joseph Goebbles in a previous life. Just a paid propagandist spewing the party line. No shame.
I guess some will sell their souls to the devil for a cushy govt job.
I have full faith and respect for the military except when it comes to numb knuts like this.
Come get it.
Is Garrison paid by the ccp!!!… yeah
The threat to this country is the democrats and their liberal communist agenda. It is NOT the conservative right views, which support the founding of this country and the US Constitution. Learn history, we are repeating it, and it never turns out good.