Joe Biden’s newest pick to lead U.S. Space Force Command previously removed a service member from duty for speaking out against DEI efforts and Marxism in the U.S. military.
Nominated by Biden to serve as the next head of U.S. Space Force Command earlier this month, Lt. Gen. Stephen Whiting played a role in the firing of Lt. Col. Matthew Lohmeier. While promoting his book, “Irresistible Revolution: Marxism’s Goal of Conquest & the Unmaking of the American Military,” during a May 2021 podcast interview, Lohmeier spoke about the increasing presence of Marxist thought permeating the U.S. military, specifically pointing to the embrace of DEI and critical race theory.
“Our diversity, inclusion and equity [DEI] industry and the trainings we’re receiving in the military via that industry are rooted in critical race theory which is rooted in Marxism,” Lohmeier said. DEI, which stands for “diversity, equity, and inclusion,” is a divisive and poisonous ideology dismissive of merit in order to discriminate based on characteristics such as skin color and sexual orientation. Meanwhile, critical race theory seeks to fracture society along racial lines by promoting the false concept that all white people are oppressors and all non-white people are oppressed.
Not long after Lohmeier’s podcast interview, a Space Force representative informed Military.com (and later CNN) that Whiting had “relieved” the lieutenant colonel of command due to a supposed “loss of trust and confidence in his ability to lead.” The representative further confirmed the decision was “based on” Lohmeier’s podcast remarks and that Whiting had initiated an investigation into Lohmeier to determine whether his comments “constituted prohibited partisan political activity.”
During the podcast interview, Lohmeier purportedly took issue with The New York Times’ thoroughly debunked 1619 Project, which attempts to rewrite history by asserting that America’s founding is based upon slavery and racism rather than the premise that “all men are created equal.” According to Lohmeier, such “anti-American” concepts are being pushed throughout the armed forces.
“It teaches intensive teaching that I heard at my base – that at the time the country ratified the United States Constitution, it codified white supremacy as the law of the land,” Lohmeier said. “If you want to disagree with that, then you start (being) labeled all manner of things including racist.”
During the interview, Lohmeier reportedly went on to make clear that — as described by CBS News — “he doesn’t care about the political views of his fellow service members, whether they’re Democrats or Republicans, but he does not want to see institutions politicized.” Lohmeier confirmed such sentiments to Fox News following his ousting.
In addition to firing Lohmeier, Whiting has a history of advancing DEI ideology throughout the U.S. military. According to a February 26, 2021, Facebook post published by the U.S. Space Operations Command, Whiting participated in a fireside chat with service members where he discussed “diversity and inclusion” in recruiting.
“We know that talent is evenly spread across this country through all demographics, but opportunity is not,” Whiting said. “So we have to fight through that traditional uneven distribution of opportunity and make sure that...
