Originally Authored at TheFederalist.com
On Friday, President Donald Trump agreed to create a new task force aimed at keeping neo-Marxist ideology out of the U.S. military if he is elected this November.
The moment came during an on-stage exchange with Lt. Col. Matthew Lohmeier at the former president’s town hall in Fayetteville, North Carolina. The Space Force veteran was fired from the service in May 2021 after publicly discussing the increasing presence of DEI racism throughout the armed forces.
Gen. Stephen Whiting — who reportedly played a role in Lohmeier’s dismissal — has since been promoted to lead U.S. Space Force Command by President Joe Biden. Whiting has a history of using his position to advance DEI throughout the service, as The Federalist previously reported.
Speaking with Trump during Friday’s townhall, Lohmeier thanked the GOP presidential nominee for promising to fire “woke generals” in the military and asked if he would consider “establishing a special task force, office, or position to ensure” DEI and other neo-Marxist ideologies “never return to the Defense Department.”
“You know what I’ll do? … I’m gonna put you on that task force,” Trump responded.
As I previously wrote in these pages, a recently published report by the Claremont Institute’s Will Thibeau found that the U.S. military’s “embrace of radical left-wing orthodoxy is hampering its overall readiness and ability to respond to an increasingly volatile geopolitical environment.” These policies have further contributed to the service’s inability to recruit the talent necessary to fill existing roles and effectively carry out missions.
During Friday’s town hall, Trump also pledged to revert the name of the Fayetteville-based Army installation known as Fort Liberty back to Fort Bragg. The base’s name was changed after Congress passed legislation in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death authorizing the Pentagon to create a commission to rename military bases named after Confederate figures.
Trump vetoed the bill but was overridden by Congress.
Fort Liberty has enjoyed national media attention after it was recently discovered that the base has been classifying pro-life organizations as “terrorist groups” in briefing materials provided to roughly 9,100 soldiers over the past seven years. While Army officials claim the materials have since been removed, they have declined to say whether the individual responsible for their authorization has or will face disciplinary punishment, according to the Military Times.
Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood