Internal 82nd Airborne Division communications reviewed by Military.com reveal a tightly orchestrated effort to curate the optics of Trump’s recent visit, including handpicking soldiers for the audience based on political leanings and physical appearance. The troops ultimately selected to be behind Trump and visible to the cameras were almost exclusively male.
One unit-level message bluntly said “no fat soldiers.”
“If soldiers have political views that are in opposition to the current administration and they don’t want to be in the audience then they need to speak with their leadership and get swapped out,” another note to troops said.
Cherry picking your fan boys, very Alpha move.
The article is some great and ballsy reporting, and the other details are pretty shocking. The military is being rapidly corrupted to becoming a partisan force that serves Trump above America
Military.com does a good job of reporting. I would assume more are anti trump than for him
The military has always been heavily populated by some of the shittiest people. The prospect of carrying a weapon and killing others or just wielding power over others, attracts a certain type of person. In the US since at least 9/11, there’s been a disgusting amount of military propaganda that has certainly brought in some people that care and want to do the right thing (for the ignorant wrong reasons) but also the shits that are all in because they think they’re tough shit.
Service people don’t deserve any more respect than any other profession, and I’d argue in many cases, they deserve less respect. There’s hasn’t been a draft in a hot minute, so everyone currently in is voluntary. Some soldiers do wind to in life threatening situations, but it’s far from the most dangerous job and to me, killing innocence in the middle east for no good reason doesn’t earn you any valor in my book.
They’re all a bunch of pawns, and I’ve seen about 2 out of all of them actually stand up and oppose the Trump admin and thousands of others bend over, take it, and ask for more. This article and LA further reenforces my belief that being in the military isn’t something noble, but more akin to being in a gang where all of the members are brainwashed and have no spines.
For this story, Military.com reached out to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s office as well as the Army and the 82nd Airborne Division directly with a series of questions that ranged from the optics of the event to social media posts showing the sale of Trump campaign merchandise on the base, to the apparent violation of Pentagon policies on political activity in uniform.
Internal 82nd Airborne Division communications reviewed by Military.com reveal a tightly orchestrated effort to curate the optics of Trump’s recent visit, including handpicking soldiers for the audience based on political leanings and physical appearance. The troops ultimately selected to be behind Trump and visible to the cameras were almost exclusively male.
One unit-level message bluntly said “no fat soldiers.”
. . . Service officials declined to comment when asked about the extent to which troops were screened, whether soldiers displaying partisan cheers on television – a violation of long-standing Pentagon rules – would be disciplined or if soldiers who objected to participating in the event, citing disagreements with the administration, would be disciplined or admonished in any way.
“This has been a bad week for the Army for anyone who cares about us being a neutral institution,” one commander at Fort Bragg told Military.com on the condition of anonymity to avoid retaliation. “This was shameful. I don’t expect anything to come out of it, but I hope maybe we can learn from it long term.”
If nothing comes of it nothing will be learned.
It’s the army version of a really bad comb-over and shoe lifts while wearing a diaper.
I’m glad this came to light. It’s not surprising; this is Trump’s whole fake-it-till-you-make-it game with his presidency, from the moment he actually paid actors to cheer for him coming down the escalator in 2015. He’s always, always focused on the appearance of things rather than the substance.
Appearance is all he cares about, that and racism.
Reporter didn’t hold back
Swinging huge nuts.
