As President Donald Trump viciously attacked his perceived political foes, he whipped up boos from the gathered troops directed at California leaders, including Gov. Gavin Newsom.
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.
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.
They kind of have to. They can order to them to stand there for the speech and to cheer at the end, but there are a lot of ways to interpret that order. Better to hand pick people who want to be there, rather than deal with a bunch of sarcastic soldiers trying to make their displeasure known on camera.
Yeah military people usually don't do that, especially to the position as esteemed Commander-in-chief. The USMJ will get your ass if you do. This is so bizarre to do even for him. That is saying alot.
Soldiers were seen purchasing clothing and tchotchkes, including "Make America Great Again" chain necklaces to faux credit cards labeled "White Privilege Card: Trumps Everything."
Is this screening being carried out for those deployed against US citizens on home soil?
"What I think is so remarkable about Bragg is that it's really a breakdown on the military side," Risa Brooks, an expert of civil-military relations at Marquette University, told Military.com.
"It shows it's possible -- that the military's professional ethics could fail," she said.
I said as much elsewhere on Lemmy, yesterday. I can only hope a few good, strategic ethical liars passed those screens.
Wait, what? How is a liar ethical?
spoiler
"Are you hiding *scapegoated persons or anyone who aids them in any way, or yourself assisting them?"
Absolutely not!
"What do you think of President Trump and his policies?”
He's an honest man and it's about time we took America back!
Lie all you want, it won't matter unless you started some time ago. I'm sure they just looked at all their social media accounts and could see who to send to the political rally.
It didn't matter for George Santos, Candace Owens etc. They weren't were grifters though, and with hazing and other bullying in the military, lying for a long time would certainly be strategic.