A commander in the Space Force was removed from his post on Friday following comments he made while promoting his self-published book, which argues that Marxist ideologies are becoming common in the military, reports Military.com.
Lieutenant Colonel Matthew Lohmeier, a commander of the 11th Space Warning Squadron at Colorado’s Buckley Air Force Base, joined the Information Operation podcast on May 7 to discuss his new book, Irresistible Revolution: Marxism’s Goal of Conquest & the Unmaking of the American Military.
Lohmeier said he didn’t seek to criticize any particular senior leader or publicly identify troops within the book. Rather, he said, he focused on the policies service members now have to adhere to, and how they align with certain agendas “that are now affecting our culture.”
Lohmeier argues that Marxist ideas and practices embraced by the government, academia, the media, and now the U.S. military are proving to be a divisive force in the ranks and that the Defense Department should take steps to return to a more “politically nonpartisan” culture. Marxism, he believes, does an exceptional job in creating an “oppressor vs. oppressive” narrative — now being promoted with critical race theory, which “makes race the lens through which the world is viewed,” and “weaponizes race dialogue to cause division and contentions hoping the people would get up one another’s’ necks — not unified, but divided.”
“Since taking command as a commander about 10 months ago, I saw what I consider fundamentally incompatible and competing narratives of what America was, is and should be,” Lohmeier said. “That wasn’t just prolific in social media, or throughout the country during this past year, but it was spreading throughout the United States military. And I had recognized those narratives as being Marxist in nature.”
When asked on what exactly he meant, Lohmeier decried the New York Times’ 1619 Project developed by Nikole Hannah-Jones, which “aims to reframe the country’s history by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of Black Americans at the very center of the United States’ national narrative,” as described by its creators. Named for the year when the first African slaves were off-loaded in Virginia, the central theme is that slavery and its effects are the central driving force in American history, the underpinning of everything from corporate capitalism to suburban sprawl.
“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.”
Lohmeier also criticized “inclusivity training” being implemented by the Department of Defense. He claimed that military personnel at his base were given reading materials that referred to the United States as a “white supremacist nation.”
He further argued that “neo-Marxist thought” has been prevalent within the Democratic Party, and that conservatives are increasingly being targeted for their political views and are labeled as extremists.
Stressing that he was only sharing his personal view, Lohmeier said that he believed China was exploiting America’s obsession with critical race theory in the hopes that it could win a “war” with Washington without firing a shot. He added that Beijing was fueling internal division on social media and that Chinese President Xi Jinping would love to see the United States “rot like this from the inside.”
In conclusion, Lohmeier encourages people to “be courageous and speak out” as a means of overcoming the problem. “We can be very grateful we have an incredible opportunity we can exhibit human courage,” he believes.
Lohmeier’s interview, as argumentative and honest as it was, didn’t go well with his superiors. In a statement to CNN, a Defense Department official said Lohmeier was relieved from his command “due to loss of trust and confidence in his ability to lead.”
“Lt. Gen. Stephen Whiting, Space Operations Command commander, relieved Lt. Col. Matthew Lohmeier of command of the 11th Space Warning Squadron, Buckley Air Force Base, Colorado, May 14…. This decision was based on public comments made by Lt. Col. Lohmeier in a recent podcast. Lt. Gen. Whiting has initiated a Command Directed Investigation (CDI) on whether these comments constituted prohibited partisan political activity,” the official said.
Following the removal from his post, Lohmeier said he had consulted with his chain of command, public affairs, and legal counsel, about his plans to publish a book and its contents.
“I was apprised of the option to have my book reviewed at the Pentagon’s prepublication and security review prior to release, but was also informed that it was not required,” Lohmeier explained, adding that his sole aim was to encourage the Pentagon to be “politically non-partisan.”
Lohmeier isn’t the only military officer to raise the alarm over alleged Marxist infiltration in the American armed forces. Earlier last week, an open letter signed by more than 120 retired generals and admirals warned that the United States has “taken a hard left turn toward socialism and a Marxist form of tyrannical government.”
