Donald Trump is now the 47th President and Commander in Chief of the U.S. Armed Forces. Unlike during his first term, Trump now brings a defense secretary who understands that a significant portion of the fight for freedom is ideological. Former lieutenant colonels Matthew Lohmeier and Stuart Scheller are also returning to the Department of Defense as senior civilians, influencing strategic policy. These men, along with future Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, share the common experience of facing aggressive persecution for speaking out in defense of truth. It is a reversal whose time has at last come. I expect them, along with many others, to prosecute the case against ideological corruption in the ranks with prejudice.
For years now, I have had people from across the military reach out to me and say things like, “I want to speak up against the wrong around me, but I’m afraid.” That has been understandable to a certain extent. I also served in the military during the Obama and Biden administrations, and remember well that the environment demanded ideological compliance from military members. Those who held to traditional faith and constitutional understandings of government found themselves up against tacit and forceful persecution following the pattern of Soviet totalitarian practices that famed novelist, veteran, and political dissident Alexander Solzhenitsyn wrote about. The choice to be compliant or silent guarantees safety in the present, corporeal sense. To speak up and push back against lies, against doctrines that undermine the military’s most core purpose of carrying out a common defense of nation, comes with a price. Historically speaking, most humans want temporary acceptance and security over saving character and soul in the long run. Too many conservatives in the U.S. military in recent years have followed that shameful trend.
I know what it is to be excluded for taking a stand, and can confirm that it is not fun. Every service member of sound mind was shaken by the declaration from Biden’s defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, that the military is full of extremists who must be rooted out. This was especially jarring given that Biden’s definition of “extremism” included voting for Trump or being pro-life. The military capitulated and followed that line of logic in its so-called “extremism training.”