The Witness Chronicles, 3/18/25

White supremacy in the Pentagon

Mar 18, 2025

men in camouflage uniform holding rifle — Photo by Ryan Stone on Unsplash

Pete Hegseth is Whitewashing the Military and Its History

White suprematist is removing all references to people of color and women who served with honor

The Defense Secretary, in the name of anti-DEI, is removing any references to black, indigenous, Latino, and females in the military from its websites, including Medal of Honor winners, the acclaimed Navajo code talkers of WWII, the World War era WASP women service members, and any other non-white soldiers.

There was so much outcry over the removal of the web page devoted to a black general who served in Viet Nam and was awarded the nation’s highest military honor, the Medal of Honor, that they had to restore it. That was the highest visible evidence of the purge, but it is widespread and a blatant display of racism and misogyny unlike any ever seen in the modern military (post WWII).

You know you are in an authoritarian state when they methodically rewrite history to reflect their beliefs and prejudices rather than the truth. If we don’t nip this in the bud it will metastasize into an incurable cancer, spreading across education and creating a generation of children who do not know the truth. Hitler tried it and would have succeeded if his military ambitions had not got the better of him.

Hegseth got where he is by openly lying about his intentions and beliefs, bamboozling compliant Senators into confirming him and then immediately going back on all his statements, unjustifyingly firing the top black general and two female admirals, not to mention mowing down a host of lower ranking minorities, LGBTQ people, and women who served with honor.

A reminder: the vast majority of service members who fought in Vietnam were young black men who were drafted and fed into a meat grinder to keep that war going, without justification. Many serve now, along with women in combat roles. Hegseth was open about his disdain for any but white men in those roles.

He claimed during his confirmation hearing, that he wanted an army of ‘warfighters’, not bureaucrats, but he is serving as chief anti-diversity bureaucrat. There is reportedly a serious lack of focus on readiness across the Pentagon as his purges remove hundreds of years of collective expertise and experience.

We are watching this disease, far worse than the wokeness they claim to be removing, across the government as highly competent people are summarily fired in the name of efficiency. There is nothing efficient about any of it as they kick people out and then belatedly try to bring back those who turned out to be essential.

It would be comical if it was not so despicable. A veteran who claims to be a patriot openingly dishonoring those who served and died for our country, his own fellow soldiers and sailors. Words fail me.

Writing about the actions of this administration makes me realize the scope of the destruction they are wreaking on our country and democracy. It is profoundly disturbing and downright scary how out of control they are with their hate and vindictiveness. What, in reality, was ever done to them that they and Trump did not bring upon themselves through their own actions?

I can’t imagine living with so much hate and paranoia, especially when men like Trump, Vance, and Musk all have everything they can imagine having. These are sick, disturbed people and they are apparently running things, virtually unopposed by those we elected to serve as a check on them.

We Are on the Edge of the Precipice

We are about to find out if Trump is going to declare a dictatorship

I’m not going to bury that lede, as they say in the news business. That refers to a teasing headline and an article that requires you to read to the end of the piece to find out what it is. This is far too consequential.

The Trump administration is this close to openly defying court orders over deportations and a host of other actions. It looks like they may already have done so and it was Stephen Miller and Kristi Noem who initiated those actions.

Apparently Trump’s attorneys requested a pause to read documents in a hearing about blocking flights carrying alleged gang members to El Salvador to be imprisoned there, though those deportees did not have any kind of due process. During the requested pause of about 45 minutes, the planes took off in an obvious and ham handed defiance of the courts.

With a compliant Congress and Democrats seemingly frozen about what to do, along with the Supreme Court’s insane ruling that Trump is above the law, the White House is feeling that now is the time to defy the courts and ignore the rule of law. In other words, to break our democracy and create a dictatorship under Donald Trump.

The courts are finding against Trump all over the country, filing stays and ordering fired federal employees to be rehired. Yet, because of the intentional chaotic nature of Trump and Musk’s actions, it is very difficult to actually ascertain what orders are being followed and which are not.

Deportation Czar Tom Homan came right out with it and said he did not care about the courts. Trump declared that the federal judge who defied his illegal deportations should be impeached. There are at least 46 other court actions against his moves out there across the country. Would Trump impeach all of these judges? Undoubtedly.

In an encouraging turn (God knows we need one), Supreme Court lead justice John Roberts rebuked Trump,on his impeachment threats, saying this was not the way to treat the courts. That may have been the only glimmer of light this week, but I’ll take it.

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