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During a campaign event on Friday in North Carolina, Donald Trump said he would create a task force to monitor “woke generals” and eliminate diversity trainings in the military.
“They’re gone,” Trump told the crowd, referring to the generals.
The proposal came in response to a question from Matthew Lohmeier, a former F-15 pilot who was relieved of his command in Trump’s Space Force in 2021 after criticizing diversity and inclusion training on a conservative podcast.
Active-duty members are barred from partisan activities.
At the time, the Space Force said it removed the commander “due to loss of trust and confidence in his ability to lead," a decision that was “based on public comments made by Lt. Col. Lohmeier in a recent podcast."
During a recording of the Information Operation show, Lohmeier accused members of the military of receiving training rooted in Marxism and critical race theory, a niche academic concept the GOP turned into a cudgel to attack a wide variety of policies and initiatives having to do with identity and inclusion.
Lohmeier also authored a book at the time about such claims, Irresistible Revolution: Marxism’s Goal of Conquest & the Unmaking of the American Military.
During a question-and-answer session at Trump’s North Carolina event on Friday, Lohmeier alleged that “woke generals,” whom he dubbed “monsters,” were dividing U.S. troops and called on the ex-president to set up a commission to monitor progressive views within the military if he’s re-elected.
The former president said he would and promised he would put Lohmeier on the anti-woke commission.
Trump is no stranger to attacks on the military for being “woke,” despite its tradition of nonpartisanship.
In 2021, Trump called for the resignation of then-Joint Chiefs chairman Mark Milley, falsely claiming the top military leader “went to Congress and actually defended Critical Race Theory being shoved down the throats of our soldiers”.
Mr Trump said at the time that Mr Milley must resign and “be replaced with someone who is actually willing to defend our Military from the Leftist Radicals who hate our Country and our Flag”.
The attacks on Milley came after the general testified before Congress that year and defended courses at U.S. service academies dealing with topics like racism and identity from attacks by Republicans.
“On the issue of critical race theory, et cetera, a lot of us have to get much smarter on whatever the theory is,” Milley said.
He also tied his interest in social justice to the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
“I want to understand white rage, and I’m white, and I want to understand it. What is it that caused thousands of people to assault this building and try to overturn the constitution of the United States of America, what caused that? I want to find that out,” Milley added.
Homeland Security officials warned that year that domestic violent extremism, including within the ranks of U.S. security branches, was the top terror threat to the country.
“Domestic violent extremism poses the most lethal and persistent terrorism-related threat to our country today,” Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement at the time. “As we work to safeguard our nation, we must be vigilant in our efforts to identify and combat domestic violent extremism within both the broader community and our own organisation. Hateful acts and violent extremism will not be tolerated within our department.”
Over the last decade, right-wing extremists in the U.S. are responsible for the great majority of extremism-related murders, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
In office, Trump was also quick to criticize what he saw as left-wing causes in the military, including banning many trans people from serving in the armed forces.
He has also said Milley should be executed for reassuring his Chinese counterpart of the United States’s stability during the chaotic final weeks of Trump’s presidency.
