Morning Briefing: Dozens Military Members Suspected of 'Advocating for the Overthrow' of U.S. Government

The U.S. Defense Department inspector general annual report on extremism in the military revealed that '78 service members were suspected of advocating for the overthrow of the U.S. government.'

(Image: Christof Stache / Getty Images)

Morning Briefing: The U.S. Defense Department inspector general annual report on extremism in the military “reveals that 78 service members were suspected of advocating for the overthrow of the U.S. government and another 44 were suspected of engaging or supporting terrorism,” and the report “noted 183 different instances of the Pentagon investigating people over extremism across all branches.”

A new report by Australian Federal Police the found that “young as 12 are being targeted by extremists who are infiltrating online gaming platforms, with a rising number of children being investigated for radicalized ideologies.”

Siaka Massaquoi, member of the Los Angeles County Republican Party executive board, was reportedly “arrested on charges related to entering the U.S. Capitol during the riot on Jan. 6, 2021.”

The Republican Party of Texas executive committee vote 32 to 29 “against barring the party from associating with known Nazi sympathizers and Holocaust deniers,” and the vote of the executive committee comes in the wake of Nick Fuentes “visiting the Fort Worth offices of former state representative and prominent right-wing operative Jonathan Stickland.”

Must Reads

• Tim Alberta writes that “throughout his decades of public life — working for the Republican Party, becoming a darling of Fox News, advising politicians such as new House Speaker Mike Johnson, launching a small propaganda empire, carving out a niche as the American right’s chosen peddler of nostalgic alternative facts — [Tim] Barton had never been shy about his ultimate aims. He is an avowed Christian nationalist who favors theocratic rule; moreover, he is a so-called Dominionist, someone who believes Christians should control not only the government but also the media, the education system, and other cultural institutions. Barton and his ilk are invested less in advancing individual policies than they are in reconceiving our system of self-government in its totality, claiming a historical mandate to rule society with biblical dogma just as the founders supposedly intended. This is what the ‘American Restoration Tour’ was all about: restoring a version of America that never existed.” [Politico Magazine]

• Noah Berlatsky writes that Henry Kissinger’s “legacy is one of blatant disregard for the vulnerable and oppressed. Numerous obituary writers have been chronicling his horrifying history, including his most famous atrocity, the secret bombing campaign in Cambodia which led to at least 150,000 deaths and the horrifically bloody regime of the Khmer Rouge. Rather than an example of Jewish excellence, Kissinger is a much better illustration of the kind of global powermonger who has historically targeted marginalized and colonized people, including Jews. As Benjamin Ivry at the Forward has chronicled, Kissinger made numerous ugly comments about Jewish people, the worst of which are probably those found in State Department documents from 1972. At that time Kissinger was angry about American Jewish advocacy for Soviet Jews, who were facing systemic government discrimination and persecution. He said American Jews (advocating, again, for Jews overseas) were ‘self-serving bastards.’” [Religion Dispatches]

• Garnet Henderson writes that “depending on who you ask, the roots of extremism in Idaho either go back a few years, a few decades, or a few centuries. Today, the state’s population is estimated to be over 92 percent white, a fact that in and of itself speaks to a long history of racism, starting with the displacement and slaughter of Indigenous people. This is true of every state, but Idaho in particular was home to some of the deadliest assaults carried out by the U.S. military during what are known as the American Indian Wars, a long series of attacks against Indigenous Americans spanning from 1622 to 1890. During the Civil War, many white Southerners fled to Idaho, Oregon, and Washington in an attempt to re-establish the type of white supremacist system they feared losing in the South. Decades later, several Idaho towns forced out the Chinese immigrants who had settled there to work on the railroads and mine for gold. This created ‘sundown towns,’ where people of color weren’t allowed. (Twin Falls was one of them.) Perhaps because of this history, Idaho and its border states have remained an area of fascination for white supremacists.” [Rewire News Group]

What to expect from Radical Reports: Morning Briefing provides a daily round-up of reporting on the Radical Right; Extremist Links offers a weekly round-up of extremists activities including the white supremacist and militia movements; Narratives of the Right delivers weekly analysis of the current narratives in far right online spaces and promoted by right-wing media; and Research Desk provides monthly highlights research and analysis from academia on the Radical Right.

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