from the x-is-for-war-pigs dept

Cool Cool Cool: Hegseth’s DoD Is Running A Secret Network Of Online Influencers

It would be nice to go a day or two (or three-day weekend!) without being apprised of some new awfulness from this administration. Since that’s not going to happen, let’s check in with the latest shitshow!

And here it is: the Pentagon has “enlisted” some X.com influencers to thrust and parry on behalf of the Defense Department because it apparently can’t (lol) defend itself from online haters, much less wage the sort of war its unofficial name would suggest it can.

Sad! as the POTUS himself might say. Extremely sad, and by “sad,” I mean “pathetic.” One of the most powerful government agencies in the entire world has been reduced to co-opting X users with (not all that great!) follower numbers to act on its behalf. (h/t Simple Justice, in which Scott Greenfield recounts his own experience with one of the DoD’s new stable of “influencers”)

The Pentagon has secretly installed several conservative military veterans with large online followings in government roles, declining to disclose their assignments as they amplify Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s viewpoints and attack those who scrutinize the Trump administration, according to people familiar with the matter and corroborating material.

Psy-op but on main. That’s the stuff! [slaps vein vigorously] Who has this extremely powerful and voraciously violent department roped into its online “might makes right” scheme? Well, it’s a blend of the somewhat-influential and the barely-influential. I mean, we’re talking rookie numbers… at least in the context of the Defense Department’s budget and reach.

Neither the Pentagon nor those involved have disclosed the government roles despite the Trump administration’s claims that they are running the most transparent Defense Department ever.

Those involved include Rob Maness, a retired Air Force colonel, and Kurt Schlichter, a retired Army colonel, people familiar with the matter said. 

[…]

Both served for decades in uniform and, since retiring, have turned from the military to conservative commentary. Maness has more than 135,000 followers on X, while Schlichter has nearly 620,000.

Another retired Army colonel and influencer, Thomas Anderson, was listed in Pentagon records earlier this year with a “.civ” email address and assigned to Tata’s office, according to people familiar with the matter and records reviewed by The Post. An attorney, he writes online under the pen name Cynical Publius and has more than 323,000 followers on X.

Pentagon records seen by the Washington Post — which include email addresses linked to the Defense Department — close the loop. What’s unclear is how much any of these pro-Pentagon “influencers” are being paid (if anything), nor how long they’ve been acting as unofficial PR reps for the DoD.

What is clear is that the Defense Department would prefer to pretend this isn’t happening. Requests for comments have failed to generate even a perfunctory “no comment.” And even the brashest of Trump appointees have been unwilling to light up the socials with insults targeting WaPo journalists, journalists in general, or make wild-ass claims about national security.

The radio, as they say, is silent. There’s been no effort to sweep this under the rug, apparently because the DoD is going to pretend, for now at least, that there’s nothing worth grabbing the broom for, much less bending down and lifting up the nearest rug.

What makes this doubly disturbing is the Defense Department’s ongoing war on journalists. This effort has included kicking out 95% of journalists from the Pentagon and only allowing access to those who are willing to print propaganda, rather than facts. This perverse form of house-cleaning has now extended to even the DoD’s own in-house news outlet, which has seen editors and journalists resign or get fired for refusing to bend a knee to Hegseth and censorial demands.

The irony here isn’t even enjoyable. Ever since it took power, the Trump administration has claimed any opposition to it must be the result of “paid” protesters. Meanwhile, it has secretly created its own shadow network of proponents to push its agenda while pretending to just be regular social media users with no underlying agenda. Trump is the Soros he wants to see in the world. Hypocrisy is just another word for nothing left to lose, I guess.