Trump’s Space Force Commander Thinks Marxists Are Taking Over the Military

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A commander in the U.S. Space Force has lost his job after going on a media tour slamming his superiors and writing a book that claims the military has come under the influence of a “neo-Marxist agenda,” a totally real thing that is definitely happening.

Lt. Col. Matthew Lohmeier was the commander of the 11th Space Warning Squadron at Buckley Air Force Base in Colorado, which is tasked with detecting ballistic missiles. Earlier this month he self-published a book called “Irresistible Revolution: Marxism’s Goal of Conquest and the Unmasking of the American Military.”

While promoting it, Lohmeier was openly critical of diversity and inclusion efforts led by Defense Sec. Lloyd Austin, who earlier this year became the first Black Pentagon chief.

“I don’t demonize [Austin], but I want to make it clear to both him and every service member that if we pursue this agenda, it will divide us, it will not unify us,” Lohmeier said in a recent podcast interview with conservative commentator L. Todd Wood, according to Military.com. It was also during this interview where Lohmeier charged that the Defense Department’s push to increase diversity and inclusion in the military is “rooted in critical race theory, which is rooted in Marxism.”

Austin issued a “stand down” order in February shortly after his confirmation by the Senate, and after the Capitol riot on January 6, directing military supervisors and commanders to discuss extremism. Austin said in a memo at the time that there “must be a concerted effort to better educate ourselves and our people about the scope of this problem and to develop sustainable ways to eliminate the corrosive effects that extremist ideology and conduct have on the workforce.

Dozens of former military service members, law enforcement, and other government employees have been arrested in connection with the riot, and last week Marine Corps Maj. Christopher Warnagiris became the first active-duty service member charged in the riot. 

“What we saw taking place in the country and in the military, frankly, during this past year especially was reminiscent of Mao’s cultural revolution where you had to toe a certain party line,” Lohmeier said in another interview, according to the Washington Post.

Lohmeier was subsequently fired Friday. 

A Space Force spokesperson told the Washington Post Sunday that Lt. Gen. Stephen Whiting, the commander of Space Operations Command, removed Lohmeier from his role “due to loss of trust and confidence in his ability to lead.”

"This decision was based on public comments made by Lt. Col. Lohmeier in a recent podcast," a Space Force spokesperson told Military.com. "Lt. Gen.Whiting has initiated a Command Directed Investigation on whether these comments constituted prohibited partisan political activity." 

The description of Lohmeier’s book on Amazon calls it “a timely and bold contribution from an active-duty Space Force lieutenant colonel who sees the impact of a neo-Marxist agenda at the ground level within our armed forces.” The book’s paperback and hardcover editions are currently the top two titles in Amazon’s “Military Policy” section. 

Prominent conservatives were infuriated by Lohmeier’s firing. 

“We need to be preparing our warriors to fight and win battles, not how to be SJWs,” Rep. Dan Crenshaw tweeted Sunday. “Don’t let this story slip away.”

“Marxism (ie #Communism) in our military MUST be exposed & rooted out of [sic] we plan to have a freedom-loving American Republic for much longer,” tweeted Kelli Ward, the chair of the Arizona Republican Party and a leading booster of the false election theft claims.

Though the U.S. government and military have long been explicitly anti-Marxist and in fact oriented their foreign policy around that principle, accusations that there’s a secret cabal of communists working in the upper echelons of government have a long history. During the Red Scare in the 1950s, Sen. Joseph McCarthy claimed there were Soviet spies in the senior military and federal government leadership, including the State Department. McCarthy was eventually censured by the Senate, but not before leading a witch hunt that ruined the lives and reputations of innocent people. 

Lohmeier, who participated in a Thanksgiving Day call with former President Donald Trump last year, told the Washington Post that he did his due diligence in consulting with the military and legal counsel before publishing his book. “I complied with what I understood was required as part of the pre-publication process,” he said.

"My intent never has been to engage in partisan politics,” he told Military.com. “I have written a book about a particular political ideology (Marxism) in the hope that our Defense Department might return to being politically non-partisan in the future as it has honorably done throughout history.”