A senior Pentagon official has been placed on leave after he was secretly filmed criticizing President Donald Trump’s administration and the changes it has implemented at the Department of Defense.
Right-wing activist James O’Keefe released a video on Wednesday reportedly showing Brandon Newsom, a senior official in the Office of the Secretary of the Navy, being filmed with a hidden camera. Newsweek has not independently verified the footage.
In the footage, Newsom can be heard saying that he wanted to “stay and stick it out” at the Pentagon, adding: “So that way, when the time comes, I can undo whatever’s been done [by the Trump administration].” When asked about what he would undo, he talked of “a lot of times” when working at the Pentagon “challenges my morals,” saying he would not have “one specific prayer service” and undo employee “schedule policy.”
He also called Trump “a textbook narcissist” and described the Iran war as “completely stupid” and “driven by one man’s ego.”
Good to know there’s still good people in the military (1 less now, but this show they’re there).
Not sure I would say that a person that is doing something they admit to know is/was wrong “good people”
You have a very naive black-and-white view of the world. I guess that Schindler guy was bad too, huh?
Schindler was actively cheating the Nazis, this guy is apparently just waiting out the storm…
Show me what “good” this guy has done and we’ll talk…
How the fuck would you or I know? Did Schindler post his actions somewhere?
FFS. Think.
LOL this is such an American response… I’ll let you in on a little secret: such knowledge is hidden inside obscure devices called Books
After the fact. Not DURING
ok, tell me how america will fix the 180 little girls slaughtered in the first salvo in Iran? of the 200+ people America executed in the Caribbean?
My comcent here is not universal to all in the same situation… a librarian forced to hide good books and showcase Mein Kampf can absolutely hold and fix things when the opportunity arises… the military cannot
We can’t fix those, but we can fix the damage we’ve done to our and other democracies, and they can fix the ruleset for the future to assure it doesn’t happen again. Lives can’t be brought back but we can take one step closer to a permanent peace
LoL sure, that’s never happened in the history of the USA but certainly it will this time… we just need to let the good people of the USA murder freely around the world for a few years
“American response “. Let’s analyze your country…
why? so you can pretend there is nothing to be fixed in yours until America is literally the worst of the worst?
No, so you can stop acting like yours is any better and that you’re doing anything at all to fix it.
I’m conflicted.
On one hand, I think people should leave their positions if they’re being used for evil.
On the other hand, how do we adequately resist fascism without people on the inside at the highest levels willing to side against the fascists when the opportunity presents itself?
I’m not absolving this guy for anything he may have contributed to the fascist agenda, but having people on the inside to resist it is necessary. Few of those people will ever be squeaky clean.
On the other other hand, hopefully when people like that leave an organization (military or a company in general) they take a knowledge base and experience with them, making things dumber and less efficient.
But I agree, I’d rather have a mole on the inside doing what good they can to block the march to evil.
They do!
The knowledge base that is leaving are the people that understand that starting random wars is stupid.
I am hoping the people who leave, plan a war against Dogey America. Odds are that we will need to kill the Confederacy again.
People that think the organization revolves around them are also narcissists. No. When they leave, the inevitable march will continue. The knowledge will be filled- if not now- later, by more fascists.
That’s effectively what this argument leads to. More fascists in the government.
if you have not noticed, an inevitable feature of these fascists is that they are incredibly mediocre… I rather see the military crumble under their ineptitude than help them along the way pretending to be “the good guy”
Right. So you genuinely think it will crumble if only those with upstanding morals leave.
Naive. Try reading a book, something outside your echo chamber pehaps
not just leave, oppose
Explain to me how do you oppose fascism by doing everything they want you to do but secretely not like it?
Again. You have zero idea what he (or anyone else) is or isn’t doing without your knowledge.
I’m finished discussing this with someone so thick headed.
I mean, he just told us what he was doing but feel free to push your head in the sand deeper
If this person was doing that, then I would reconsider my opinion but it looks (from the post) that he was not resisting and just hoping to be around to clean some of the mess later…
The problem here is that his job is not making a bug free video game… his job is ultimately to kill people so I find it hard to accept it is OK for him to do that but just regret it a little and that means he is a good person
So, you prefer the timeline where all honest and good high ranking military either immediately resign in protest, or “resist” which will mean immediate termination and possible charges. Vs the one where they maintain position and stay ready to resit when it might matter?
Absolutely!.. if the USA had staged a general strike, the child rapist regime would have ended in 3 months
If the “honest and good” military ranking had put a stop to this, literally THOUSANDS of lives would not have been wasted in vain.
These “honest and good” are not ready to resist… they are simply doing evil things while knowing they are evil things in hopes of what? are they going to rebuild Iran? are they going to the Caribbean to pay reparations for playing target practice with whatever boat they destroyed?
Completely understandable
We are not just talking about “evil” here as in “following orders means this washing machine will not be as reliable as I could make it”. In this case we are talking about extreme cases as in “following orders means humans will be slaughtered for no reason at all”
Is that what is happening? because what I read was that this person disagreed but followed orders anyway, and just the slightest criticism got him canned… how was he resisting fascism in any way?
Again, I agree but where is the evidence of ANY resistance?
Well, the act of criticism is grounds for immediate dismissal.
So what specific resistance are you looking for? That would not simply be the same as walking away, only with added steps and possible retaliation?
They should have literally voiced their concern and refused to follow illegal commands
You cannot pretend to be a good person when you do evil things, knowing they are evil, simply because you want to save your own status…
Not gonna downvote you because that is my immediate gut reaction too. But Trump is actively trying to purge anyone who isn’t a fascist bootlicker, and if that happens Trump can literally do anything.
I’m a black/white kind of person and I really struggle with this, but am trying to keep a broader perspective.
I believe the orange child rapist has already achieved this… what is he not allowed to do?
I understand the concept of what you are saying but this individual was not resisting at all, just begrudgingly doing what his fascist bosses told him to. He was helping fascism just as much as the bootlickers (probably more because those bootlickers tend to be incredibly inept)
Life ain’t black and white, and it’s extremely callow to expect it.