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”
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.
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
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?
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)