Over the weekend, the news shocked the military world as it was announced that Lt. Col. Matthew Lohmeier, a commander of the 11th Space Warning Squadron at Buckley Air Force Base Colorado, had been relieved from his post on Friday by Lt. Gen. Stephen Whiting, the head of Space Operations Command.
Lt. Col. Lohmeier was relieved of durtyafter claiming that Marxist ideologies are becoming prevalent in the United States military. During a podcast appearance where he was promoting his new book, Lohmeier made the comments, and in an email from a Space Force spokesperson, it was announced that "Lt. Gen. Whiting has initiated a Command Directed Investigation on whether these comments constituted prohibited partisan political activity." In response, Florida GOP members have taken issue with the firing, and lawmakers like Florida Rep. Byron Donalds (R) are even calling Lohmeier a "hero" after the firing.
A number of GOP lawmakers took issue with the firing, implying that a level of hypocrisy was being expressed.
"You cannot allow seminars at West. Point that share anti-policing messaging while also reliving a soldier who shared anti-Marxism messages," wrote Florida Rep. Michael Waltz (R) on Twitter.
You cannot allow seminars at West Point that share anti-policing messaging while also relieving a soldier who shared anti-Marxism messages. https://t.co/hDLp3MCyJn
— Rep. Mike Waltz (@michaelgwaltz) May 16, 2021
Echoing in his remarks, Donalds also shared his thoughts of the firing on Twitter, voicing that "Lt. Col. Matthew Lohmeier is a hero, not only for putting on the uniform every day to defend our nation but also to defend the freedoms of the leftist mob attempting to cancel him."
He concluded by affirming that Critical Race Theory "should have no place in our classrooms, Armed Forces, or country as a whole."
"Lt. Col. Matthew Lohmeier is a hero, not only for putting on the uniform every day to defend our nation but also to defend the freedoms of the leftist mob attempting to cancel him," stated Donalds. "CRT should have no place in our classrooms, Armed Forces, or country as a whole."
Lohmeier self-published his book earlier this month, and it discusses a "Neo-Marxist agenda at the ground level within our armed forces" according to a description of the book.
In an email interview with Military.com, Lohmeier commented that his intent has never "been to engage in partisan politics. 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 honorable done throughout history."
