Jonah Bennett, DCNF
The U.S. Army has opened an investigation into West Point graduate Second Lieutenant Spenser Rapone for appearing to openly advocate for communism on social media.
Pictures of Rapone in uniform at West Point promoting pro-communism messages spread wildly around the internet Monday, in effect forcing West Point to issue a statement in response. The statement noted the Army has launched an investigation into Rapone’s activities.
“The U.S. Military Academy strives to develop leaders who internalize the academy’s motto of Duty, Honor, Country, and who live the Army values,” West Point said in a statement released Tuesday. “Second Lieutenant Rapone’s actions in no way reflect the values of the U.S. Military Academy or the U.S. Army. As figures of public trust, members of the military must exhibit exemplary conduct, and are prohibited from engaging in certain expressions of political speech in uniform. Second Lieutenant Rapone’s chain of command is aware of his actions and is looking into the matter. The academy is prepared to assist the officer’s chain of command as required.”
In one picture, Rapone appears to have placed a paper sign in his hat saying: “Communism will win.” In the other photo, Rapone is wearing a Che Guevara t-shirt underneath his uniform. At a time when active-duty service members and veterans are being dragged into the recent controversy of the National Football League flag and anthem protests, the pictures immediately went viral.
https://twitter.com/punkproletarian/status/912065310232072192
Rapone seemed to post the second picture in an effort to verify that he did in fact own the Twitter account. His bio describes himself as a member of the Democratic Socialists of America.
https://twitter.com/punkproletarian/status/912414218762285056
Rapone has complained that the military as such “reifies capitalism/imperialism with a brutally hierarchical rank structure” and said that his fellow service members “lust for war and conflict. They fetishize violence.”
In June 2016, Rapone said that because “Fascists dehumanize political opponents…Violence against the far right is resistance, not aggression.”
In a tweet from July 2016, Rapone stated: “With that speech, Trump confirms the worst suspicion: he is a fascist.”
In October 2016, Rapone said that the “The GOP exists as violence against black/brown people, Muslims, LGBTQ community, yet milquetoast liberals actively donate money to it?”
Follow Jonah Bennett on Twitter
Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected].
DONATE TO BIZPAC REVIEW
Please help us! If you are fed up with letting radical big tech execs, phony fact-checkers, tyrannical liberals and a lying mainstream media have unprecedented power over your news please consider making a donation to BPR to help us fight them. Now is the time. Truth has never been more critical!
- The Florida candidate laser-focused on eradicating horrific animal crimes - March 22, 2024
- Sabo: ‘Rush was our GOAT, there was no equal and he made it look easy’ - February 18, 2024
- Dana Bash appears to want to crawl out of her own skin when Ramaswamy ‘goes there’ on J6 - December 7, 2023
Comment
We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.
BPR INSIDER COMMENTS
Scroll down for non-member comments or join our insider conversations by becoming a member. We'd love to have you!
