A measure in the National Defense Authorization Act designed to allow for better screening of white nationalism in military enlistees has had the word ‘white nationalist’ removed. That, uh, makes sense, right?
Huffington Post writes that after initially passing in the House, the language of the measure was altered to “extremist and gang-related activity,” after being passed through the Republican-controlled Senate. It is unclear who made this change nor was any justification provided for the change. Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) found the removal to be alarming as he introduced the measure in July after numerous reports of white nationalists in the military.
This development is, frankly, unsurprising. Did we honestly expect anything less from the party that’s totally chill with having a white nationalist be a Senior Advisor to the President? To rebuke white nationalism is to rebuke the presidency and it’s pretty clear that the Republican party is riding that ship into the iceberg.
This news comes at the end of a week where investigations were launched into white supremacist signs possibly being thrown up at the annual Army/Navy game and the official Department of Defense Facebook page celebrating the anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge with a picture of an SS officer. Clearly, there is no need for concern about white nationalism in the military.