BISMARCK — U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND), member of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), issued the following statement after Minot Air Force Base leadership sent a message to servicemembers warning them of the dangers associated with being near the Dakota Patriot Rally held at the state fairgrounds in Minot.
The message warned that “participation with groups such as Turning Point Action could jeopardize their continued service in the U.S. military.”
“First of all, if somebody disguised as a ‘leader’ at Minot Air Force Base actually put out this hyper partisan left wing political message, they need to rescind it immediately. They need to apologize for it profusely and then they need to encourage the airmen at Minot Air Force Base who are inclined to attend a conservative, traditional American values rally to do exactly that and bring a friend. Then that leader, the so-called leader needs to be removed from their position.
“Unfortunately, these left wing political messages are way too common in our military these days, and that needs to be stopped. We need to get our military focused on what they’re supposed to be doing, and that is their own mission. They all have a collective mission and individual missions. At Minot, they just happen to carry the heavy burden, responsibility, and great honor of having two of the three legs of the nuclear triad. In other words, they are as responsible, if not more responsible than anybody in the world for deterring our enemies: the enemies of freedom, the enemies of America, and the enemies of America’s allies. We need them to get focused on that and get off of the DEI woke nonsense that’s infiltrated our military, and now infiltrated North Dakota. Let’s get to the mission.”
BISMARCK — U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND), member of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), spoke with Chief of Staff of the Air Force General David Allvin regarding Minot Air Force Base’s biased and misguided official communication warning Airmen against participating in the Dakota Patriot Rally held in Minot on Friday, November 17. The rally celebrated traditional conservative values, yet the Air Force message labeled the organizers as “alt-right” and stated participation “could jeopardize their continued service in the U.S. military.”
During their conversation, General Allvin described the sequence of events which led to the misinformation and stated Minot Air Force Base issued an internal correction 52 minutes after the message was sent. However, Minot Air Force Base did not issue a statement on its official website and Facebook page until Tuesday at 2:19 p.m. Eastern time, four days later.
Senator Cramer believes the base should have made the correction on its official channels right away instead of waiting until mainstream media issued a story. He remains frustrated with the extreme, left-leaning political activism alive in the Department of Defense and is concerned with the military’s inability to prioritize warfighting.
“I had a cordial, intense telephone call with the Chief of Staff of the Air Force General David Allvin, about troublesome communications from the Minot Air Force Base. It's disgusting to me that anybody in our Air Force today would consider a Turning Point USA event anything other than a pro-American, patriotic, and frankly, pro-military group. During our call, General Allvin laid out the timeline of events and corrections, but it wasn’t adequate, and a greater apology is needed. The Air Force should apologize to Turning Point, to the greater Minot community, and to the God-fearing Americans who hold the same traditional conservative values.
“The continued leftward march of our military is exactly what our adversaries and enemies of liberty want. Our military is not a social experiment. It’s a warfighting machine meant to deter and confront threats. The correction from Minot Air Force Base must be a complete rescinding of the original message, along with a strong message of encouragement to participate in our political process, a constitutional liberty our military is sworn to protect.”
