(AP Photo/John Minchillo, Pool)
President Donald Trump announced that he was dismissing the Boards of Visitors at West Point the other major service academies as part of an effort to purge them of “Woke Left Ideologues” in a post on Truth Social Monday morning.
“Our Service Academies have been infiltrated by Woke Leftist Ideologues over the last four years. I have ordered the immediate dismissal of the Board of Visitors for the Army, Air Force, Navy, and Coast Guard,” wrote Trump. “We will have the strongest Military in History, and that begins by appointing new individuals to these Boards. We must make the Military Academies GREAT AGAIN!”
According to West Point’s website, “The Board, under the provisions of 10 US Code 7455 and the Federal Advisory Committee Act of 1972, shall inquire into the morale and discipline, curriculum, instruction, physical equipment, fiscal affairs, academic methods, and other matters relating to the academy that the board decides to consider.”
Current members of the Board of Visitors at the Army’s service academy include Senators Joni Ernst (R-IA) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL). At the United States Naval Academy, Senators Dan Sullivan (R-AK) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) serve on the board.
Trump has emphasized purging the military of progressive ideology he argues has infected it a focus of his second administration. His pick to lead the Department of Defense, former Fox News host Pete Hegseth, declared that he was chosen “to bring the warrior culture back to the Department of Defense” during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee last month.
“He, like me, wants a Pentagon laser focused on warfighting, lethality, meritocracy, standards, and readiness. That’s it. That is my job,” said Hegseth before pledging to “restore the warrior ethos to the Pentagon and throughout our fighting force.”
“The strength of our military is our unity—our shared purpose—not our differences,” he added.
