On Thursday, former Space Force Lt. Col. Matthew Lohmeier was confirmed as the Undersecretary of the U.S. Air Force. It’s a position most Americans have never heard of—and one that typically passes unnoticed. But this confirmation deserves attention. It marks a rare, almost literary reversal of fate, the kind usually reserved for well-crafted novels that point to a moral end.
Lohmeier first came to national attention in 2021 when he published a book titled "Irresistible Revolution: Marxism's Goal of Conquest & the Unmaking of the American Military." His was one of a handful of titles proffered during the Biden era that warned of a fast-moving progressive assault on the culture and training canon of America’s military. Others in that cohort include Rob Green, James Hasson, and Amber Smith. Each made valuable contributions to the historical record, memorializing how modern Bolshevism is working to turn the force tasked to protect the nation against it. But Lohmeier’s work stood apart for its philosophical depth and its careful tracing of how 20th-century revolutionary regimes co-opted militaries to impose tyranny.
He detailed how modern military “diversity” and “inclusion” initiatives bear uncanny resemblance to cultural tactics once used by Mao and Stalin. Lohmeier’s book is well-done narrative scholarship that provides a reasoned, historically grounded critique of recent military cultural practices. For that, the nation owes him a debt of gratitude.
Once upon a time, debate about military culture, policy, and strategy was allowed—expected, even. Commanders had a duty to speak up when they saw threats to the force. But that era ended in our time. The Space Force responded to Lohmeier’s warnings not with debate, but with retribution—relieving him of command. This was not due to complaints from subordinates. There was no investigation, just removal under the vanilla ‘loss of trust and confidence’ language that commanders hide behind to avoid public accountability. This officer’s career was ended not for incompetence, nor for failure, but for violating the dominant narrative. That kind of political punishment has chilled honest discourse across the Department of Defense. It silences loyal dissent, stifles creativity, and punishes moral courage.
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In contrast to Lohmeier’s fate, not one officer was fired for the disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal. No general was held accountable for allowing a Chinese spy balloon to drift across U.S. airspace. No one has lost their job for the Pentagon’s repeated annual failures to pass an audit. The only reliable path to being relieved of command today is daring to criticize the moral drift of senior defense leaders.
Then–Lt. Gen. Steven Whiting accused Lohmeier of violating restrictions on partisan political activity. That claim was dishonest. I read "Irresistible Revolution" cover to cover. It violates neither the Uniform Code of Military Justice nor Department of Defense Directive 1344.10: Political Activities by Members of the Armed Forces. In fact, Lohmeier explicitly encouraged military members to avoid partisanship. One passage reads:
“To the best of your ability, strive to remain apolitical in your speech in the current hyper-politicized environment. This means that partisan policy discussions fall outside of your sphere of activity. Allow the politician and the civilian citizen to be concerned with those things.”
His writing informed my research into the inherently political nature of military institutions. I later had the privilege of speaking with Matt briefly by phone, after he came across some of my published work. In conversation, he was just as thoughtful and measured as in his writing. An autodidact with a strategic mind, Lohmeier stands in the intellectual lineage of Huntington, Clausewitz, and Sun Tzu—none of whom, I suspect, would be welcomed by today’s top uniformed brass.
Lohmeier’s work was problematic not because of research deficiencies or narrative fallacy, but because it offered an informed warning that the brass were enthusiastically embracing doctrines that are necessarily hostile to the continuation of ordered liberty in the U.S. But Whiting’s ham-fisted overreach backfired. It gave Lohmeier the freedom to speak more openly, which ultimately drew the notice of Donald Trump.
It’s Time for Conservatives in the Military to Join the Fight
At Lohmeier’s confirmation hearing on May 1st, Senator Mazie Hirono asked if he would recuse himself from decisions involving his former chain of command—an inadvertent admission that Whiting’s actions were unethical. Imagine a world in which Congress would demand similar pledges of fairness from the generals they confirm for promotion to the highest levels. That doesn’t happen. Our politicians and our generals resemble one another because they are cut from the same cloth.
Now, the man who walked away from career, pension, and prestige stands higher than those who tried to break him. Their shortsightedness prepared the path for his elevation. For those willing to reflect deeply, this turn of events offers a prescient reminder of why the military should remain loyal to America’s founding principles, rather than a sitting regime... as the brass did during Biden's reign.
Some intelligent critics may counter that Trump nominated Lohmeier as a symbolic rebuke of the prior administration. We’ve seen presidents do that before—like Obama nominating Gen. (Ret.) Eric Shinseki as VA Secretary, after Shinseki’s honest estimate of the troop levels needed in Iraq offended the Bush administration. Shinseki was later proven right. I can’t speak to President Trump’s motives. But if he had wanted to make a purely political statement, he surely would have tapped Lohmeier for a role with far greater public visibility than Air Force Undersecretary. This appointment suggests something more: respect.
Most who work inside stratified institutions like the military live with a quiet fear. Institutions crush dissent. I saw it firsthand and lived with years of ostracism. Matthew Lohmeier experienced it deeply. And yet, he stood his ground. The nation desperate needs more like him in military leadership.
In this story, we find something encouraging—that integrity can outlast persecution, and that, sometimes, the system that tries to break you ends up setting the conditions for a path of greater influence and action. For that, we should all be encouraged and add just a bit of fortitude to our character for when it’s next needed in our continued sojourns.
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