We live in a world where the public square has moved online to social media platforms.
This means that everything you say can be amplified and ultimately nothing can be deleted – the Internet never forgets.
And this Army General found himself in hot water for going keyboard warrior on the wrong people.
Inspector General says General was behaving in a “toxic” way that was “counterproductive”
The US Army Inspector General’s Office is admonishing a decorated General, Patrick Donahoe, for hurting the public image of the entire organization.
According to the Army, they were looking into his “improper use of social media, toxic and counterproductive leadership, and failing to treat a subordinate with dignity and respect.”
They point to a couple of separate instances – both of which could be said to bring “brought a measurable amount of negative publicity to the Army, enough that [the Office of the Chief of Public Affairs] warned [the Secretary of the Army] of the fallout.”
In one where he makes public criticism of a member of the media, Tucker Carlson.
In the spring of 2021, Carlson stressed his concern about “feminization” of the military.
Donahoe started a trend on Twitter when he called Carlson out saying he “couldn’t be more wrong.”
Little did he know that he would have a strong rebuke from the nightly Fox News talk show host, exposing his keyboard warrior antics.
Donahoe compares military suicides to car accidents
Another fight that created quite a stir saw Donahoe push back on a fellow service member, Josiah Lippincott.
Donahoe tweeted a message that encouraged soldiers to get the COVID-19 vaccine – which was mandated.
Lippincott was quick to respond, “There were 26 more suicides than in Q4 2019. There have been 26 Covid deaths TOTAL in DoD,” and explaining “the lockdowns, liberty restrictions, quarantines and general disruption of servicemember’s lives is a way bigger killer than the virus.”
Donahoe painted it as a “false equivalency” to suicide and joked that car accidents were a bigger concern than suicide.
He also stated the need for “normalcy” and called Lippincott’s perspective “wrongheaded.”
Lippincott then responded, “Suicide is an intentional act. Car accidents are not. When policy treats healthy soldiers like biological hazards we shouldn’t be surprised by an increase in suicide and psychological problems.”
Donahoe responded with a short, “Hey @Hillsdale come get your boy.”
This was a reference to Lippincott’s alma mater Hillsdale College.
Donahoe has been publicly condemned and reassigned awaiting retirement
According to a statement released by the Army it’s “a general principle, the Army expects all Soldiers to appropriately use social media to communicate, to demonstrate professionalism at all times, and to treat people with dignity and respect, as required by both DoD and Army policy.”
They further noted that Donahoe was “temporarily assigned as a special assistant to the Commanding General of the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command.”
Some might suggest that his impending retirement could be in question.
But given that Biden’s still in charge of the DOD, that isn’t very likely.
US Political Daily will keep you up-to-date on any developments to this ongoing story.
