Sure will be interesting to see how many and exactly which Trump followers defend this fool, or make him out to be another “hero.” Many are so used to playing free and loose with facts, supporting Putin against Ukraine, denouncing the FBI for being partisan and the DOD for being “woke” … they don’t even recognize where the line between patriotism and treason lies.
In this respect Trumpsters and the young National Guardsman who circulated these documents so casually may be like the Jan. 6 rioters.
This young man seems to have crossed the line — not out of any deep commitment to stop spying on civilians (like Snowden), or to expose details of bloody U.S. imperialist wars overseas (like Assange & Manning) — but just to impress his little group of friends in an internet chat group!
The group itself has been described this way:
“The
New York Times first reported Teixeira's identity earlier on Thursday, describing him a National Guardsman who led Thug Shaker Central, an online group where about 20 to 30 people shared their love of guns, racist memes and video games.”
The FBI on Thursday arrested Jack Douglas Teixeira, a 21-year-old member of the U.S. Air National Guard, over the leaks online of classified documents that embarrassed Washington with allies around the world.
www.reuters.com
Of course the
NYTimes and
Washington Post have their own agendas, so it is surely too early to draw any certain conclusions about Teixeira’s motivations. But let this at least serve as warning to any who think that the law & national security norms don’t apply to them … just because they think they are “real Americans” and “patriots.”
Even our ex-President billionaire Donald Trump may finally get his comeuppance — learning there is a price to pay for keeping top secret documents and then arrogantly refusing to return them.