Donald Trump Appoints Conversative Charlie Kirk Known for His White Supermacist Views to Military Board, Sparking Backlash
A retired general who twice pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI, a political operative with no military background and a former football coach highlight Donald Trump’s appointments to boards overseeing the nation’s top military academies.
“They will make our Country proud,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post announcing the appointments to each academy’s board of visitors, which provides guidance and oversight of morale, financial state, and academics and provides an annual report to the president. “Congratulations to all!”
But not everyone is cheering the new board members.
“Beyond disgusting and disrespectful,” opined one critic on X.
“The most unqualified of whites,” wrote another, referencing to the lack of diversity in the appointments.
The moves were necessary after the president purged the boards at the Naval, Army, Air Force and Coast Guard academies, complaining the military establishment had become too “woke.”
Naming political allies to these positions is nothing new, but it’s rare to see them filled by figures with criminal records and no military experience. The boards serve as advisory panels and offer suggestions on curriculum, teaching, finances and other matters. Members are nominated by the president and Congress.
Their ranks now include retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, who served briefly as Trump’s national security adviser during the president’s first term before resigning in 2017 after lying about discussions he had with Russian officials to former Vice President Mike Pence. Flynn pleaded guilty on two separate occasions to making false statements to the FBI regarding his contacts with Russia’s ambassador but was later pardoned by the president.
Flynn has grown increasingly radical since then, seemingly endorsing a military coup in 2021 and arguing that the United States should have only one religion — the one to which he belongs.
Charlie Kirk, head of the right-wing political organization Turning Point USA, is another prominent appointee. The 32-year-old podcaster, an unblinking supporter of the president, never served in the military.
Kirk has a long history of brushing shoulders with white supremacy—whether through his organization or his own rhetoric. TPUSA has hired and promoted figures with documented racist views. The group has also been caught spreading racist memes, and former staffers have called out a culture of bigotry. Kirk himself has downplayed white nationalism, dismissed systemic racism as a myth, and cozied up to far-right figures pushing racist conspiracy theories.
Neither did Alabama senator and former college football coach Tommy Tuberville, who, for 10 months in 2023, blocked all promotions of senior officers in the U.S. military over its abortion policies. More than 450 senior positions went unfilled during Tuberville’s protest.
Former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer will return to the Naval Academy’s Board of Visitors after he was dismissed by the Biden administration in 2021. He filed and lost a lawsuit challenging the decision.
Ex-White House physician Ronny Jackson, now a Texas congressman, will also sit on the Naval board, as will another Lone Star State U.S. representative, Wesley Hunt. The Texans both face campaign finance probes after they allegedly used campaign funds to pay for memberships to exclusive country clubs.
Another new board member, Walt Nauta, Trump’s former body man, had been under indictment alongside the president in the classified documents case, which was subsequently dropped.
Retired Col. Doug Nikolai, Medal of Honor recipient David Bellavia and retired Maj. Gen. Dan Walrath are among the less controversial appointees. Rounding out the list of appointees are Montana Sen. Tim Sheehy, former deputy national security adviser Dina Powell, who served during Trump’s first term, and Maureen Bannon, an Army veteran whose father is former Trump adviser and current MAGA podcaster Steve Bannon.
Summarizing the list, one Trump critic posted on X, “Imagine having the nerve to complain about DEI, and then go on and appoint completely unqualified people to top positions.”
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