FORT DRUM, N.Y. (AP) — U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio is calling for an apparent pro-communist U.S. soldier to lose his commission as an officer.
In a letter to Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy, the Florida Republican says the Pentagon should remove 2nd Lt. Spenser Rapone from officer ranks while pursuing disciplinary action against the 2016 U.S. Military Academy graduate.
Rubio also says West Point should consider revoking Rapone’s four-year degree.
Rapone has been in the spotlight since he recently posted photos of himself on Twitter wearing a T-shirt featuring Marxist Che Guevara under his West Point uniform and holding his cap with the words “communism will win” written on the underside.
Army officials say they’re looking into the actions by Rapone, an infantry officer with the 10th Mountain Division at Fort Drum in northern New York.
Heaven knows there’s nothing more deserving of a United States Senator’s time than nutpicking one of the three or four actual communist sympathizers in the entire U.S. armed forces 28 years after the end of the Cold War.
As far as I can tell, there is nothing wrong with any US soldier having a political affiliation with Communism, as long as they fulfill their pledge to uphold the US Constitution and protect America from all enemies, foreign and domestic. There’s nothing in the US Constitution that prohibits Communism.