On Sunday’s This Week, former Clinton administration hack turned anchor George Stephanopoulos and ABC chief global affairs correspondent Martha Raddatz decided to trash the United States Military by implying it's filled with extremists.
Stephanopoulos led off the segment by painting the military with a broad brush stating “Investigations have revealed that dozens in the mob that day had ties to the U.S. Military.” He then introduced Raddatz: “Martha Raddatz brings us this report on the Pentagon's new effort to address extremism in its ranks.”
In Raddatz’s report, she interviewed an Army veteran Brian Snow who was wearing body armor for protection when he was in attendance at former President Trump’s speech on January 6. Raddatz interviewed him that day as well as a year later.
According to Raddatz, Snow had driven twelve hours from his home in Indiana to attend the rally. Fast forward to this year, Raddatz interviewed him again introducing the pre-taped conversation this way:
Nearly one year later, we asked Snow to meet us back in D.C. Despite the more than 60 unsuccessful lawsuits filed by former President Trump and his allies and zero evidence of widespread voter fraud, Snow is seemingly more convinced than ever that the false claims of a stolen election are real.
After arguing with Snow over whether there was significant voter fraud in the 2020 election, Raddatz reported that “while Snow said he did not join the protesters on Capitol Hill after the rally that day and called violence against police officers unfortunate and appalling, he still defends the dozens of current and former members of the military who participated.”
After using Snow as a brush to paint all military members as extremists, Raddatz turned to former Army medic David Smith who went on to claim he thought he was watching “democracy falling” on January 6.
That quote gave Raddatz her segue to report on so-called “extremism” in the military:
And sobering for the Pentagon. In the wake of the attack, and outlining new guidelines and definitions for prohibited extremist activities. Commanders can also look at service members' social media history once a red flag is raised and the guidance includes what constitutes dissemination of extremist materials online such as posting, liking, or retweeting. But so many say there’s still so much more that needs to be done.
While it may be true that there were over eighty people who participated in the January 6 riots that had some form of military background, not once in this segment did either Stephanopoulos or Raddatz state the fact that the overwhelming majority of our men and women in the military are not extremists.
This segment of ABC smearing our brave men and women in the military as extremists was brought to you by CarFax and Charles Schwab. Their information is linked so you can let them know about the biased news they fund.
To read the relevant transcript of this segment click “expand”:
ABC's This Week
1/9/2022
9:01:26 AMGEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: The latest on what's next in Congress with Democrat Jaime Raskin, Republican Mike Rounds. Martha Raddatz reports on the rise of extremism among the nation's veterans.
(...)
9:21:08 AM
STEPHANOPOULOS: President Biden condemning Donald Trump on the anniversary of the capital insurrection. Investigations have revealed that dozens in the mob that day had ties to the U.S. Military. Martha Raddatz brings us this report on the Pentagon's new effort to address extremism in its ranks.
MARTHA RADDATZ: In the early hours of last January 6th, among the thousands listening to Donald Trump on the national mall, Brian Snow caught my eye. Why do you have your body Armour on?
BRIAN SNOW: I have the body armor on for protection. I’m a father of four kids and I have seen a lot of evidence of people being attacked, stabbed, shot for attending a Trump supporter rally even if they're not Trump supporters.
RADDATZ: The army veteran had driven 12 hours from his Indiana home to attend the stop-the-steal rally.
SNOW: The President asked for people to come himself, so that's what we did.
RADDATZ: Nearly one year later, we asked Snow to meet us back in D.C. Despite the more than 60 unsuccessful lawsuits filed by former President Trump and his allies and zero evidence of widespread voter fraud, Snow is seemingly more convinced than ever that the false claims of a stolen election are real.
SNOW: I think that that election is so fraught with -- so tainted, it doesn't matter what anybody says anymore.
RADDATZ: And while Snow said he did not join the protesters on Capitol Hill after the rally that day and called violence against police officers unfortunate and appalling, he still defends the dozens of current and former members of the military who participated.
RADDATZ: They, like you, took an oath to support and defend the constitution.
SNOW: If that's what they felt they needed to do to protect the constitution from enemies both foreign and domestic.
RADDATZ: It's completely at opposite of the constitution itself.
SNOW: I disagree.
RADDATZ: More than 80 of the some 700 facing criminal charges for the assault on the Capitol had a military background.
DAVID SMITH: It goes against everything we were -- we swore an oath to protect and to serve, to do.
RADDATZ: David Smith, a former Navy medic who served in Afghanistan, was working near the Capitol that day.
SMITH: Literally watching what felt like democracy falling, honestly. Um, so it's pretty scary.
RADDATZ: And sobering for the Pentagon. In the wake of the attack, and outlining new guidelines and definitions for prohibited extremist activities. Commanders can also look at service members' social media history once a red flag is raised and the guidance includes what constitutes dissemination of extremist materials online such as posting, liking, or retweeting. But so many say there’s still so much more that needs to be done.
SMITH: When we talk about veterans and their willingness to serve, they have an undying patriotism. And when politicians can manipulate that, that's going to give them a lot of power.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Thanks to Martha Raddatz for that report.
