Trump appointee at Defense Department resigns after CNN reveals birther postings

[Miles Archer]

Trump appointee at Defense Department resigns after CNN reveals birther postings



(CNN)A political appointee at the Department of Defense has resigned after a CNN KFile inquiry about controversial postings he made on Facebook.

Todd Johnson is a former Trump campaign state director in New Mexico who joined the Department of Defense in 2017 as an advance officer, a Pentagon employee with the sensitive task of providing logistical support related to the secretary's events and appearances domestically and abroad. Johnson had a pay scale of GS-14, typically reserved for senior civil service positions.

A CNN KFile review of his social media found that Johnson posted birther conspiracies about then-President Barack Obama and shared a video that claimed Obama was the Antichrist.

After CNN initially reached out to the Pentagon for comment, Johnson made his Facebook account private. A spokesperson confirmed Johnson was still working at the Pentagon Tuesday morning, but in the afternoon, after CNN informed the Department of Defense that a story was forthcoming, a Pentagon spokesperson said Johnson had offered his resignation and that it was accepted.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/03/politics/trump-dod-appointee-resigns-birther/index.html

[calimary]

1. Stay tuned. Whaddya bet he turns up as a "must-run" commentator on Sinclair stations?

These assholes always turn up again. They don't ever seem to go away.

[Freethinker65]

2. Well I doubt he would have resigned if it was fake news....

[3catwoman3]

3. Unh. Unh. Unh.

Another one bites the dust.

[kairos12]

4. Chief Birther remains in the WH.

[bucolic_frolic]

5. History will judge Birtherism

as one of the meanest political stunts

[Skittles]

6. didn't Trump himself push birther bullshit?

[Bleacher Creature]

9. He was the king of the birthers! NT

[slumcamper]

7. I have no point to make.

Only a reminder that "birtherism" goes far beyond Obama.

Birtherism is predominantly a sociocultural construct rooted in beliefs and attitudes consistent with white nationalism and cultural and racial superiority. It extends to and embraces a broad hatred toward foreign people (including immigrants), ideas, and practices generally. In its extreme--fear among those who perceive themselves as vulnerable--it is classic xenophobia. "America first," trade wars, suspending foreign aid, building walls, and police state action against racial minorities and immigrants are wholly consistent with the values of those dogmatic adherents of this perspective.

Obama was merely the lightning rod upon which these cultural currents were focused by those who grew increasingly berserk at a perceived threat to their weltanschauung.

[slumcamper]

8. In other words--birtherism is merely a symptom--

or one manifestation of an extreme ethnocentrism and nationalism characteristic of those representing the current US equivalent of the "Ubermensch."

[Honeycombe8]

10. I don't know why he resigned. He didn't do anything Trump didn't do. Sad, isn't it? nt

[LiberalLovinLug]

11. This is what is so frustrating

Trump has engaged in behaviour that at the very least should have him impeached by now, if he is held to any kind of minimum standard of conduct. And this tolerance is from a party that spent millions and spent months, years, on Bill Clinton's consensual BJ.

[Honeycombe8]

13. Yeah...I was thinking about Bill Clinton recently. How different it was for HIM...

I think the Repubs are better at beating the "I'm outraged!" drum. They have no shame.

[IluvPitties]

12. Trump's America.