House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer demanded answers from the Selective Service agency for reposting a vulgar social media screed last month suggesting the US may be on a similar trajectory to Nazi Germany.
Although the report was subsequently scrubbed from the Selective Service’s official X account, Comer (R-Ky.) is keen on obtaining additional information on the matter and wants to ensure the perpetrator is fired.
“The Committee is deeply disturbed that an independent federal agency, tasked with registering and maintaining a system of individuals potentially subject to military conscription if authorized by the President and Congress, would re-post a wholly unsubstantiated, false, and contemptible claim,” Comer wrote in a letter to Selective Service System acting director Joel Spangenberg on Thursday.
One day after the Nov. 5 election, the Selective Service X account reposted a remark by user “SloJoe” likening the incoming Trump administration to Nazi Germany.
“For all you stupid f—s out there that still believe military service will be voluntary. Remember Germany 1936,” the post said.
“SloJoe” had a profile picture with the face of the late general and secretary of state Colin Powell.
Under Nazi Germany, Adolf Hitler revived military conscription just ahead of his occupation of the Rhineland in 1936. In doing so, he flouted the Treaty of Versailles.
That repost remained live at the time for at least an hour before being taken down.
The Selective Service is the federal agency tasked with overseeing a national database of US male citizens between the ages of 18 and 25 who could be subject to the draft should it be necessary.
Conscription has not been in effect since the 1970s and the US military is all voluntary at the moment.
President-elect Donald Trump has publicly denied any suggestion that he would bring back compulsory military service.
“Federal agencies have great responsibility to honestly and credibly communicate with the Americans for whom they work,” Comer further stressed in the letter.
Comer’s missive to Spangenberg demanded that the agency fork over all documents and communications pertaining to its investigation of that post by Dec. 27.
The Kentucky Republican also demanded a committee staff briefing on the ordeal be scheduled by Dec. 19 at the latest.437
What do you think?
“Our investigation is ongoing, and it would be premature to comment at this time,” a spokesperson for the Selective Service told The Post in response to an inquiry.
