in World News Alexander Vindman Represents Everything That’s Wrong With Our Officer Class
by C.A. Skeet
France just arrested Telegram CEO Pavel Durov for his alleged failure to sufficiently limit criminal activity on Telegram. What “criminal activity” translates to in European terms is anyone’s guess. In Britain, criminal activity is liking memes or posting dissident opinions on social media. The New York Times reported that the Telegram app had been on law enforcement radar partially due to its use by “far-right extremist groups” for communicating, recruiting, and organizing. That’s Clue Number One, the only clue anyone should need to understand. Durov’s only criminal activity was refusing to censor the free exchange of ideas.
American politicians and industry leaders immediately condemned Durov’s arrest. “Dangerous times,” prophesied Elon Musk. “The need to protect free speech has never been more urgent,” implored RFK Jr. France has “crossed a red line,” wrote Rumble CEO Chris Pavlovski. “This is about silencing dissent and controlling information,” observed political commentator Ian Miles Cheong.
Indeed. But while there was no disagreement about what Durov’s arrest meant for free speech, there was disagreement as to its merits. Alexander Vindman—yes, that one—voiced his support for France’s crackdown on dissent by tweeting, “There’s a growing intolerance for platforming disinfo & malign influence & a growing appetite for accountability. Musk should be nervous.” He goes on to criticize “free speech absolutists weirdos.”
Free speech absolutists weirdos. Like Washington and Jefferson and Martin Luther King? Like Voltaire and John Stuart Mill? Like Salman Rushdie and George Orwell and Horace Greeley?
Liberals like Tulsi Gabbard, Bill Maher, Russell Brand, and the aforementioned Kennedy understand the absolute necessity of the component of free speech in an open democracy, no matter how messy it gets. It should unsettle Americans of all stripes that a former American military officer not only strenuously opposes free speech, but that he’s so proud about it, as if his should be the default position.
Unfortunately, when it comes to our military’s officer class, I fear Vindman is merely an ugly symptom of a deeper foundational rot. His gleeful participation in the Trump impeachment sham introduced us not to a selfless patriot courageously playing the part of a whistleblower but rather to a narcissistic mid-level bureaucrat who felt that he himself, rather than the commander-in-chief to whom he swore an oath, should dictate foreign policy.