U.S. Air Force personnel at a base in North Dakota were warned by higher ups against attending a pro-Trump rally. The base's brass said any personnel's presence at the event could jeopardize their careers in the USAF.
High-ranking officials at Minot Air Force Base sent service members a text message warning them that their “continued service” could be in jeopardy if they attended a local rally featuring a speaker from Turning Point Action.
The text message to Minot Air Force Base personnel, which was obtained by Fox News, cautioned any base personnel who were thinking of going into town while the event was taking place last Friday to “be careful” and “reach out for any concerns.”
The event mentioned by Air Force leadership was the “Dakota Patriot Rally,” which took place at the state fairgrounds in Minot. Leadership warned Air Force members that some of the people attending the rally “could be confrontational to military members.” The text message also warned military members that the featured guest speaker would be from Turning Point Action, which base leadership claimed was an “alt-right organization.”
Top brass at the Minot base warned in the text message sent to the base’s service members that “participation with groups such as Turning Point Action could jeopardize their continued service in the U.S. military.”
According to the Dakota Patriot Rally’s website, the rally’s featured speaker was Turning Point Action Chief Operating Officer Tyler Bowyer.
A Turning Point Action spokesperson told Fox News: “Tyler Bowyer was simply a keynote speaker. Secondly, Turning Point Action is not alt-right, it’s a mainstream conservative organization, and Tyler Bowyer is not some fringe personality — he’s the COO of TPAction, an RNC committeeman from the state of Arizona, and one of the most accomplished political organizers in the country. Lastly, Mr. Bowyer and attendees of this event are not ‘confrontational to military members,’ they’re some of the US Military’s most ardent supporters.”
The Turning Point Action spokesperson also emphasized the “shocking and totally unacceptable” concept that military members could jeopardize their careers by participating with Turning Point Action.
“How dare they dissuade servicemen and women from affiliating with conservative groups and leaders,” the spokesperson added. “This should set off alarm bells throughout North Dakota and D.C., that something is terribly wrong at the Minot Air Force base.”
"Turning Point has become accustomed to this type of treatment on college campuses, especially in California or New York, but for an unprovoked, unsolicited, unrelated communication this absurd and unhinged to come out of a North Dakota Air Force Base should be treated like a five alarm fire in the U.S. military," TPAction spokesman Andrew Kolvet said in a statement to the Post Millennial. "Congress should investigate and find out what the hell is going on here."
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