The American Security Council Foundation’s Peace Through Strength podcast host Joy Votrobek and cohost Laurence Sanford talked to MacArthur Society board member and West Point graduate Matthew Newgent ’96 about the cultural Marxist CRT/DEI agenda at West Point causing division, the change to the mission statement from Duty, Honor, Country to Army Values, and the work of the MacArthur Society to identify and remove the threats and problems from West Point and strengthen the cadets. Matt talks about how the enemy uses ideological subversion to weaken our military.
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TRANSCRIPT
Joy Votrobek, Host
Welcome everyone to our peace through strength podcast, brought to you by the American Security Council foundation. I’m your host, Joy Botrebeck. And here with me today is our senior analyst, Lawrence Sanford.
Laurence Sanford, Co-Host
Nice to be here.
Joy Votrobek, Host
Thank you. And our special guest, Matthew Newgent.
Matthew Newgent, USMA ’96
It’s great to be here. Thank you.
Joy Votrobek, Host
I’ll introduce him in just a moment, but I say we welcome all viewpoints on our peace through strength podcast. Please note that the opinions expressed in this podcast do not necessarily reflect the opinions of ASDF and are those of our guests. And our guest, as I said, is Matthew Newgent from the MacArthur Society of West Point graduates. Matthew graduated from West Point in 1996. He majored in Russian and minored in systems engineering. He was a student ambassador to the Soviet Union in high school. In 1989, while at West Point, he spent time for language immersion training in post Soviet Union Russia. In 1995, before West Point, he was enlisted in military intelligence where he was an interpreter. He’s actually been trained in several French, Russian, Arabic, Czech, Spanish, Japanese, and English. I’m glad you know English.
Matthew Newgent, USMA ’96
Me too.
Joy Votrobek, Host
In the army, he was an engineer officer and served at Fort Bragg. Military schools include airborne school, ranger school, sapper school. His total time served was eleven years. He’s a founding board member of the West Point Society of West Point Graduates and the vice president of donor relations and lead for congressional affairs. He’s an entrepreneur and business owner. And he is married to his wife of 25 years. And they have three children.
Matthew Newgent, USMA ’96
That’s right. Still paying for them, too. Yeah, that my wife would stick with me. God bless my long suffering wife.
Joy Votrobek, Host
So thank you very much for being with us today.
Matthew Newgent, USMA ’96
You bet. It’s great to be here. Hey, it’s an honor to be here with you guys. Your heritage goes back to the fifties. I understand that. That the vision you gave to President Reagan, peace through strength and which is part of our vernacular in the context of defense every day. Thank you. Great to hear. So, Larry, so you guys ready to go?
Joy Votrobek, Host
We are ready to go.
Matthew Newgent, USMA ’96
Okay, so first we’re talking in the context of West Point. So as a baseline for everybody, West Point is commission’s officers to lead the US Army. West Point is the largest single commissioning source. About 25% of all army officers come from West Point. About 75 80% come from mostly ROTC and some officer candidate school, which is a 90 day course.
West Point does set the standard for army officers and is vital to our national security. Typically, where West Point goes, the army goes. All right, so West Point attracts the best and brightest young men and young women in our country. Now, these young men and women expect West Point to steer them straight and develop them into leaders of character who win our country’s wars. 80. Excuse me, 90% to 95% of everything West Point does is good or better than I was there, okay? But in some degree, West Point is failing, okay? Now, as a member of the long gray line, those are, you know, West Point graduates and a member of the MacArthur Society. We are a friend of West Point. We want West Point to succeed in developing leaders of character who win our country’s wars. It’s also incumbent upon us. We are duty bound to speak up where there is a threat to West Point, which is why we’re here today. But let’s set the table for our discussion. The big pictures are here. Now, if I was to be speaking to anybody, it would be speaking to cadets, because, cadets, we go in with such high hopes, and really, it’s a rosy picture of what, in fact, is a war, okay?
The big picture is that there are enemies in this world who hate America, okay? I mean, the first time someone told me that Iran has an I hate America day, I did not believe it. And even when, you know, like, really? Really, Matt? They’re chanting, death to America, death to the great Satan. Even though someone trans. I just did not believe it. It was so against my paradigm. There are people, not necessarily just Iranians, but they hate our Judeo-Christian heritage, which stands in the way of Marxism and tyranny. They hate a republican form of government where leaders govern by the consent of the governed, which makes tyranny difficult. They hate our right to property, which stands in the way of state control of property. It’s very difficult to defeat the United States from the outside. We have very strong military. We have a massive body of land. We have great coasts, great navies. And as an army guy, that’s tough to say. So how do you defeat the United States? Remember back in World War Two, the Maginot line, which was supposed to be a deep defensive structure between Germany and France? All that the Germans did is go around it.
So what do our enemies do? They just go around our military. They try to defeat it us from within. And the phrase for that is ideological subversion. Now, if a very loose paraphrase, that means changing the way people think in order to gain incremental control of the institution or country. This applies to a military academy, an entire army, and even an entire country. Now, the term ideological subversion sounds pretty spooky conspiracy theory like, to me. It did me the first time I heard it. But ideological subversion is real. And here’s some evidence that goes back many decades. Here are just 345 communist goals. The soviet spy, KGB spy who defected to the US, and the former soviet leader, Nikita Khrushchev. So, focusing right now on the 45 communist goals, which, by the way, congressman, as Herlong, a representative from Florida, by the way. Okay, read into congressional record on January 10, 1963, the 45 communist goals. Now, here are a few of them. You’ll notice that whether you’re an intelligence expert or not, it’s clear that the Marxists have had a degree of success. Here are only four of those goals. Gain control of the schools, capture one or both political parties.
Gain control of media. Gain control of big business. Okay, next, former Soviet KGB spy who defected to the us, Yuri Bezmanov. Okay, if you haven’t heard him, this is what transformed me to being just kind of a go along to get along, have faith in the leaders of our country. And I started to say, hey, you know, hold back here. What’s going on? And in one of his many videos that he made of, he said, now, he was a high level in the KGB. He said 85% of what they do is overt out in the open, and it’s information warfare. Okay, next. And thirdly, Nikita Khrushchev, former Soviet Union first secretary, basically their president in the late 1950s. There’s a quote attributed to Khrushchev, Muyvas Raz Davim, which means, we will crush you. It’s also attributed to him that he said, the children of your grandchildren will be communist and will not have to fire a shot. That was around 1960, and this year is 2024. Is it prescient that he said that, or just he knew what he was doing? Maybe both.
Laurence Sanford, Co-Host
Too bad he wasn’t talking about his own grandkids, because they’re not communists anymore.
Matthew Newgent, USMA ’96
That is shocking. And, you know, just like money in the world or currency, it flows like the currents. Tyranny moves. So, I mean, a lot of people don’t understand that. When you speak in the context of the United States. Some people say, the American experiment, people feel uncomfortable with that because they think the United States is permanent. It’s not true.
Laurence Sanford, Co-Host
It’s changing all the time.
Matthew Newgent, USMA ’96
It is. It is.
Joy Votrobek, Host
And you brought up a good point about our history, and we started out fighting against communism, and here we are, still fighting against communism.
Matthew Newgent, USMA ’96
That is the crux of why the MacArthur Society is here. Just great to be talking with you guys.
Joy Votrobek, Host
So how does this subversion, unfold okay.
Matthew Newgent, USMA ’96
So I’m glad that you asked that Marxism, how I interpret it, is a recipe book for tyranny that anybody can use. Really? Now, it’s the major leaders that turn a recipe book into tyranny. There was Lenin and Stalin of the Soviet Union, Mao Zedong of China, Pol Pot of Cambodia. More recently, two of the founders of Black Lives matters are self avowed Marxists.
So now, when it comes to West Point, I will reaffirm this. 90% to 90% of what they do is great or better. We’re talking the facilities, the training, the technologies. Also, the cadets at West Point, and this is almost a quote from the findings of the borman commission, which was a commission stood up by President Carter at the time because there was a big cheating scandal. And Frank Borman, former West Point grad, air force pilot, and NASA astronaut, he led it. And he said, the cadets at West Point are a remarkable group with unquestionable devotion to the academy, the army, and the nation. So understand the ideas of their devotion is true in its unwavering. Now, what they are devoted to can be subverted. Okay, so to keep these cadets and West Point on track, MacArthur Society is stepping in because, like a cancer or a black mold, a little Marxism can metastasize and destroy an institution, an entire country, or West Point is an institution.
Laurence Sanford, Co-Host
Rotten apple spoils the barrel.
Matthew Newgent, USMA ’96
What? You said. Yeah. One rotten apple can spoil the whole barrel. Absolutely. And that’s actually one of the findings. You’re paraphrasing from the Borman commission? Yeah. The next sentence was a few rotten apples spoiled.
Laurence Sanford, Co-Host
Sorry, I didn’t mean to steal your thunder.
Matthew Newgent, USMA ’96
Actually, that was not in. But having not read that, I doubt it. But you are correct. According to the Frank Borman commission, how.
Joy Votrobek, Host
Does the MacArthur Society fit into this equation?
Matthew Newgent, USMA ’96
Okay, so the MacArthur Society’s mission is to preserve, defend, and advocate for West Point’s history, purpose, and principles of duty, honor, country. The founding members of the MacArthur Society are all West Point alumni, but certainly you don’t have to be a West Point alumni to participate. Okay, I want to make that clear. We’re just the founders. There are many West Point grads who have reached out to us, to the MacArthur Society, who have voiced grave concern over some of the problems of West Point. So in many ways, the MacArthur Society is the voice of many members of the long gray line.
And the long gray line is basically the guardian of West Point. This is what we recently found out. Without divulging too much, there are people at or affiliated with West Point, who feel the same way that we do at the MacArthur Society. If they speak out, they’ll threaten their livelihood, and that’s very real.
So we are not only speaking for West Point graduates who are no longer in the military. We are speaking for people affiliated with West Point who are afraid for their own well being. Okay? Does that make sense?
So the MacArthur now note, and because of our position as a nonprofit, okay. And as a part of our character, the MacArthur society does not salute and execute, does not go along to get along.
In order to accomplish the MacArthur Society mission, our duty compels us to look at West Point with a very critical eye, much like good parents love their children and watch over them.
So I want to make it really clear. We love West Point more so than you know. We are here for that reason, and our duty compels us to get engaged. So we do have a bias for action. We’re outcomes driven, and we’ve made a difference. I’ll talk about that. In addition, we work with some great, jointly with some great esteemed societies supporting the Naval Academy, the Calvert Task Group, and other nonprofit, and another one that supports the Air Force academy. And all services actually: Stand Together Against Racism and Radicalism in the Services – STARRS, STARRS.us.
Laurence Sanford, Co-Host
So that’s the Air Force.
Matthew Newgent, USMA ’96
They do represent the Air Force Academy. They actually predate the MacArthur Society. Tremendous work. Tremendous work. Only have great things to say.
Laurence Sanford, Co-Host
They have a website that’s interesting, and they have weekly mailers.
Matthew Newgent, USMA ’96
They do. And you can find that at STARRS.US.
Joy Votrobek, Host
So, Matthew, what are the problems that MacArthur Society sees at West Point?
Matthew Newgent, USMA ’96
Glad that you asked. To be more precise, these problems are actually symptoms of a greater problem in our country and in the other service academies. Now, in terms of the symptoms problems, you can kind of use those interchangeably at West Point. So the most important aspect of West Point is the cadet honor code. Cadet will not lie, cheat, steal, or tolerate those who do. For those of you who have never heard the cadet honor code, that’s what it is. Without the honor code, West Point would simply be an expensive liberal arts college with fancy uniforms.
There are at least two major issues MacArthur society is addressing related to the honor code and honor at West Point. One is this. A couple years ago, the superintendent recently said, quote, he is reviewing the honor code to make it more aspirational in nature, unquote. This is from the board of meeting, official minutes, 2023. So it was actually about a year ago. When you hear the word board of visitors. Just change it with board of directors. Because all the service academies have a board of visitors. It’s really the board of directors. Okay, so let’s paint a picture here. In contrast, a code versus an aspiration. One is to live by and one is to try. Rhetorical question. Okay, I know what you’re going to say, but who do you want? What kind of army officer do you want to lead your sons and daughters in battle? One who lives honorably or one who tries to live honorably? Obviously, the one that does. Okay, this new policy lowers the bar of living honorably to try rather than live for our country, be the land of the home. Excuse me? For our country to be the land of the free and the home of the brave, it must have a military led by men and women of honor.
There is a saying we learn as cadets. A partial truth is a whole lie. Lowering the standards of the cadet honor code, de aspirational, makes the partial truth acceptable. The superintendent’s aspirational policy is a threat that years down the line will compromise, force, lethality, international security. So another major issue at West Point, or symptom, if you will, a problem is the removal of duty, honor, country from the West Point. Mission statement. Okay, now, in terms of ideological subversion, changing an organization’s mission statement is Marxism 101. Part of Khrushchev’s war of winning without firing a shot, separate an organization from its heritage. Heritage gives us a common bond and unites us. Remember, e pluribus unum. Out of many, one. When you take a heritage away from people, you’re breaking them apart. I get to get the feeling you want to say something.
Laurence Sanford, Co-Host
No, I wrote a paper on it.
Joy Votrobek, Host
That’s what he loves.
Laurence Sanford, Co-Host
Going from many into one. We are now going from one into many.
Matthew Newgent, USMA ’96
Exactly. Now. So over time, I mean, originally our motto was e pluribus unum, and it has gone now, formally or informally, to in God we trust. Which is a great motto, by the way. But you’re right. And in the terms of liberty and freedom, e pluribus unum. And in God we trust, are on the right side. Not to speak politically, but I mean in the righteous side, whereas the opposite, Marxism, it’s division, it’s destruction. So, you know, and people need to be educated on what’s exceptional about the United States and our heritage and our culture, which is a discussion for every single branch of service. In their motto has the word honor. In. It’s more than a word. It’s a concept of living, of being a good soldier, even. Go back to movie was it? 300 gladiator. Strength and honor. Strength and honor. And you can’t have someone you’re relying on for your life if they don’t have honor. Okay, so removing the concept of duty, honor country, certainly honor is in it. But that concept of duty, honor country is a part of the American heritage. So changing an organization’s mission statement is Marxism 101, which, you know.
Now the argument what West Point gave for removing duty honor country from its mission statement was they wanted to align the mission with the army values. Now, the army values actually is a thing, okay? It’s been around, I think, 1520 years. It’s basically leadership. You know, it’s an acrostic, you know, l. And of the acrostic leadership, the army values. I know, too. Loyalty and honor. All right, listen. No one remembers what the army values are. In fact, I saw a speech in person where the highest enlisted ranking soldier in the entire US army, the command sergeant major of the army, he messed up the army values. Now, if the highest ranking enlisted soldier can’t get the army values, can the other soldiers? No. Okay. I went to West Point, and I’ve been through that training numerous times. I can’t remember it. But you know what I do remember? Duty, honor, country. The army values, they do not inspire. The army values, while important, are not an American tradition like duty, honor country. Duty, honor country is American made timeless through the MacArthur farewell speech known as the duty honor country speech.
Duty, honor country is memorable. It inspires selfless sacrifice and courage. It’s not confusing. It’s a part of, like I said, our American heritage. Removing duty, honor country is a chipping away at the foundational value of a treasured American institution and an academy that is vital to our national defense.
Joy Votrobek, Host
And we discussed the honor part. But I want to get to the army values. I’ve never really heard of the army values.
Matthew Newgent, USMA ’96
A lot of people haven’t.
Joy Votrobek, Host
How many are there?
Matthew Newgent, USMA ’96
Where did they come from? I think it was in the nineties where some agency, marketing agency, was paid a lot of money to say, come up with a new set of values. And they said, let’s take leadership and let’s break it down. L is loyalty. E. And then the h is for honor.
And I get that. Okay? But in terms of what comes first, the leader comes first. West Point is supposed to lead the military. Are the army values important? Yes, but they’re not as good as duty on a country. Does that answer your question?
Joy Votrobek, Host
Thank you.
Matthew Newgent, USMA ’96
Okay, sure. So. I’m sure it does, y’all.
Laurence Sanford, Co-Host
We can identify with that. I mean, our motto is peace through strength. That really sums up us, too.
Matthew Newgent, USMA ’96
There we go. Okay, so it inspires us.
Joy Votrobek, Host
Like, duty on our country inspires you.
Matthew Newgent, USMA ’96
Okay? It’s the same thing. I mean, what if someone were to come in and say, let’s reorganize, you know, American Security Council foundation. We’re gonna start with changing our motto. It would no longer be the American Security Council foundation. Right, that’s exactly. I’m so glad you brought that up. That’s exactly what’s happening here. It’s gutting the meaning out of who you are, okay? It’s changing the ideological DNA, which is called ideological subversion. Now, why the leadership at West Point? Don’t get this. That’s for later in this conversation. But shifting over, if I could, to another major issue is too many civilian professors.
So right now, between West Point and the other academies, 30% to 40% of all professors are civilian.
Now, this is going to be fun, right? So let’s paint a picture between a military professor and a civilian professor at West Point. These are true and very personal to me. So when I was a cadet, we loved having military professors, okay? Especially if they’ve had combat experience.
Joy Votrobek, Host
I was just gonna ask you, have they had combat experience?
Matthew Newgent, USMA ’96
Absolutely. Those are the best. Because whenever we had a low, we’re like, sir, ma’am, tell us a story. Tell us a story. Which is how I was inspired to become a combat engineer and an airborne ranger.
So we asked this one military professor, I think it was math class, you know? So an engineer officer figure is a math professor. And this guy’s big, burly chested, you know, man of strength, right? And I said, sir, so tell us a cool story. And this is one of the stories he told. Now, as a combat engineer company commander, he made the decision to do a live fire exercise with minefields. Now, what a live fire exercise means there’s a lot of. Pew, pew, boom, boom. Or you’re dealing with live explosives, meaning if you mess up, it’s catastrophic.
And that’s not an exaggeration. So everyone is assigned to do a minefield exercise where one platoon emplaces the minefield. And whenever you do that, you always have a map so you know where it is and believe it or not, so you can remove it. So while the other companies in the battalion decided to do it with. With inert minds, he decided to do it with live mines. Pretty crazy, right? Your husband would love that.
Joy Votrobek, Host
He probably would.
Matthew Newgent, USMA ’96
Well, what he did was, okay, first platoon, you put these live mines, well, you know, you got to activate them into this minefield here. And he took the map and he gave it to second platoon and said, second platoon, now, you take the minefield out, you remove the minefield, and we’re thinking we’re wrapped in attention. And I said, sir, where were you? He goes, cross his arms. He goes in the middle of the minefield the whole time. And I said, that’s exactly what I want to do.
Laurence Sanford, Co-Host
Okay?
Matthew Newgent, USMA ’96
And that’s what I did. Now, mind you, this was before 911, before the Iraq war. He later went, and his company was the only company in his battalion to bring all his troops back alive. Now, there are a lot of factors that come into play, but definitely you want to fight, fight and train the same way because you’ll be better.
Now, going over here to a civilian professor, okay. One such professor co chairs a diversity and inclusion studies minor at West Point. Now, understand that diversity and inclusion as a study is cultural Marxism. So why it’s at West Point, there is very puzzling. Now, every, as you get higher up, a junior, a senior, we call them, you know, cows and firsties. Another story. So seniors are the firsties. First class cadets, typically in their majors or minors. They’re given a big project for the whole semester, sometimes the whole year. One of the professor approved topics. Are you ready for this? And here was the title of the study. Uniformed perspectives, the evolution of cross dressing in the military, and gender norms.
Joy Votrobek, Host
Are you joking? You’re at West Point.
Matthew Newgent, USMA ’96
I wish I were. I wish I were. Now, contrast between the veteran warrior who inspires you to put your life on the line and lead your troops like a military leader should, and the civilian professor. In this context, and this is real, you can go to macarthursociety.org and you can see it, who is creating confusion. And in many cases, and this is what cultural Marxism does, it gets you to hate who you are, to hate your country and create division.
Laurence Sanford, Co-Host
See, I don’t blame the professor. I blame the administrator that allowed that course to be implemented.
Matthew Newgent, USMA ’96
I 100% agree with you. The enemy was led into the gate. Somebody led it into the gate, yes.
Joy Votrobek, Host
What was the necessity of the course?
Matthew Newgent, USMA ’96
That is a great question, Joy.
Laurence Sanford, Co-Host
What year was this, by the way? Do you know when it was first introduced?
Matthew Newgent, USMA ’96
This was in the last year. A little commercial from the Carthage society. We have phenomenal research. We have, I believe, some of the best people who have skin in the game, who have family, either from West Point or people there who are cadets. So you get great reporting. And we also have some sources within West Point are giving us this information, so it’s very reliable. If you want to know what the latest is, you can go to macarthursociety.org dot.
Joy Votrobek, Host
So maybe we should ask one of those students what they learned from that class.
Matthew Newgent, USMA ’96
That’s a good question. That is a good question. Okay. So a lot of people in the country, they would never think this was going on. It shocks us, too. I mean, I have to reread some of these things because it’s so against our paradigm of what is good. You think everything at West Point is bright and cheery. Now, understand what is good in the world, not necessarily spiritually, but what is good in the world. It’s like balancing something. It’s only there for a moment. Reagan said if we. Okay, you could probably say the best better than I could. But freedom can be lost in a generation. What is good at the, at West Point, at Annapolis and the air force academy can be lost. And it has been. So it’s up to us, the vigilance to, you know, you know, to get engaged. And that’s what we are. So there are other symptoms of this cultural Marxism infection is what we call it. Here’s another one.
And I hate to bring this to you, but it is true. It’s called a gay West Point brand. Okay? Now I did say a gay West Point brand. So to understand the significance of rebranding the West Point brand, we have to talk about football. I love army football. I’ve been to so many army games. I am a fanatic.
So if you hear me talk, you can say, Matt, you love army football too much.
I get that. Last year when I saw it, it was neck and neck with Navy. The army Navy thing is like the. Okay, the Navy is our friend. Except for one day of the year, and that’s the army. That’s it. Just so everybody knows.
So it was closed. It was the fourth quarter. And all of a sudden an army football player breaks through the line. It was a turnover. My two teenage boys next to me in my left arm, I grabbed both of them and say, did you see that? And they’re like, ted, what’s wrong? I lifted them off the ground, both of them with one arm, and they’re taller than I am.
That’s how crazy I am. And I’m not the only one. Okay?
Laurence Sanford, Co-Host
Remind me not to go to a football game.
Matthew Newgent, USMA ’96
Well, it. You’ll have a good time. You will have a good time.
Joy Votrobek, Host
My husband will tell you I love football just as much. Trust me.
Matthew Newgent, USMA ’96
Okay, now I’m. Now, now, the. The west point logo is a shield. You know, it’s a shield. And in the background is a sheath sword.
So it’s a scabbard, and superimposed over it is the helmet of Athena. It’s a profile, so it’s really cool thing. That was the Greek goddess of wisdom and war. Wisdom and war. So it’s part of the theme at West Point. It’s really cool. And colors of black, gray, and gold, which, interestingly, are the colors of the components of gunpowder, because their natural colors are black, green, and gold. Kind of cool, right? So, as a first class cadet, your crest is black. As a second class cadet, which is a junior, it’s gray. And as a yearling, it’s gold. But as plebe, you don’t have any color. You got to earn it, baby. So now imagine all the army swag. You got these crests on. You’re like, you go in there, you go to the army game. You spend a lot of money on the swag, too, right? Now imagine black, gray, and gold shifting over to the gay pride colors.
Laurence Sanford, Co-Host
But you have to ask yourself, what were they thinking?
Matthew Newgent, USMA ’96
What were they thinking? And let me tell you, I work kind of in the business world, too. You protect your brand. You protect. It’s kind of like if you were to take, you know, you know, peace through strength out of your motto.
Laurence Sanford, Co-Host
Yeah.
Matthew Newgent, USMA ’96
I mean, it’s so precious. It’s who you are. It’s like cutting off an arm and a leg. So. So, to be fair, okay? Like I said, we care for West Point. We’re here to help them. They deserve credit, okay, for removing the problems with the brand, and everybody appreciates it.
Joy Votrobek, Host
So I still thought you were joking. You tell me that.
Matthew Newgent, USMA ’96
Yeah. Well, yeah.
Joy Votrobek, Host
It would be like taking the red, white, and blue out of our peace through stream.
Matthew Newgent, USMA ’96
That’s another. It’s like. Exactly. Exactly. So another symptom that we’re dealing with is race based admissions and promotion policies.
The trope of diversity is our strength is totally false. Excellence is. Is our strength.
You know, the motto is. Or the saying is. And they tell you a lot. When you are a cadet at West Point, you’re the best and brightest of West Point. It is not you’re the right color. You’re the right gender or sex or you’re not. It’s not that. It’s you are the best and the brightest. And if the focus is on that, the colors and the sexes, those will come. The geographies, the way people speak, they will come on their own. So now I can tell you, having led soldiers, okay, soldiers may prefer. Keyword is prefer to have leaders who look like them, talk like them, same ethnicity as they. But what soldiers demand, what they demand is good leadership, okay? And that’s what they trained us at West Point. And I remember being dog tired. And our typical day was, I get there before 06:00 a.m. i was done by 06:00 p.m. that was typical. That’s very typical. And if you’re in the field or you’re preparing to go in the field, you work for 910. Eleven. You know, get five, 6 hours of sleep and then come back and sweat it off the next day at PT.
I mean, that is typical. And I remember because you’d have to solve these problems and you’d have to learn things new. And I remember what they said, soldiers demand good leadership, okay? Now, being a commissioned officer in the United States army, like I said, is difficult. You work in all conditions. You work those sleep deprived again and again and again. That’s not just ranger school, too. And that’s another story. You work in dangerous conditions, defying death. For those of you who are listening, who’ve been combat deployed, thank you. I’ve not had that honor, but I have defied death a couple times. Okay. You plan complexity operations which require you, no matter how tired you are, to engage intellectually. Extremely difficult because your ability to cogitate, to think is one of the first things that goes when you’re fatigued or tired or cold and hungry, okay? Now you overcome a great sorrow and you complete the mission. Though I be the lone survivor, borrowing from the ranger creed, okay. Fighting and winning wars as a commissioned officer in the United States army demands excellence. If a soldier must choose between someone who looks like them and is a mediocre officer and comprises and compromises the mission, and they’re returning home.
An officer who is exceptional is what they want, okay? They want the exceptional officer. Their parents want the exceptional officer. The commanders in our country need the exceptional officer. West Point has been using race based race, using race for admissions in a way that lowers the standards, lowers the quality of cadets, and later commissioned officers who may look more like soldiers but are not the best officers. This compromises the mission and the safety of our sons and daughters. Now, are race, sex and ethnicity important? Yes, but they are not as important as excellence when it comes to winning our country’s wars and bringing back our sons and daughters home alive.
Any comments on that?
Joy Votrobek, Host
Yes, actually. So I would. I want to say. I mean, I laugh about the fact that it’s the gay colors on your symbol, but this isn’t new. It’s something I’ve dealt with back in the nineties, even. They were talking about this in the air force, I really recall. Yet then it was not a matter of they’re going to change the symbol. It was a matter of, if you’re gay, you’re still going to serve next to the person you’re with, and they’re a unit, not changing a symbol, because that’s more of a special treatment. We’re just all serving together. Would you agree with that?
Matthew Newgent, USMA ’96
Let’s see here. So I remember that I went from don’t ask, don’t tell to serve openly. We need to talk about that. It’s a discussion that deserves more time. I think one of the decisions that we’ve made in the MacArthur Society, because we’re snipers, is we stay focused precisely on our lane. Now, the reason for that is MacArthur society and its members come from different backgrounds. And while we agree or disagree on many things, what we agree on is duty on a country. And that requires us to be laser focused on not just the problems, but the bigger problems. And right now, what’s facing us is cultural Marxism has invaded the service academies, not just West Point, like a cancer. Does that answer your question?
Joy Votrobek, Host
Yeah, I think you’re exactly getting to my point. Is that your focus on the mission, regardless of race or ethnicity.
Matthew Newgent, USMA ’96
That’s right. That’s right. So, which brings us. It’s a perfect segue into the bigger problem at hand we were talking about earlier today. Another huge symptom is West Point failing to serve the service academy charter, which is its basic purpose for being a, is to identify the threat to our country. All service academies from any country have as their primary charter. Their purpose is to identify the threats to our country. At West Point. This means articulating very clearly to every single cadet that the number one threat to the United States and the Constitution is Marxism. Marxism is responsible for the deaths of over 100 million people in the last century, most at the hands of their own government. Now, what we’ve heard in the past is we’re not telling cadets what to think. We’re just telling them how to think, and therefore, we’re exposing them to different ideas. Time out, okay? I don’t tell my kids. I want you to have new ideas. Go run around in a four lane street. What I say is you can learn what you can within this lane. Understand that that will kill you. So what West Point is lacking, and the other service academies, too, is identifying the threats, and that is Marxism.
In fact, based on our observation, West Point, along with Naval Academy and the Air Force Academy, have also failed in this. Worse, each service academy, which we witnessed here earlier in this conversation, have embraced Marxism and fed the cadets the poison. Think about that. Now, what you said, Larry, is someone allowed this? I 100% agree with you. So this problem goes back up goes, but goes up goes up. Okay, so. So that’s where we come in MacArthur society. We bring this information to the public and commentary. Commentary to people like great organizations like you and your audience. Thank you. Please share this. We also liaise with members of Congress to educate them on these issues. Understand that I love West Point. I’m committed to it. I’m very proud to be a West Point alumni. Some people have told me, just let it go. I will not let it go.
I finished my service honorably, but my oath to support and defend the constitution does not expire until I do. Okay, so what do we want to do? We want to retain what is good, reform what needs reform, remove what needs to be removed, and improve what needs to be improved. Excuse me.
Joy Votrobek, Host
So there are some big goals there from MacArthur society. Is this possible?
Matthew Newgent, USMA ’96
Yes. Yeah, you’re right, Joy. These are some big goals, but we’re compelled by our duty and armed with the truth.
And we have actually had some successes.
Some of the successes that we talked about is we brought to light the removal of duty, honor, country, an article that actually went viral in 24 hours. It was published by CD Media. Okay, look it up. Duty, honor, country, removed from West Point mission. It was on a Saturday. By Sunday, it went viral. And there were three answers, basically responses. One is Dei is fine. The other is, they were angry. He wrote that there’s no way. And the third is fake news. Well, our president, you know, Bill Prince, got on there and said, sorry, not fake news. Look at page eight from the publication at the board of visitors. And then it went really viral. And what happened is West Point leadership had to respond, which is what we need. Do we agree that they removed it? And they did. I think they should have stopped and said, let’s take a look at this, because like I said, the MacArthur society, we’re just not a bunch of old, grumpy men. Well, we have some women, too, but that’s not the point. Point.
We are a voice for many West Point grads and Americans, patriotic Americans who are concerned. And we’re a voice for many people at West Point, including cadets who know that their position there will be compromised if they speak out.
So another thing is we influence the removal of the gay West Point brand.
Like I said, we managed a way to get it there. And I will say again, much to the credit of West Point leadership, they took the gay West Point brand swag down. We are grateful, the alumni are grateful, and the West Point brand reputation are better off. So we also have some current projects. We’re recommending a joint special commission for reform of all three service academies, West Point, Annapolis, and the Air Force Academy. We’re building a coalition in Congress for support of such a measure. Good news. It’s building momentum.
The other is removing one of the 51 liars, Michael Morrell.
And I believe West Point will make the right decision and remove him. I really do. And that’s what we’re here for.
Joy Votrobek, Host
Well, that’s very impressive, Matthew. And the MacArthur society is certainly influencing positive change at West Point.
Matthew Newgent, USMA ’96
Thanks. Thanks. Well, erring the phrase peace through strength, we stay strong by shoring up our weak points.
By and large, Americans think of warfare in the context of, like a world war two style.
Tanks, guns, air power, and clearly defined enemies in enemy uniform and are able to recognize non kinetic warfare. Warfare constantly changes.
Kinetic warfare is still important, but the enemies of the United States have made their way into our country primarily through non kinetic means.
Joy Votrobek, Host
Okay, I’ll let Larry speak to this because he talks a lot about gray zone.
Laurence Sanford, Co-Host
I’m a big fan of the United States should institute gray zone activities.
Matthew Newgent, USMA ’96
What do you mean by that?
Laurence Sanford, Co-Host
It’s non kinetic. So you have voice of America broadcast subversion through the social media. There’s all sorts of non shooting kind of actions the United States should be doing. And we should also state our mission. You know, Iran preaches death to America, death to Israel, the great Satan.
Matthew Newgent, USMA ’96
Yeah.
Laurence Sanford, Co-Host
We should be saying. Our statement is that the Iran should be ruled by civilians and not the mullahs. And we should have as our mission that the people of Iran can help the people of Iran as best we can without guns to get rid of the mullahs.
Matthew Newgent, USMA ’96
So we’re in agreement. In fact, gray zone, I haven’t heard of that one yet. You know, non kinetic warfare is one of the names. There’s also asymmetric warfare, unrestricted warfare, which we talked about earlier today.
Laurence Sanford, Co-Host
The Chinese communist party are masters at this whole.
Matthew Newgent, USMA ’96
All these warfares, psychological warfare, information warfare, political warfare. In fact, unrestricted warfare, like we talked earlier today before the podcast, is the Chinese wrote a book translated into English called Unrestricted Warfare. Basically, two colonels from the CCP, Chinese communist party, said, Americans, by and large, are unable to recognize, I’ll use the word non kinetic warfare. They called it unrestricted warfare, and that’s because we think like World War two. And because of that, we’re getting our rear ends handed to us and they’re subverting our institutions. Well, we, you know, MacArthur. We get it. You guys get it.
Laurence Sanford, Co-Host
I think the classic example is TikTok. Joy’s heard me talk about this all the time.
Matthew Newgent, USMA ’96
I do keep talking. Yeah.
Laurence Sanford, Co-Host
TikTok is poisoning our culture, poisoning our political process, and yet we can’t do the same thing to this society. So if we wanted to have Facebook or Google operate in China, Chinese don’t allow it.
Matthew Newgent, USMA ’96
That’s right.
Laurence Sanford, Co-Host
So one of my more recent articles was, our platform for foreign policy should be reciprocity. If the Chinese won’t allow us to operate in China, then why the heck do we allow them to operate here in America? I say get out of here, tick tock. You can’t buy any more land. You’re going to get rid of 300,000 students that are stealing on intellectual properties.
Matthew Newgent, USMA ’96
That’s right. That’s right.
Laurence Sanford, Co-Host
There’s a whole list of things. If we based our policies on reciprocity, it makes it real simple and it’s.
Matthew Newgent, USMA ’96
Fair, and it’s fair, and you know what? And it’s a big step ahead of where we are now, which is we’ve embraced it all. We’ve embraced cultural Marxism and feeding our own children and our cadets and midshipmen, this poison. And on point of TikTok that we have to talk about is AI and data. And by the way, I work in the, in the data field in one of my businesses, is that with data, you can message literally millions of people at the same time based on someone’s belief on a certain issue. You can water drip, just drip in messaging to get them to switch. TikTok is that. And it’s really easy. And Facebook does it, too, but they do it mostly to sell, which is fine, you know, I mean, the great American way and so, you know, free enterprise. But in terms of destroying our culture, we absolutely need to get rid of tick tock. So, I mean, we can’t really blame the CCP. No, because our country, our leadership, our leadership has been allowing it.
Laurence Sanford, Co-Host
Pogo Vietnam War. We have met the enemy, and he is us. And he is us.
Matthew Newgent, USMA ’96
So is that what. Sorry, did you say you’re thunder there?
Joy Votrobek, Host
No.
Laurence Sanford, Co-Host
I’m glad you finished it.
Matthew Newgent, USMA ’96
So we all agree and understand that the enemy fights through ideological subversion. And the enemy, Marxism is in the gates of West Point, Annapolis, and the air Force Academy. So what do we do? We educate ourselves on the threat. I mean, you guys are there. I’m honored to be here with you and join you in being part of this great heritage. We need to think critically. If I were to speak to cadets, I would say think critically. Push back on professors and training that imply not all, but if it implies that America is an evil country, that one race is the cause of the evil, or anything that tries to divide us.
Duty, honor, country calls you to do so, and we are depending on you. In fact, if I will say to cadets, I would say this, that you’re thinking, when I get to war, when I get to war, the war has reached you, and it comes non kinetically through ideological warfare. Okay, you’re on the front line. We have your back. We’ve actually received word from different cadets, and I won’t divulge who they are, but they are disheartened by what’s going on at the academies. And if I were to say to you, stay strong, that you’re not alone, you are actually in the fight. So I call on you to have hope, to think critically, to reason with your professors. And what you’ll find is that a leader is a majority. And when you stand up and you say, you know, I’m not so sure about this, because what you’re telling me is that one race is the cause for another problem when we’re supposed to be here to unify it. You get the point there.
So if for those of you, and thank you for allowing me to be on your show, who want to support us, we got three things for you. Number one, stay informed. Subscribe to our newsletter. We have great content. It’s very up to date and often ahead of many others. And that’s how we intend to be. Second is your influence. If you know a member of Congress that you want us to speak to, please reach out to us. Or if you know another great podcast or radio show that we could be on, email missionacarthursociety.org. that’s missioncarthursociety.org. third, your financial donations. What I’ve learned is that the people who donate are so important to what we do. I mean, to really attract talent, you need to compensate them, because I mean, if they’re not doing this, they have a job, and if they have a job, they can’t do this. And we need that talent. So your donations, whether it’s $5 a month, and there are some that are, have earned a tremendous amount of money through the great American way, and we’re very grateful for those. But the financial contributions are critical for this mission to keep going.
So those are the three. Stay informed, get on our website, subscribe, refer us to some of your networks like your show, and donate financially. And MacArthur society is the most active focused on West Point. We’re the tip of the spear for West Point. West Point.
Laurence Sanford, Co-Host
Thank you.
Matthew Newgent, USMA ’96
Thank you.
Joy Votrobek, Host
Thank you, Matthew. And you’ve done all the work for me because I usually ask for donations. Tell our people to subscribe and, but we won’t. Withal your sender. You can go to www. ASCF dot us and check out our organization there.
Matthew Newgent, USMA ’96
Okay, thank you.
Joy Votrobek, Host
Thank you. Anything else, Larry?
Laurence Sanford, Co-Host
No, that’s it.
Joy Votrobek, Host
Join well, thank you to our listeners and join in next time as we bring peace through strength. Podcast.
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