MRC Free Speech America update summary: The Trump administration has demonstrated through actions that Turning Point USA is no longer being discriminated against. On Sept. 17, 2025, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's Defense Department temporarily suspended several employees for incendiary comments made about TPUSA founder Charlie Kirk's assassination, according to the Daily Mail. The casket carrying the body of Kirk traveled on Air Force Two to Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, in Phoenix, on Sept. 11, 2025. Former secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall's efforts at targeting GOP military members to chill speech is being undone through the Trump administration's removal of senior military leaders, as confirmed by Kendall's complaints in a piece with The New York Times.
The following article is a supplement to the MRC Report: The Biden Administration Waged War on Free Speech with 57 Censorship Initiatives.
Initiative #26 The Military’s Targeting of the Political Opposition
Type of Censorship: Direct Action
Agencies Involved:
- Department of Defense
- United States Air Force (USAF)
- Minot Air Force Base
- United States Air Force Headquarters
- United States Army
- Fort Liberty
- United States Air Force (USAF)
Summary:
An MRC report detailed how, under President Joe Biden, the military was used to attack the free speech rights of Americans, chilling future dissent of his authoritarian administration. The military agencies engaged in this censorship included the U.S. Air Force’s headquarters, Minot Air Force Base and Army Fort Bragg (then-Fort Liberty). Biden’s military even went so far as to suggest members of the mainstream pro-life organization National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) were “terrorist[s].”
Key Individuals:
- Andrew Gebara, USAF Major General
- Frank Kendall III, Secretary of the Air Force
- Patrick Matlock, Army Lieutenant General
- Agnes Schaefer, Assistant Secretary of the Army for Manpower & Reserve Affairs
