West Point Alum Posts ‘Communism Will Win’ Photo

September 26, 2017

(The Washington Times) - Photos of a West Point alumnus holding a pro-Colin Kaepernick “Communism Will Win” sign while in uniform is riling up the military community.

Images of U.S. infantry Officer Spenser Rapone reached a popular military news site on Tuesday and set off a robust debate on NFL national anthem protests, the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback that started it all in 2016, and the shock of seeing an unapologetic communist from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

“I could be wrong, but I’m pretty sure Colin Kaepernick wasn’t protesting in favor of communism. #ThatGuy,” wrote“Doctrine Man,” the moderator of a well-known Facebook page frequented by active military personnel and veterans.

Readers were shocked to see Mr. Rapone, whose Twitter handle is “Commie Bebop,” raising a clenched fist in support of Mr. Kapernick; another photo featured the officer revealing a Che Guevara shirt under his uniform.

LawNewz.com by Dan Abrams confirmed Mr. Rapone’s identity Monday evening with the officer himself, but he said was on a field exercise until Friday and would be unable to comment for the time being.

Gateway Pundit then aggregated a host of photos showing the officer promoting communism with Twitter hashtags like #CommunismWillWin, #Marxwasright, and #VeteransForKaepernick.

“Old school grunt here, I was in Berlin when the Wall fell,” wrote Rick Wynne on the Doctrine Man Facebook page. “I can tell you I would NEVER have expected to see photos like these. Wow! I mean, wow! What the hell has happened to the Army? No body policed this crap up when it happened?”

“This old First Sergeant recommends that this prior enlisted soldier be given UCMJ action, a thunk on the head for being stupid and a one-way ticket to the front gate,” added John Zehmisch.

Reader Stephen Stout concurred, saying, “He needs to be discharged for conduct unbecoming of an officer and failure to uphold his oath to defend the Constitution of the United States. Communist extremism is not compatible with being a Soldier in the U.S. Army. He needs to be punished by UCMJ to the fullest extent.”

An op-ed posted on Medium on Aug. 16 by Mr. Rapone — just days after violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, over Confederate monuments — called for the nation to “come together and dismantle [America’s] racist structures, both in word, but more importantly, in deed.”

West Point issued a statement Thursday afternoon saying the officer’s actions “in no way reflect the values of the U.S. Military Academy or the U.S. Army.”

“As figures of public trust, members of the military must exhibit exemplary conduct, and are prohibited from engaging in certain expressions of political speech in uniform,” the statement read. “Second Lieutenant Rapone’s chain of command is aware of his actions and is looking into the matter. The academy is prepared to assist the officer’s chain of command as required.”

West Point Grad Army Officer is ‘Official Socialist Organizer’ Who Spreads Communist Propaganda Relentlessly

Spenser Rapone is an infantry officer in the U.S. Army and a combat veteran who is gaining attention after posting a photo in support of Colin Kaepernick.

Spenser Rapone


September 26, 2017

(American Military News) - A U.S. Army infantry officer has been placed in the spotlight, as he recently posted a photo of himself in support of professional football player Colin Kaepernick, using the phrase “Communism will win” and tagging “Veterans for Kaepernick.” And now, the hundreds of tweets he has posted about his Communist views are being scrutinized.

The most photo shows Spenser Rapone holding his cover while in a West Point cadet uniform. Inside the cover, he taped a piece of paper that says “Communism will win.” He posted the picture to Twitter on Sunday with the hash tag “Veterans for Kaepernick.” Rapone is also seen holding up a clenched fist.

Kaepernick garnered national attention last year when he took a knee during the national anthem to protest what he believes to be problems in America, namely police brutality and black inequality. The protests took on a renewed vigor over the weekend after President Donald Trump on Friday night called on players to stand and show respect to the anthem and flag. The President said during a stump speech in Alabama that if any player kneeled, the owners should “fire that son of a b–ch.” On Sunday, the kneeling controversy took over most media outlets, as announcers, coaches and players took sides on an issue that has been brewing for a while now in the U.S.

Rapone’s Twitter handle is “Punk Proletarian,” under the name “Commie Bebop.” Law Newz verified that this is reportedly Rapone’s account, and said Rapone was in the field until Friday and unable to answer detailed questions.

The U.S. Army Public Affairs Office did not respond to an inquiry before press time about Rapone and the photos he posted.

Rapone also posted a second photo of himself in uniform, and he is seen wearing a Che Guevara T-shirt underneath his jacket. Guevara was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary who believed the poor people of Latin America would be saved by communism.

Communism is a political theory penned by Karl Marx that advocates class war and a society where the lower class would revolt and take down the upper class, destroying capitalism and bringing about socio-economic emancipation where all property is publicly owned and people are paid based on their skills and needs.

Rapone tweeted: “In case there was any lingering doubt, hasta la victoria siempre,” which means “until victory, always,” and are lyrics to a song that became famous after Guevara’s death in 1967.

His frequent retweets and tweets on social media paint a picture of Rapone and his beliefs.
Notably, Rapone is a combat veteran.

“[Democratic Socialists of America Veterans] issued me this CIB [Combat Infantryman Badge] for satisfactory performance under hostile enemy posting online in the twitter firefight of 26JUL,” he tweeted August, using the hash tag “Troop Left.”

He retweeted an image titled “folding the flag,” which ends up showing someone then putting the flag in the trash.

He also retweeted a quote about why one might have joined the Democratic Socialists of America, which says: “I joined because capitalism has basically ruined my life since I was born.”

Rapone tweeted a video in response to one Twitter user defending him, and Rapone is seen with what appears to be a fidget spinner.

hello,, pic.twitter.com/7t3QD2xlbW

— Commie Bebop (@punkproletarian) August 18, 2017

He refers to West Point as “a bastion of reactionary politics and imperialist violence” in one tweet from Sept. 16.

He has also retweeted images of Chelsea Manning, the former Army analyst and transgender who leaked hundreds of thousands of classified government documents to WikiLeaks.

Rapone has also retweeted in image that says “Antifascist Solidarity.”

And, Rapone has retweeted an image of now President Donald Trump and the Clintons posted by “It’s Going Down” that says: “Join our movement and recognize the ruling class as a terrorist organization.”

He tweeted in August: “Looting is good,” “I hate capitalism,” and “If you’re against antifa then by definition you’re profa.”

On his Twitter profile, Rapone writes “Troop Left, Commie/space cowboy/straight edge insomniac,” and tags the Democratic Socialists Veterans page. Rapone is reportedly a member of the Democratic Socialists of America. From a Marxist point of view, socialism is a transitional state between the lower class revolt and overthrow of capitalism and full-blow communism.

He also links to a Medium page, where he writes: “The views expressed in my work are my own and do not reflect the position of the Department of Defense.”

One of his Facebook profile pictures is a picture of himself holding The Communist Manifesto.

Many people on Twitter were outraged that an officer in uniform would openly post himself supporting communism.

One user tweeted at the U.S. Army: “Why is one of your soldiers openly promoting communism while in uniform? Spenser Rapone is a Marxist and a threat to our safety.”

Another wrote: “If you don’t deal with 2LT Spenser Rapone it will be a problem.”

Yet another user said: “Spenser Rapone should be immediate stripped of his commission and tried by Court Martial for treason.”

One user pointed out there is “no need” to identify Rapone. “His name is Spenser Rapone. He’s open about his communism and somehow still in the Army,” WolfsReport tweeted.

One user tweeted in support of Rapone: “Big shot out to [West Point Military Academy] grad Spenser Rapone for this amazing message of bravery in support of Kaepernick. Communism WILL win!”

Communist West Point Grad Was Reported In 2015 For Anti-American Posts

October 4, 2017

(The Daily Caller) - The Army officer who outed himself as a radical Marxist had been reported back in 2015 for publishing inappropriate and outright anti-American views online, according to a scathing report obtained by The Daily Caller.

The report gave details on 2nd Lt. Spenser Rapone’s insubordination at the U.S. Military Academy and out-of-regulations online activity. Rapone graduated almost two years later in 2016.

Rapone made the news last week for his pro-communism tweets during the #VetsForKaepernick social media craze. (RELATED: Communist West Point Graduate Called Mattis An ‘Evil, Vile F***’)

West Point’s Public Affairs office quickly released a statement last week condemning Rapone’s actions, saying that they “in no way reflect the values of the U.S. Military Academy or the U.S. Army… Second Lieutenant Rapone’s chain of command is aware of his actions and is looking into the matter.”

The statement leaves readers with the idea that Rapone’s chain of command (and indeed the academy at large) was unaware of his radicalism and frequent Uniform Code of Military Justice violations. It turns out a senior officer reported Rapone to his chain of command nearly two years ago.

In a social media post that concerned retired Army Lt. Col. Robert Heffington, an Academy history professor at the time, Rapone wrote, “F*ck this country and its false freedom.”

In November 2015, after being removed from his Ranger battalion for violating standards, Rapone was a cadet in his final year at the academy. According to the report obtained by TheDC, after the latest in a series of incidents involving Rapone’s penchant for insubordination, Heffington became aware of Rapone’s radical leftist activity on social media and notified the cadet’s chain of command.

“From his various online rantings and posts, it appears that DCT Rapone is an avowed Marxist, which is completely out of line with the values of this nation and its Army,” Heffington said in a sworn statement. “Moreover, CDT Rapone’s posts indicate that he hates West Point, the U.S. Army, and indeed this country. One post dated 16 November 2015 states, ‘F*ck this country and its false freedom.’ He also … even implicitly justifies the actions of ISIS and blames the United States for terrorist attacks.”

Heffington concluded in his report, “I cannot reconcile the image of a first class cadet at West Point with the things he has posted online for the world to see. To me, these are red flags that cannot be ignored, and I fail to see how this individual can possibly graduate and become a commissioned officer in six months.”

The same day he wrote this report, Heffington contacted then-cadet Rapone’s training, advising, and counseling officer. The officer was disgusted, but not shocked, Heffington said.

“Unfortunately, I’m not surprised,” the officer said, according to Heffington.

This reaction is merely one of many indications that Rapone’s activism, radical views and immature opposition to authority were well known around the academy — and especially obvious to his chain of command. According to a former head of the Military History and International History divisions at the U.S. Military Academy, Rapone’s plebe year history professor also reported him to the chain of command.

Heffington Sworn Statement 18 Nov 2015 Signed (2) by Paul Conner on Scribd

Heffington characterized Rapone as routinely “going out of his way to flout authority.”

In one incident described in the report, the lieutenant colonel confronted Rapone when he heard yelling in a professor’s office. The cadet reportedly answered in a “loud and extremely disrespectful tone,” “Sir, you don’t have the right to use my honor against me!”

Rapone — a supposedly brilliant cadet, according to his mentor, Professor Rasheed Hosein of the History Department — responded with a childish tantrum: “Sir, this isn’t fair! You’re just putting me on blast!”

Heffington notes in his report that he told Rapone he did not understand what “putting someone on blast” meant, a rare comedic moment in an otherwise infuriating account. Rapone’s response, that he felt “singled out,” is puzzling when one considers the lengths to which the cadet went in order to cast himself as a righteous nonconformist.

In fact, Rapone had singled himself out during his confrontation with Heffington, being in civilian clothes in an academic building (a violation of regulations), by refusing to stand when a superior officer entered the room (a breach of military protocol), and by refusing to answer a superior officer’s direct question regarding who had been yelling (refusal to obey a lawful order).

Most incredibly, Rapone had the gall to respond with righteous indignation.

“He seemed to look at me with nothing but contempt and hatred, no matter what I said or how I tried to reason with him to show him how wrong he was,” Heffington said in his 2015 report.

Multiple other sources contend that Rapone willfully put his anti-capitalist, anti-military and anti-American views on display for the world to see, both in person and over social media. Two recent academy graduates, when reached for comment, suggested that Rapone’s reputation at the academy preceded him. Although they did not personally know Rapone, they stated that they were aware of his radical leftist views and his rebellious reputation long before his activism hit the news this September.

On social media, Rapone’s account (including his Instagram, with the handle “punkproletarian”) abound with praise of communist leaders, interspersed with scathing criticism of his nation, its military and even his chain of command. Rapone’s rantings unequivocally condemn what he refers to as the military’s “brutally hierarchical rank structure,” and he deems Defense Secretary Mattis “the most vile f*ck in the current administration.”

This 2015 report unambiguously states that Rapone’s vehement anti-American views and his obsessive insubordination made him a dangerous liability to this nation’s military. Its author urged his chain of command not to allow then-cadet Rapone to commission as an officer. And, according to Heffington, every officer he spoke to agreed with this conclusion.

In essence, everything that was reported over the previous week should have been old news to anyone in Rapone’s chain of command, had they been paying attention.

In his Monday Townhall article, “Our Broken Military Can’t Even Manage to Toss Out Traitors,” Army Col. Kurt Schlichter declared Rapone’s apparently tolerated communist activism “the pinnacle of the military’s moral bankruptcy.” Schlichter argues that Rapone needs to be ousted. But he also professes that the real problem here is far larger than the Marxist officer:

“The real story isn’t this one loser. It’s not even the other losers who knew what he was and said and did nothing,” Schlichter wrote in Townhall. “It’s the chain of command. We need to know exactly what the faculty and staff at West Point knew about Comrade Cadet Rapone’s treachery. If they did know –– and I bet we will find out that he was counseled in writing about it — every officer from his first line supervisor to the USMA Superintendent must be relieved and reprimanded.”

National defense analyst and West Point grad Bob Maginnis shared Schlichter’s concerns.

“Someone must have known about this sort of behavior pattern well before, and they are negligent in the conduct of their job,” Maginnis told One News Now. “He should have been discharged from the military academy long ago.”