Pentagon Spokesperson Sean Parnell is President Donald Trump’s type. He has – like Peter Hegseth, fixated his vocal criticism of “woke” military culture and likes to say he’s solely focused on “readiness, war fighting, and lethality” according to a recent interview. As if the military hadn’t been able to concentrate on such things under Biden. But the “similarities” don’t end there. He has also had a good and not so good past. Unlike some, Parnell does have a very respectable military record, which includes a 16-month deployment to Afghanistan where he led the “Outlaw Platoon” during intense combat operations near the Pakistan border.
Unfortunately, Parnell also has a bit of “Hegseth-type” scandal, too. In 2021, he launched a U.S. Senate campaign in Pennsylvania but withdrew after losing custody of his three children following a vicious divorce. His ex-wife testified in court that Parnell had physically abused her—allegedly choking her and once leaving her on the roadside, telling her to “go get an abortion”—and hit one of their children, leaving a welt.
To the extent that it mitigates anything, Parnell was discharged from the military with an extensive head injury – shattering his skull in three pieces, leaving him with PTSD… He may not have been right for a while. He went and got a Ph.D. in psychology to support other veterans. I don’t know enough to say whether his record makes his conduct somewhat less infuriating. He is a mixed bag but at least has a bag. He has been shot at and blown up by an IED. I have not. So, best to tread lightly here.
Today Parnell made a bit of news. He is the Pentagon’s new Chief Spokesperson under Hegseth and he held a small get together. As reported by Oliver Darcy on Substack, there are some problems beyond just the abhorrence of all things DEI:
Inside the Pentagon on Thursday afternoon, new chief spokesperson Sean Parnell convened a few dozen journalists for an off-the-record meeting to introduce himself to the press corps. Parnell then asked the room full of assembled journalists whether they were ‘rooting’ for the president to succeed.
When he was not given the answer he had hoped for, Parnell, clearly displeased, questioned why it would be unfair for him to expect that the reporters cheer on Trump. A reporter answered that it was not their job to root for or against a subject that they cover, but to simply report the facts.
Yeah. Well, that isn’t at all fair to the reporters. He is asking them a personal question while they are on their job as professionals. They may personally want the best for the United States in all things. But with respect to their job, it sort of requires them to remain detached and focused on facts. They don’t “cheer” within stories. Parnell should know better and it was really wrong for him to corral them and demand his answer – there is a presumption in this administration that the failure to answer correctly gets one punished, especially in the press.
Matters only grew worse from there. When a reporter asked why the Pentagon media affairs department was not responding to press inquiries in a timely manner, but rapidly firing off posts on X to slam reporters, Parnell quipped back, “So it’s our job to let you publish stories that trash the warfighter?”
There are very few things sacred in the American government but protection and respect for the people putting their lives on the line is definitely one. I don’t believe him for a minute and won’t until he shows us any example in which a reporter simply “trashed” a “Warfighter” (When did they go from soldiers and seaman to “warfighters”? I ask because they do a whole lot more than fight wars.) It certainly looks like he was still smarting from the professional-grade reporting crew that covers the Pentagon.
Yes, yes, yes, if you are within the Pentagon you want a spokesperson looking out for you. But one would also want reporters there without an agenda. An agenda means it can be turned any which way in any given fact scenario. Parnell and others will be much better served just trying to get the facts out. Our troops tend to do just fine when the whole story is told. If they are not? Well, we need to know. That’s why we want professionals on the scene.
God Bless: I can be reached at [email protected] and on Twitter-X at @JasonMiciak, and now follow me on Bluesky.
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Navy Wife here. I don’t care about his injuries and PTSD. My husband has PTSD, saw Saddam’s handiwork on Kurdish womenn and children, and had to kilo.a radicalized Saudi teen who was shooting at him.( didn’t make the papers; it was covered up) but he knows if he raised a hand to.me, he’d be in jail. He hit his wife and kids. Fathers seldom lose complete custody today. It is generally shared custody, with lots of visitation. She must had witnesses and medical records to.back.up.her claims for this to.happen. This man *might* be okay at a desk job in tge Pentagon, shuffling papers, but he has no business being a media type. Sooner or later a reporter will piss him.off and he’ll.go.after him. He is dangerous to.himself and others. TBIs alter personalities and seldom for the better– but I wouldn’t be surprised to.learn he was abusive BEFORE the TBI, just got worse after.