WASHINGTON, DC – According to Tennessee Congressman Steve Cohen, 75% of the National Guard troops stationed in the nation’s capital are plotting an armed attack from within. The logic behind Cohen’s absurd, reckless and dangerous assumption is that he believes the United States Army National Guard is made up of 90% men and most of those men voted for Donald Trump.
.@RepCohen on his concerns w/ the National Guard securing the Inauguration: “The [National] Guard is 90 some-odd percent male; and only about 20 percent of white males voted for Biden … there are probably not more than 25% of the people there protecting us that voted for Biden” pic.twitter.com/ofQfLuCw8I
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) January 18, 2021
“I was thinking, the guard is 90 some-odd percent male. Only about 20% of white males voted for Biden. You gotta figure that in the guard, which is predominantly more conservative that I see that on my social media and I know it, there are probably no more than 25% of the people who are there protecting us voted for Biden,” Cohen said. “The other 75% are in the class that would be the large class of folks who might want to do something.”
“It does concern me,” he said.
Fact Check: That’s not true at all. According to the U.S. Army Demographics released in the fiscal year profile in 2016, the National Guard is made up of 30% minorities and 17% female. 341,000 Americans serve in the National Guard.
Last night, Cohen doubled down on his conspiracy theories sharing a tweet fro left-wing loon Keith Olbermann.
“That is where Donald Trump, ban him to hell, has brought us,” Olbermann said in a post shared by Cohen, despite each of the National Guardsmen serving at the Capitol have been vetted by the FBI. “If the threat of “rogue troops” among the 25,000 National Guardsmen at the Inauguration is enough that Trump’s Army Secretary said last night he’s vetted them three times, why are we running the risk? Inaugurate virtually.”
Instead, Cohen suggested that Biden deploys troops against Americans who supported Trump.