Dems Block Admiral’s Promotion Until He Explains Swastika Policy

Congress has frozen a Coast Guard admiral’s pending promotion until he explains the military branch’s disturbing stance on hate symbols.

Democratic Senators Tammy Duckworth and Jacky Rosen initially froze Admiral Kevin Lunday’s nomination to run the Coast Guard, questioning the maritime law enforcement branch’s new workplace harassment policy and its decision to downgrade swastikas and nooses from hate symbols to “potentially divisive.”

The senators’ objections effectively upend Lunday’s confirmation, which the Senate was scheduled to vote on this week, reported The Washington Post.

The fascism-friendly changes to the Coast Guard’s workplace harassment policy was abruptly reverted last month, mere hours after national news outlets began to report on the jarring update.

In a memo to personnel, Lunday—the Coast Guard’s acting commander—walked back the revisions almost as soon as they had been revealed, announcing that the prior version of the text was “canceled.”

“Divisive or hate symbols and flags are prohibited,” Lunday wrote in the memo, published November 20. “These symbols and flags include, but are not limited to, the following: a noose, a swastika, and any symbols or flags co-opted or adopted by hate-based groups as representations of supremacy, racial or religious intolerance, anti-semitism, or any other improper bias.”

The memo also clarified that the display of Confederate battle flags was still prohibited, unless they are a part of a historical display. Weeks later, it’s still not clear exactly who led the charge to reclassify such symbols.

“The policy rewrite was bad staff work,” a Coast Guard employee told the Post anonymously. “But the Coast Guard’s hands were tied in how we were able to address the mistake.”

Still, the changes have been quietly implemented since the downgraded harassment policy went into effect Monday, according to internal branch correspondence provided to Congress. That’s given lawmakers pause.

Duckworth told the Post that she did not understand why Lunday would simply not “delete the absurd characterization that clearly states a noose and swastika are merely potentially divisive symbols,” especially after having conversations with Lunday in which he affirmed “directly to me” that both images qualify as hate symbols.

“This shouldn’t be difficult,” Duckworth said.

Rosen, meanwhile, wrote on social media that her hold would remain in place “until the Coast Guard provides answers.”

Even some Republicans, including Senators Dan Sullivan and James Lankford, are demanding an explanation.

“There is no reason why there should be conflicting policies in place,” Lankford said.