US Defense Secretary Hospitalized, Government Keeps It Quiet for Days
Do you trust the federal government? If you answered, “No,” you’re not alone.
According to Pew Research, “fewer than two-in-ten Americans say they trust the government in Washington to do what is right ‘just about always’ (1%) or ‘most of the time’ (15%).”
It’s no wonder. Would you be surprised if Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin was secretly hospitalized so the information could be kept from the public? That’s what happened this week, according to the Military Times.
The Pentagon announced on Friday that Austin was admitted to the hospital on Monday after complications following an undisclosed elective surgery. Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said Austin has now been discharged and was expected to return to duty Friday evening.
The Washington Post reported Austin has since returned to duty.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has been hospitalized since Jan. 1 https://t.co/5VHxBbCIeo
— YvonneWingettSanchez 🏜 (@yvonnewingett) January 6, 2024
Ryder told Military Times that when Austin was first hospitalized, “It was an evolving situation, and taking privacy into account,” so the decision was made not to release the news to the public. Ryder said Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks had been filling in for Austin while he was away. “The deputy has conducted some routine business for the department on his behalf,” Ryder claimed.
Ryder fed Fox News the same string of empty words, “This has been an evolving situation in which we [have] had to consider a number of factors including medical and personal privacy issues. We are now in a position to update you.”
And what position is that? Did somebody tell you it was okay to pull your head out of the sand?
One of the main reasons people don’t trust the feds is because they treat us like we’re imbeciles by making flaccid excuses for major decisions and expecting us to blink and fall in line.
The Secretary of Defense being hospitalized for the better part of a week is not a small matter. The world is on edge. There’s a U.S.-funded war going on in Ukraine, Israel is at war with Hamas, China is lurking in the background waiting to pounce on Taiwan and the list goes on and on.
Hiding the fact that the Secretary of Defense is in the hospital raises a lot of questions, the foremost being, “Why?” It’s not like Austin is a genius at military strategy and if the world knew he was in the hospital our enemies would launch an immediate attack. Wasn’t Austin Secretary of Defense for the Afghanistan debacle and the Wokefication of the military that left the U.S. looking like the chump of the century?
I hope Austin makes a full recovery and lives a healthy life. If he does, it won’t make me feel any better about his performance as Secretary of Defense. The question arises again, “Why would Austin be hospitalized be hidden from the public? What else are they hiding?
If Joe Biden was suddenly hospitalized — or worse — would the geniuses in the deep state decide to hide it so they could go on running whatever their long-term con (think globalism) is?
The Pentagon Press Association was understandably perturbed by the lack of disclosure on Austin’s hospitalization, according to Fox. The PPA — which serves as the collective voice of journalists covering the Pentagon — sent a letter to Austin’s office on Friday evening.
The letter was addressed to Ryder and Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs Chris Meagher. It made clear the PPA’s’ “significant concern” about the Defense Department‘s failure to disclose Austin’s hospitalization.
“We are writing to express our significant concerns about the Defense Department’s failure to notify the public and the media about Secretary Lloyd Austin’s current hospitalization,” the letter stated. “The fact that he has been at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for four days and the Pentagon is only now alerting the public late on a Friday evening is an outrage.”
“It falls far below the normal disclosure standards that are customary by other federal departments when senior officials undergo medical procedures or are temporarily incapacitated,” the letter continued.
“The public has a right to know when U.S. Cabinet members are hospitalized, under anesthesia or when duties are delegated as the result of any medical procedure,” the letter made clear. “That has been the practice even up to the president’s level. As the nation’s top defense leader, Secretary Austin has no claim to privacy in this situation.”
The letter concluded with, “At a time when there are growing threats to U.S. military service members in the Middle East and the U.S. is playing key national security roles in the wars in Israel and Ukraine, it is particularly critical for the American public to be informed about the health status and decision-making ability of its top defense leader.”
When you willingly take on the responsibility of the Secretary of Defense, you give up much of your right to privacy. It goes with the territory. If you are incapacitated and can’t shoulder your responsibilities, man up and say so. Keeping it a secret makes you look even weaker than you already appear.
Who can respect a so-called federal constitutional republic when the representatives are either in on the secret or kept in the dark?
It makes America look weak.
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