The Pentagon’s official account has over 5.2 million followers. On Thursday, the account retweeted a post from user nicknamed "PROUD RESISTER" that called for Alabama Rep. Senate candidate Roy Moore to end his campaign and Sen. Al Franken to resign from Congress and also included a call for Donald Trump to step down.
The solution is simple…
— PROUD RESISTER 👊 (@ProudResister) 16 ноября 2017 г.
Roy Moore: Step down from the race.
Al Franken: Resign from congress.
Donald Trump: Resign from the presidency.
GOP: Stop making sexual assault a partisan issue. It’s a crime as is your hypocrisy.
Moore and Franken have recently faced a series of sexual harassment allegations. Sexual misconduct claims were also made against Trump, but they’ve abated since he was elected president a year ago.
The Pentagon quickly removed the post. Spokesman Col. Rob Manning said in a statement that an authorized operator for the official Twitter page "erroneously retweeted content that would not be endorsed by the Department of Defense. The operator caught this error and immediately deleted it."
The same statement was also shared by Chief Pentagon spokesperson Dana White on Twitter.
An authorized operator of the @DeptofDefense’s official Twitter site erroneously retweeted content that would not be endorsed by the Department of Defense. The operator caught this error and immediately deleted it.
— Dana W. White — DoD (@ChiefPentSpox) 16 ноября 2017 г.
Many on social media commented on the incident, saying that it was disrespectful and unacceptable.
This is unacceptable. A total shame
— Austin Biafra (@Austin_Biafra) 16 ноября 2017 г.
But were they let go? This was not an error and should not be tolerated, that was very disrespectful.
— beccasu (@CocoaMonoi) 16 ноября 2017 г.
Some, however, suggested that it was unlikely to have been done by mistake.
Are we supposed to believe this was done by mistake?? Somebody in @DeptofDefense needs to be fired along with anybody working with them!! Our govt hasn't been too honest us, the American people, but now we're supposed to believe this error was a mistake??????
— Jane bullock baker (@bullock_baker) 16 ноября 2017 г.
Looks more liked an authorized operator ‘intentionally’ retweeted content not endorsed by the DOD. What punishment will be given to this individual?
— James T (@Audioear) 16 ноября 2017 г.
Other even ironically praised the move by an unknown Pentagon staffer.
Give
— ❄I, J Z-C❄ (@i400s) 16 ноября 2017 г.
That
Person
A
Medal,
A
Commendation,
And
A
Pay rise.
Nobel Peace Prize is now a contest between Pentagon retweeter and Twitter Trump account deleter. Awesome!
— Michi'sMusings (@MichelleAdamov) 16 ноября 2017 г.
I really liked this retweet. I thought maybe America had come to its senses.
— Canteach (@canteach) 16 ноября 2017 г.