We checked Mother Jones D.C. bureau chief David Corn’s timeline to see if he was among those who thought Pete Hegseth shouldn’t be confirmed as Defense Secretary because he had “white supremacist” tattoos. He wasn’t … the last time he was interested in a tattoo was 2016:
Here’s a close-up of SC delegate Justin Smith’s tattoo of HRC. #DemsInPhilly pic.twitter.com/P0Mp84x45E
— David Corn (@DavidCornDC) July 27, 2016
Something caught Corn’s eye in a 2018 photo of President Trump’s nominee to head the National Counterterrorism Center, Joe Kent. It was the word “Panzer” tattooed on Kent’s arm.
NEW: Here’s a photo posted in 2018 apparently of Joe Kent, Trump’s pick to head the National Counterterrorism Center, from the Instagram feed of a family member, showing he had the word “PANZER” tattooed on his arm. Why? I asked him, the NCTC, and the ODNI, and, so far, no reply. pic.twitter.com/jZswV0r7Ke
— David Corn (@DavidCornDC) April 9, 2025
The NCTC spox just replied:
“I see you have already published. I wanted to flag that Mr. Kent’s hearing in front of SSCI is this afternoon at 2:30 p.m., and I would encourage you to watch that.”
It would just be easier if they had responded with an explanation.
— David Corn (@DavidCornDC) April 9, 2025
An explanation of what?
His other arm says “jäger.” Panzerjäger means tank hunter. He enlisted as an 11H (Heavy Anti-armor Weapons Crewman) in early 20001, shortly before that MOS was eliminated & rolled into 11B.
You’d think a “journalist” could figure this out themselves.
— Dissident Soaps (@DissidentSoaps) April 10, 2025
Joe was on an Anti Tank team. On his other is the German word for Hunter
. Together it makes Jäger Panzer. He is no means what negative things that may be said about him. — L0°ST (@LookingOver2025) April 9, 2025
Who cares? How is this journalism? Did he do anything wrong? Has he a history of committing crimes?
The fact that you are focusing on a silly tattoo rather than anything he did, tells me he must not have done anything wrong.
— Politics Matter (@Politics_Matter) April 10, 2025
When people think all German words mean “Nazi”.
😂😂😂😂
— mcadley (@mcadley) April 10, 2025
Dude, you gotta log off for a while and reconsider your life’s priorities. Is this really where you saw yourself as a young man?
— Its A Dry Heat (@Its_a_dryheat) April 10, 2025
Why are you staring at shirtless pictures of men, @DavidCornDC?
— Tom (@MIwolverine10) April 10, 2025
You were searching for kid pics, weren’t you?
— Whidbey_Traveler (@WhidbeyAV8) April 9, 2025
Wow such hard hitting journalism here. You really earned your paycheque with this one.
— Grant Warkentin (@GrantWarkentin) April 10, 2025
Don’t really care, Margaret
— Magnus_Man (@Magnus_Man_03) April 10, 2025
It literally means “hard, protective shell” something beta males know nothing about. Weird how .@DavidCornDC loves funding literal NAZIs in Ukraine but wants to imply that Panzer is a bad word because the Germans used it for their tanks.
.@joekent16jan19 is gonna kick ass.… https://t.co/NHbXBXuNB0
— ColonelTowner-Watkins (@ColonelTowner) April 10, 2025
Corn’s apparently already published his big scoop in Mother Jones, but we’re not going to bother looking for it.
This is like when former New Yorker fact-checker Talia Lavin mistook a Marine veteran and amputee’s tattoo for a Nazi symbol and smeared him. People like Lavin who are obsessed with Nazis see them everywhere they look.
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