Full Metal Sponcon
Eddie Gallagher, Military Influencing, and the Rise of Consumer Warfare
In April 2018, a determined group of Navy SEALs stepped out of the shadows and approached investigators with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service to accuse their unit chief, Eddie Gallagher, of war crimes. They were seeking accountability for a man, but also the storied brand he represented.
Their brutal testimony, coupled with a trove of documentary evidence, spurred 10 charges against Gallagher. They alleged that he routinely shot at civilians and stabbed a teenage ISIS prisoner to death while deployed in Iraq. They also said he was a habitual liar, a poor shot, and a reckless battle planner - a man more concerned with his own image than the mechanics of the mission.
It seemed, for a moment, that Gallagher would be convicted, and that the combative sect of SEALs he belonged to would lose their war with the force’s “quiet professionals” in the court of public opinion.
Instead, the opposite happened. On July 2 2019, the charges against Gallagher were dismissed, thanks to a stunning turnabout by a key witness and alleged prosecutorial misconduct.
That day, Gallagher and his wife, Andrea, strolled out of the courthouse as newly minted conservative celebrities. News cameras and paparazzi strained to get good shots of the beaming couple. Both dressed in white, they jumped into a convertible Mustang of the same color and, telling assembled reporters they were in search of “tattoos and alcohol,” sped off.
The ink Gallagher got was a decorative tribute to Andrea that filled most of an elbow. It featured her piercing eyes peeking out from an American flag — an all-seeing, semi-hypnotic image that would come to be prominently displayed in glamour shots of Gallagher taken as part of his subsequent blitz of brand deals and Instagram posts.
I profiled Eddie Gallagher and the darkening world of military influencing for the new issue of The Baffler.
During my reporting, I sometimes wondered if it was gratuitous or irresponsible to spotlight a man who so unabashedly embraces violence. But Gallagher’s rise and status indicates an urgent and growing American thirst for violence.
As one of America’s most well-known veterans, Gallagher has also helped form and legitimize a dangerous new soldier archetype: a righteous fighter unfairly restrained by corrupt generals and woke military dictates who, when confronted with evil, takes matters into his own hands to mete out extrajudicial justice.
A fourteen-year-old boy and his father materialized this new model literally, producing Eddie Gallagher action figures and pledging to donate half their proceeds to Gallagher’s charity, the Pipe Hitter Foundation, which defends and supports other accused war criminals.
Washington Post tech columnist Taylor Lorenz estimates that an influencer of Gallagher’s stature can easily net six figures annually—and perhaps as much as a million. “What appeals most on the internet is extreme content,” she explained. “And for a certain segment of men, violence has become aspirational.”
Give the piece a read and a share if you can. And please share your thoughts: jclarkcraven@gmail.com
Finally, if you find yourself wanting to know more about Gallagher, read ALPHA, a masterful book by NYT reporter David Philipps on Gallagher and the SEALs.
Peace + Love,
Jasper