PULSE POINTS:

❓WHAT HAPPENED: The Atlantic published an article implying that veteran and Trump nominee Joe Kent may harbor Nazi sympathies because of a tattoo reading “Panzer”—German for “tank”—on his arm.

👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: Joe Kent, a former Congressional candidate and Army Ranger; The Atlantic, owned by Democrat megadonor Laurene Powell Jobs; left-wing journalist David Corn; and activist Heidi Beirich, formerly of the discredited SPLC.

🧾KEY QUOTES: “I asked the administration to address concerns that one of the president’s nominees has a tattoo associated with Nazis, and its response was to make a joke.” — The Atlantic

⚠️FALLOUT: The Atlantic misidentified a Trump administration spokesman and leaned on a blurry tweet for evidence. The National Pulse has found counterevidence showing Kent’s “Panzer Jäger” tattoos are linked to his anti-tank military service. Legal action is reportedly under consideration.

📌SIGNIFICANCE: The article appears to conflate military culture with extremism to undermine a Trump nominee while deflecting from scrutiny of MS-13 gang tattoos in immigration enforcement cases. The smear is collapsing under factual scrutiny.

OUR EXCLUSIVE REPORTING IN FULL:

On May 1, The Atlantic magazine, owned by Democrat megadonor Laurene Powell Jobs, published an article entitled, “Who Gets Panzer Tattooed on Their Arm?”

The story, about military veteran and counter-terrorism widower Joe Kent, was drafted to imply the former Congressional candidate has “far right” and/or “Nazi” sympathies–a tired smear against anyone on the political right, and one which has its roots in the defense of communism on American soil.

The Atlantic, which once endorsed eugenics, asserted: “…you can see why it’s noteworthy that Joseph Kent, Donald Trump’s nominee to head the National Counterterrorism Center, has a panzer tattoo.”

The piece relies on the reporting of David Corn, a far-left author whose last real scoop came over a decade ago, and who is most recently known for having peddled the Russia hoax to sell books.

Still, The Atlantic would go on to use Corn’s flimsy reporting–a tweet featuring a blurry picture of Kent and his son–to at least imply that Kent is covertly a Nazi, by having the German word for “tank” tattooed on his 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 article’s author says he received no explanation from “Ashley Henning,” of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, where Kent now works. There is, in fact, no “Ashley Henning” at that office. The Atlantic likely meant Alexa Henning, a well-known conservative communications operative, which anyone who did some basic research and/or fact-checking would have known.

An even bigger fact-checking flub appears wherein The Atlantic consults far-left “expert” Heidi Beirich, once affiliated with the discredited Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), who now runs the so-called Global Project Against Hate and Extremism.

The tattoo “could mean that he’s glorifying the Nazis. Or it could have a different context,” Beirich told them. “I don’t think I’ve run across a panzer,” she concluded.

But Panzer tattoos are, in fact, not uncommon in anti-tank divisions of the U.S. Army. Especially when combined, as The Atlantic even admits, with the German word for ‘hunter’–”Jäger.”

Here’s what the author wrote next:

Other discernible possibilities make less sense. Right-wing accounts on X have spread the claim that Kent has jäger—German for “hunter”—tattooed on his other arm. The two tattoos together would add up to “tank hunter.” The accounts claim that heavy-anti-armor-weapons crewman was one of Kent’s jobs in the Army. It’s oddly specific enough to sound plausible, except that I couldn’t find any evidence that Kent was part of an anti-tank unit—let alone one that would be targeting German tanks—or that he even has a jäger tattoo on his other arm.

The National Pulse, however, has found evidence that Kent both a) has a “jäger” tattoo on his other arm, and b) served in an anti-tank section of the 2nd Ranger Battalion from 1998 to 2001.

Furthermore, U.S. army veterans and those who routinely report on the subject will know that tattoo inspections are often required to ensure members of the military aren’t Nazis, extremists of other kinds, or gang members. Kent himself has had a top-secret security clearance for around two decades. To hold Kent’s TS/SCI, one must undergo a single scope background investigation (SSBI) and polygraph tests.

The author of The Atlantic article wasn’t impressed by the administration’s response.

“I asked the administration to address concerns that one of the president’s nominees has a tattoo associated with Nazis, and its response was to make a joke.”

But the tattoo isn’t associated with Nazis. In fact, “Panzer Jäger” was popularized amongst Americans after the Second World War, and after Germany and its Bundeswehr became critical NATO members in the fight against the Soviet Union. If anything, the tattoo is pro-NATO and anti-Communist, and nothing at all to do with Nazism.

The rationale for the article is made clear around halfway through. Once again, it is a flimsy defense of MS-13 gang member Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whose knuckle tattoos are, in fact, a strong hint at his gang status. The Atlantic claims:

The Trump administration seems to strongly agree with the notion that tattoos are meaningful—but only when convenient for the president’s agenda. Consider Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland resident the Trump administration deported to El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT, prison camp last month. Garcia was living with protected legal status in the U.S., and the government’s own lawyers have acknowledged that he was deported because of an “administrative error.” Trump loyalists have doubled down on Garcia’s detention, in part pointing to his tattoos.

So, once again, in defense of criminal illegal migrants and open borders, another so-called great American journalistic institution has beclowned itself in another failed smear at a member of the Trump administration.

Sources tell me that Kent is carefully considering his legal options against The Atlantic and the article’s author.

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