There is a desperate campaign behind the scenes at Wikipedia to hide JD Vance's military medals

There is an apparent campaign under way to erase the past in order to help Democrats lock down the future.

Republican strategists, conservatives, and other keen-eyed observers highlighted an apparent effort behind the scenes at Wikipedia to downplay Ohio Republican Sen. JD Vance's military record while a disputed military accomplishment of Minnesota Democrat Gov. Tim Walz has apparently gone untouched on the site.

It appears this campaign to bury Vance's medals began in earnest after President Donald Trump named him as his running mate last month.

Wikipedia is a massively popular online encyclopedia that nets over 4 billion visits each month. As this repository of supposedly accurate information — whose former leftist CEO stated that the "reference for the truth might be a distraction that is getting in the way of finding common ground and getting things done" — is the seventh-most visited domain on the World Wide Web, it has the potential not only to influence AI system but to significantly influence voters and therefore elections.

The trouble is that the truth sometimes takes a back seat at Wikipedia or at the very least is relegated to less visible real estate. For instance, cultural Marxism, according to Wikipedia, has been presented as a "far-right" conspiracy theory.

The way information is framed on the site is also greatly skewed.

The Manhattan Institute recently released the results of a damning and comprehensive study highlighting the site's leftist bias. Among the various indications of bias, the study found that "there is a clear tendency for the names of prominent left-leaning U.S. politicians to be used with more positive sentiment than their right-leaning counterparts."

The study further indicated that in "Wikipedia articles, right-leaning terms are more often associated with the emotional categories of anger and disgust than left-leaning terms. In contrast, left-leaning terms are more often associated with the emotion of joy than right-leaning terms."

Wikipedia's bias is manifest in a recent scandal over the disparate approaches taken to the vice presidential candidates in this year's election.

'There's no reason to exclude that information.'

On Vance's Wikipedia page, there is — as with most politicians and high-profile personalities — an "infobox" on the right-hand side detailing critical biographic details such as his occupation, his educational history, and the particulars of his military service.

The revision history log and Talk page reveal a battle over what to include among Vance's military medals.

On July 29, the page listed Vance's Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal; his Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal; his Global War on Terrorism Service Medal; his Iraq Campaign Medal; and his Navy and Marine Corps Sea Service Deployment Ribbon.

On Aug. 3, editors had cut the list down to three medals.

On Aug. 8, the page listed only the former Marine's Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal and his Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal. The next day, Vance was apparently down to just the first of these two medals.

At one stage, an editor asked, "What is the point of listing this award[?]"

Some behind the scenes have apparently fought back against the efforts to conceal Vance's record.

One editor wrote, "I can see the argument against service medals but let's give those who served credit for their service and sacrifice."

"At a minimum CAMPAIGN MEDALS should be included. But all earned medals should be listed. There's no reason to exclude that information," wrote one user.

Another editor noted, "Wow, just checking the edit history of when and how these medals got removed and it clearly looks like bad faith."

According to the Talk page, which is crowded with evidence of a strong desire to politically kneecap Vance, there was a request put in Monday to return "the list of his service awards that was removed between July and Aug 11," which appears to have been temporarily obliged. However, at the time of publication, only two military awards were listed in the infobox.

While a leftist cabal of volunteers at Wikipedia may not want it known, Vance's certificate of release from active duty indicates that he received the Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal; Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal; Iraq Campaign Medal; Sea Service Deployment Ribbon; Global War on Terrorism Service Medal; National Defense Service Medal; Letter of Appreciation (5th Awd); Meritorious Mast Certificate of Appreciation; Rifle Expert Badge; and Pistol Expert Badge.

He left the service with the rank of corporal.

Republican strategist Andrew Surabian noted, "To make this even worse, while leftwing @Wikipedia scrubbed @JDVance's military awards from his page, they still falsely list Stolen Valor Tim Walz's rank as 'Command Sergeant Major.'"

Blaze News previously reported that Thomas Behrends, a former member of Walz's unit and now a retired command sergeant major of the Minnesota National Guard, has cast doubt on the authenticity of the rank listed for Walz on Wikipedia.

Harris' running mate apparently never completed the training or the necessary coursework for a command sergeant major at the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy. Additionally, his discharge documents were changed to indicate that — contrary to Walz's claims — he retired with the rank of master sergeant, not command sergeant major.

John Kolb, the service member who became lieutenant colonel of Walz's unit after the Democrat's departure, recently confirmed that Walz did "not successfully complete any assignment as a sergeant major," reported the New York Post.

Some Wikipedia editors have raised a stink about the false information provided on Walz's page, but it nevertheless remains.

Blaze News reached out to Wikipedia and the Trump campaign for comment but did not receive responses by deadline.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!