Jay Patrick Murray is an American political-military commentator and author who is a former

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

officer and congressional candidate. Murray was nominated by President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of ...

to become Alternate Representative of the United States of America for Special Political Affairs in the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmonizi ...

, but his nomination was returned by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and ...

Education

Murray is a graduate of

Oklahoma State University Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...

, where he earned a bachelor's degree in economics and a master's degree in history. He received a master's in Russian studies from

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best pu ...

. He speaks Russian.

Career

Running as a Republican, Murray unsuccessfully challenged incumbent Democratic Representative

Jim Moran James Patrick Moran Jr. (born May 16, 1945) is an American politician who served as the mayor of Alexandria, Virginia from 1985 to 1990, and as the U.S. representative for (including the cities of Falls Church and Alexandria, all of Arlingt ...

Virginia's 8th congressional district Virginia's 8th congressional district is a United States congressional district in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It comprises all of Arlington County, portions of Fairfax County and all of the independent cities of Alexandria and Falls Chu ...

in both 2010 and 2012. Murray retired from the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

with the rank of colonel after 24 years of active duty. He commanded tank units in Europe during the Cold War and was deployed to Baghdad in 2007 during the

Iraq War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق ( Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict and the War on terror , image ...

. He served as an adviser in the Bureau of Political Military Affairs at the

United States Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government responsible for the country's fore ...

Nomination to United Nations post

In May 2017, Murray was nominated by President

to become the alternate representative for special political affairs to the

. The nomination was approved by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee before being returned to the President in January 2018. In December 2017, '' CNN'' drew attention to Murray's inflammatory posts on social media and his praise for

alt-right The alt-right, an abbreviation of alternative right, is a far-right, white nationalist movement. A largely online phenomenon, the alt-right originated in the United States during the late 2000s before increasing in popularity during the mid-2 ...

commentator

Milo Yiannopoulos Milo Yiannopoulos (; born Milo Hanrahan, 18 October 1984), who has also published as Milo Andreas Wagner and the mononym Milo, is a British alt-right political commentator. His speeches and writings often ridicule Islam, feminism, social ju ...

. Murray called former President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...

a "manchild" and shared an image of Obama shaking hands with

Al Sharpton Alfred Charles Sharpton Jr. (born October 3, 1954) is an American civil rights activist, Baptist minister, talk show host and politician. Sharpton is the founder of the National Action Network. In 2004, he was a candidate for the Democrat ...

which was overlaid an image of a riot with buildings burning. Murray wrote "Barack set out to 'fundamentally transform the United States of America.' And did he ever. How's that working for you?" Murray also defended rancher

Cliven Bundy Cliven D. Bundy (born April 29, 1946) is an American cattle rancher who was charged and underwent pre-trial detention for his role in the 2014 Bundy standoff. Bundy vocally advocated a philosophy opposed to what he views as federal government o ...

who is awaiting trial for his involvement in the 2014 Bundy standoff, and suggested that being a Democrat was a "mental illness".

Bibliography

* ''Government is the Problem'' (2015)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Murray, Jay Patrick Living people Oklahoma State University alumni Ohio State University Graduate School alumni Trump administration personnel Virginia Republicans United States Army colonels 21st-century American writers Year of birth missing (living people)