West Point Grad Notorious for ‘Communism Will Win’ Graduation Pics Resurfaces at UChicago Where He’s Praising Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Bloodthirsty Assads

The notorious West Point graduate who wrote "communism will win" on his cap during graduation—and who now openly praises Oct. 7 mastermind Yahya Sinwar, Hezbollah boss Hassan Nasrallah, and Syria's sadistic Assad family—is now a Ph.D. student at the prestigious University of Chicago, all expenses paid.

Spenser Rapone, a self-described "revolutionary socialist" who was drummed out of the Army after declaring his support for communism and calling for violence against Republicans, has taken up residence at the University of Chicago, where he specializes in "modern Arab intellectual history" and the "history of the modern Middle East," among other subjects.

In addition to his well-known communist bona fides, Rapone has also picked up a taste for Islamic extremism—which he now freely posts about on his public X page. His most inflammatory public pronouncements are in Arabic and remain live on X.

"Glory to the martyred leader Yahya Sinwar," he said on Oct. 18, 2024, shortly after Israel killed the Hamas boss, who masterminded the Oct. 7 massacre.

When Israel killed Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah—who was behind thousands of terror attacks, including some that killed Americans—Rapone was similarly mournful.

"Glory to the martyr Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, symbol of dignity for the Arab homeland and all free peoples around the world. May God have mercy on him," Rapone said.

"Long live the resistance, and glory to the martyrs," Rapone posted on the first anniversary of the Oct. 7 slaughter.

Rapone's study of Arab history has also led him to more baroque extremes—including a bizarre affection for Syria's sadistic, now-deposed Assad regime, which presided over a shocking reign of cruelty over its own people.

"The eternal leader Hafez al-Assad tried to crush this mentality in 1982, and his approach was correct at that time, just as it remains correct today," Rapone wrote in October 2026, in response to a now-deleted post.

The statement from Rapone is almost certainly a reference to the former dictator's ruthless suppression of a rebellion in the city of Hama that same year, which left up to 40,000 dead.

"Zionist control over the United States imposes on the United States, through the American administration, a policy in this region that is not linked to the interests of American citizens, but rather linked solely to Israeli interests, and especially to Israeli expansionist interests," he said in May 2026, alleging it was a quote by "the immortal leader Hafez al-Assad."

After Assad's son, Bashar Al-Assad—who notoriously used chemical weapons against his own people, including children—was overthrown, Rapone posted in remorse, calling for a return of his political movement.

"May the Syrian Arab Republic of the Ba'th [sic], of national resurrection, of unity, freedom, and socialism, return in time," he said in January 2026. "The least that honest academics can do, speaking for my vocation, is resist with every fiber of our beings the Zionist-imperialist lies."

Rapone—who published a scholarly article "reappraising" the Ba'ath Party for the prestigious Cambridge University Press—called Syria's post-Assad leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, "a terrorist puppet of the Zionist West," in an X post from January 2026, adding that "Dr. Bashar al-Asad [sic] is the true president of Syria."

"Greetings of Arabism to Dr. Bashar al-Assad, the legitimate and true President of the Syrian Arab Republic. And immortality to the message of the Ba'ath Party and the Arab nation," Rapone posted in December 2025, a year after the dictator was ousted.

"Dr. Bashar al-Asad. [sic] May he and the Ba'th [sic] return to power in time," Rapone said in March 2026. "Long live Assad's Syria," he added a month later.

When Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recently noted the lack of scholarly and scientific achievements in the Arabic world today, Rapone called him a "bigoted buffoon" and attacked Trump as a "criminal president."

The University of Chicago's embrace of Rapone comes as the Trump administration has instituted a broad review of universities—which rely heavily on federal grant money—over allegations of Islamic extremism, antisemitism, and "diversity, equity, and inclusion" programs. While the University of Chicago is better known for its conservative law and business schools and economics department, its humanities programs have become a hothouse of far-left activism, including anti-Israel activity that critics say veers beyond free speech into rank anti-semitism.

The University of Chicago’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies receives significant federal funding, in part to provide foreign language courses in Arabic, Turkish, and other tongues.

After he was forced out of the military with an "other than honorable" discharge—three years before completing his mandatory post-West Point five years of service—Rapone has mostly bounced around academic programs, including graduate studies at the New School and a Ph.D. program at the University of Texas at Austin, which he does not appear to have finished. He has been affiliated with Chicago since September 2025, according to his LinkedIn.

As is typical for serious doctoral students, Rapone's Ph.D. studies at Chicago are fully funded by the university—and provide him with a $47,741 annual stipend. After two years, Ph.D. candidates usually are required to teach undergraduates.

Rapone first achieved infamy in 2017 after posting photos of himself at his West Point graduation—about 16 months after he graduated—revealing a message scrawled under his uniform cap reading "communism will win." Another photo showed him smiling, opening his uniform Superman-style to reveal a Che Guevara T-shirt. Rapone posted the images in a show of solidarity with former NFL player Colin Kaepernick, who at the time was protesting the national anthem because of "racism."

After going public with his communist sympathies, Rapone—who was actively serving as an Army officer—faced questions over a number of old tweets from news reports at the time.

"Violence against the far right is resistance, not aggression," he told author J.K. Rowling in June 2016. In another post, he said he would "happily dance" on the grave of Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.).

"Fuck this country and its false freedom," he said in yet another social media post, which raised concerns among West Point staff at the time.

He eventually resigned under pressure, and it's unclear if he had to pay back West Point for his education. The member of Congress who helped get Rapone into West Point, former Rep. Jason Altmire (D., Pa.), later condemned him.

"I was shocked and extremely disappointed in the recent reports of his indefensible actions," Altmire told the Daily Caller in September 2017.

Rapone is the son of Richard L. Rapone, the treasurer of Lawrence County, Pa. In September 2017, the elder Rapone also denounced his son in a now-deleted Facebook post, saying his return from a military deployment to Afghanistan had caused a "notable difference in his political views."

"Spenser is my son and I love him dearly however I do not like nor condone his politics, his actions or behavior," the elder Rapone said at the time.

Rapone did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

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