On Friday evening Trump fired Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. CQ Brown, along with Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti and Air Force Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Jim Slife. Trump plans to nominate a retired and underqualified Lt. General who once put on a MAGA hat and told Trump, “I love you, sir. I think you’re great, sir. I’ll kill for you, sir.”
*Military protocol prohibits active-duty troops from donning any clothing with a political message.
General CQ Brown was the target of Trump’s war on “woke” DEI hires, while lawmakers warned against political firings.
- DUI hire Pete Hegseth spoke of Gen. Brown in his book published before becoming Defense Secretary, writing, “You think CQ Brown will think intuitively about external threats and internal readiness?” Hegseth wrote. “No chance. He built his generalship dutifully pursuing the radical positions of left-wing politicians, who in turn rewarded him with promotions.”
Hegseth said in a statement that Trump plans to nominate retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Dan Caine, who joined the venture capital firm Shield Capital in January.
Other venture capital firms Caine was installed at were doing crypto, AI, and defense tech — one of which was founded by Jared Kushner’s brother.
Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he is “troubled by the nature of these dismissals.”
“This appears to be part of a broader, premeditated campaign by President Trump and Secretary Hegseth to purge talented officers for politically charged reasons,” Reed said, “which would undermine the professionalism of our military and send a chilling message through the ranks. America has the strongest, most capable military in the world,” he continued. “But firing uniformed leaders as a type of political loyalty test, or for reasons relating to diversity and gender that have nothing to do with performance, erodes the trust and professionalism that our service members require to achieve their missions. … A professional, apolitical military that is subordinate to the civilian government and supportive of the Constitution rather than a political party is essential to the survival of our democracy.”
