Adios to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs
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— President Donald Trump abruptly fired Air Force Gen. CQ Brown as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on Friday, sidelining a history-making fighter pilot and respected officer as part of a campaign to rid the military of leaders who support diversity and equity in the ranks.
The ouster of Brown, only the second Black general to serve as chairman, is sure to send shock waves through the Pentagon. His 16 months in the job had been consumed with the war in Ukraine and the expanded conflict in the Middle East
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But wait! There’s more!
In an unprecedented purge of the military’s senior leadership Friday night, President Donald Trump fired the top US general just moments before his defense secretary fired the chief of the US Navy and the vice chief of the Air Force.
Hegseth called Franchetti a “DEI hire” in his 2024 book, in which he wrote: “If naval operations suffer, at least we can hold our heads high. Because at least we have another first! The first female member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff — hooray.”
Hegseth on Friday also said that Gen. James Slife, the vice chief of the Air Force, had been fired, and that he was “requesting nominations” for the Judge Advocates General for the Army, Navy and Air Force, indicating they will be replaced.
“Under President Trump, we are putting in place new leadership that will focus our military on its core mission of deterring, fighting and winning wars,” Hegseth said Friday night.
The firings had been anticipated for weeks, with rumors about the impending dismissal circulating around the Pentagon. But speculation about the termination of Brown and others became more serious when a formal list was recently shared with some Republican lawmakers.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/21/politics/trump-fires-top-us-general-cq-brown/index.html
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The replacement.
Caine was an unusual choice for the top military job and is not well known. Several officials on Capitol Hill and the Pentagon, granted anonymity as they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter, told NPR they had to Google his name.
Caine has not served in any of the roles — Joint Chiefs vice chairman, chief of staff for one of the branches of the armed service, or head of a combatant command — that nominees are legally required to have performed in order to be nominated. The president, however, may waive those requirements if he "determines such action is necessary in the national interest."
In 2019, at the Conservative Political Action Conference, Trump shared his first meeting with Caine in Iraq, where the general introduced himself by his nickname "Razin."
"'Raisin, like the fruit?' He goes, 'Yes, sir, Razin.' 'What's your last name?' 'Caine. Razin Caine.' I said, 'You got to be kidding me,'" Trump recalled.
According to Trump, the general suggested the Islamic State could be defeated in a week. "One week? I was told two years," Trump said he asked. Caine explained that the issue was that his orders come from D.C. rather than being informed by the field.
"You're the first one to ask us our opinion," Caine told Trump, as the president recalled. "So I went back and I said, 'I'm going to get back to you soon, Razin. I think you're great,'" Trump said. "I like you, Razin Caine."
Trump referred to this encounter in Iraq again at last year's CPAC. But in this retelling, Caine asserted that the Islamic State could be defeated in four weeks, not one.
Trump then recalled the general saying, "'I love you, sir. I think you're great, sir. I'll kill for you, sir.'
https://www.npr.org/2025/02/22/g-s1-50348/dan-caine-new-chairman-joint-chiefs
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Good grief.
