On an alarming note, Donald Trump recently undertook a surprising sweep of the highest tiers of the United States military, seemingly in a bid to instill a sense of fear within the ranks and ensure a steadfast loyalty to his persona. In an astonishing move, one that Trump and his zealous MAGA base had subtly hinted at, the president proceeded to dismiss the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General C. Q. Brown.
Brown was in the firing line and faced harsh backlash from a handful of Republican senators and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, all who fervently pushed the narrative that Brown was excessively ‘woke,’ overemphasizing diversity within the military spectrum. This beef is rather hypocritical, considering it was Trump who had in fact vouched for Brown’s nomination as Chief of Staff of the Air Force in 2020.
The president, surprisingly, has left us all in the dark about his reasons for this apparently abrupt dismissal, although Hegseth did deliver a vague, uninspiring statement lauding Brown for his eminent service. This distasteful process perpetuates the premise that the current administration cares little for the rules of the game and the principle that senior officials should be more than mere cronies of the ruling President.
The Chairman represents the supreme military officer by law and stands as the primary military spearhead for the President. His roles and responsibilities do not include the overseeing of military forces and do not place him in the line of command.
Generally, the Chairman is expected to endure a four-year term. Peculiarly, unlike with FBI directors, their tenure is designed to span across numerous administrations, creating a sense of continuity and stability. This ensures that the position doesn’t metamorphose into a partisan political pawn with every power shift.
Ignoring this readily accepted convention, President Trump appears to operate under the impression that each senior U.S. official should owe their allegiance straight to him. Any remaining hopes by the nation’s military leaders for independence from Trump’s grasp were completely dashed with Brown’s sudden removal.
For his replacement, the president overlooked the other serving four-star officers and incredibly cherry-picked a retired three-star Air Force officer by the name of Dan Caine from the shadows of his past.
Trump had supposedly come across Caine during a trip down memory lane to Iraq in 2018. Caine is rumored to have vehemently professed his belief that if enough American combat prowess was committed, the terrorist group ISIS could easily be vanquished within a mere week’s time.
The law and the strict rules that guide the military require senior officers to steer clear of public displays of partisan loyalty. Such zealous partisan activities should not form the pivot around which promotions swing. However, if this story holds, this narrative blatantly highlights Trump’s political machinations.
Caine did have a commendable track record, and although it is not regular procedure to bring retired personnel to take on such a significant post, it is not an unheard eventuality. Yet, the underlying message this transpires for the rest of the armed forces could not be more apparent.
Trump had express dislike for Brown’s predecessor, General Mark Milley, and in association with Hegseth, publicized their intent to terminate several other high-ranking officials. Now that Trump has seemingly seized control of intelligence agencies, the judiciary, and the FBI, the military represents the final element required to complete his groundwork for authoritarian governance over the U.S. government.
This whole process couldn’t be further divorced from issues of efficacy, ‘lethality,’ or the promotion of ‘warfighters,’ or any other popular buzzwords of the administration. What we are witnessing here essentially boils down to Praetorian-Style politics—nothing less, nothing more.