Military brass shakeup

Military brass shakeup
By Terry A. Hurlbut
Last night (February 21), President Donald J. Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth decimated the top military brass. It was an extraordinary act because, by tradition, the top brass “hangs on” well into a new administration. But clearly Trump and Hegseth wanted to do two things, and those things required firing at least three ranking officers. First, they want to eliminate from the military any hint of “woke.” Second, they (especially Secretary Hegseth) want real warriors at the highest command levels.
Highest military brass to go
President Trump started what some called the “Friday Night Massacre.” He fired General Charles “CQ” Brown USAF as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. At once he named Brown’s replacement: Lt. Gen. Dan “Razin” Caine USAF. Trump announced this firing at 7:30 p.m. EST on Truth Social:
I want to thank General Charles “CQ” Brown for his over 40 years of service to our country, including as our current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He is a fine gentleman and an outstanding leader, and I wish a great future for him and his family.
Today, I am honored to announce that I am nominating Air Force Lieutenant General Dan “Razin” Caine to be the next Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. General Caine is an accomplished pilot, national security expert, successful entrepreneur, and a “warfighter” with significant interagency and special operations experience.
During my first term, Razin was instrumental in the complete annihilation of the ISIS caliphate. It was done in record setting time, a matter of weeks. Many so-called military “geniuses” said it would take years to defeat ISIS. General Caine, on the other hand, said it could be done quickly, and he delivered.
Despite being highly qualified and respected to serve on the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the previous administration, General Caine was passed over for promotion by Sleepy Joe Biden. But not anymore! Alongside Secretary Pete Hegseth, General Caine and our military will restore peace through strength, put America First, and rebuild our military. Finally, I have also directed Secretary Hegseth to solicit nominations for five additional high level positions, which will be announced soon. Thank you for your attention to this matter!
https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114044712489265353
That statement gives one of two reasons Trump had for firing General Brown – to elevate General Caine. The other reason was Brown’s explicit advocacy of “diversity, equity and inclusion” (DEI) in the military. Secretary Hegseth wants no part of that, and said so in November 2024, according to The Daily Wire.
Secretary Hegseth wasn’t done. He fired Adm. Lisa Franchetti USN, Chief of Naval Operations, and Gen. James Slife USAF, Air Force Vice-Chief of Staff. Furthermore, he is looking to replace the Judge Advocates General of the Army, Navy and Air Force.
The Secretary explained all this in his own statement. That statement had nothing but good things to say about the three outgoing officers – standard say-goodbye boilerplate, of course. But in his description of replacements named and sought, Hegseth revealed the real reasons for the military brass shakeup:
General Caine embodies the warfighter ethos and is exactly the leader we need to meet the moment.
Recall that the Secretary is a former platoon leader with direct combat experience. As a television personality he repeatedly criticized the military for losing sight of its “warrior mindset.”
In closing, the Secretary said:
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.
Translation: previous administrations have not been about winning wars. Under Trump, that will change.
Reaction
The legacy media reacted in predictable fashion. The Associated Press predicted “shock waves through the Pentagon” in consequence of Brown’s firing. But they also gave further details on the reasons Trump would want him out:
Brown’s public support of Black Lives Matter after the police killing of George Floyd had made him fodder for the administration's wars against “wokeism” in the military.
What President wouldn’t want to oust a general who expressed sympathy for rioters – except one who, like Joe Biden, also sympathized with the rioters? But the Associated Press didn’t mention the “Summer of Love” of 2020.
The New York Times explicitly criticized the President for not letting the Joint Chiefs Chairman stay on into his administration. They also accused Trump of “inject[ing] politics into the selection of the nation’s top military leaders.”
The Times also mentioned that Lt. Gen. Caine was “little-known” and “retired.” But they did not mention that Biden had passed him over for promotion.
They did recall one thing Secretary Hegseth said about the military’s legal eagles.
Mr. Hegseth did not say why he was firing the judge advocates general. But in his Senate confirmation hearing last month, he criticized military lawyers for placing needless legal restrictions on soldiers in battle — putting “his or her own priorities in front of the war fighters, their promotions, their medals, in front of having the backs of those making the tough calls on the front lines.”
The Times described “some of Mr. Hegseth’s staunchest supporters in Congress” (they didn’t name any) as saying “a purge in the senior ranks of the Pentagon” would be bad for morale (they didn’t supply any supporting quotes on point). They did quote Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services Committee:
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.
CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins said:
A major (and long rumored) purge is underway at the Pentagon tonight. After President Trump ousts the Joint Chiefs Chairman, Secretary Hegseth fires the chief of the Navy, the vice chief of the Air Force and says he's “requesting nominations” for the Judge Advocates General for the Army, Navy and Air Force, indicating they’ll be replaced.
https://x.com/kaitlancollins/status/1893109257421115581
Reaction to this post was, to say the least, mixed.
Analysis
Replacement of the military brass by a new administration is nothing new. True, few Presidents have fired so many so fast. But President Trump has a problem. Joe Biden, like Barack Obama before him, salted the top military brass with leftists. Sen. Reed has it backwards. Obama and Biden fired many, many “uniformed leaders” as a test of loyalty to “the fundamental transformation of America.” And not merely a test of loyalty. This was the means to that transformation in the military. The same Frankfurt School denizens who put Obama and Biden in their places, similarly transformed our universities.
Furthermore, those officers likely got their positions “for reasons relating to diversity and gender.” Sen. Reed tells the same lie many others have told: that human performance does not vary with sex or race. The drama surrounding surgically mutilated and/or hormonally poisoned men sweeping women’s sports records, puts the lie to the notion that the average woman can perform as well as or better than the average man. And if performance did not vary by race, basketball would not now be a nearly all-black sport.
Firing the Grand Legal Eagles of the three core branches of the military suggests that those officers have indeed been undermining the “warrior ethos” as Secretary Hegseth accused them of doing.
President Trump might not have served, but Pete Hegseth did. Both men are determined to make the military – a military again. If that requires changing out the military brass, so be it.
Link to:
The article:
https://cnav.news/2025/02/22/news/military-brass-shakeup/

Firing of General Brown:
https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114044712489265353

Secretary Hegseth’s statement:
https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/4074482/secretary-of-defense-pete-hegseth-statement-on-general-officer-nominations/

Reaction:
https://www.wbaltv.com/article/trump-fires-cq-brown-chairman-joint-chiefs-of-staff/63875207
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/21/us/politics/trump-fires-cq-brown-pentagon.html
https://x.com/kaitlancollins/status/1893109257421115581

Declarations of Truth:
https://x.com/DecTruth

Declarations of Truth Locals Community:
https://declarationsoftruth.locals.com/

Conservative News and Views:
https://cnav.news/

Clixnet Media
https://clixnet.com/