Trump’s Firing Of Gen. CQ Brown, Chairman Of The Joint Chiefs Of Staff, Over Racial Justice Advocacy Raises Alarms

Brown, a former combat pilot, rose to become the first Black man to lead a branch of the military as Air Force chief.

In another move breaking with long-standing tradition in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 21, President Donald Trump fired Air Force Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a position normally immune to turnover when presidential administrations change hands.

According to NPR, Trump announced Brown’s firing on Truth Social. Before assuming the position of Joint Chiefs of Staff after his nomination by former President Joe Biden in 2023, Brown was the first Black man to lead a branch of the military, rising to the rank of Air Force chief.

In his post, Trump thanked Brown for “his over 40 years of service to our country” and said he was a “fine gentleman and an outstanding leader” before announcing his intention to nominate Air Force Lt. Gen. Dan Caine as Brown’s successor.

According to Trump, “General Caine is an accomplished pilot, national security expert, successful entrepreneur, and a ‘warfighter’ with significant interagency and special operations experience,” before adding that Caine “was instrumental in the complete annihilation of the ISIS caliphate.”

According to a CNN report, Brown’s firing and the subsequent plan to replace him with Caine are unusual because Caine is retired and not a four-star general.

According to federal law, the president is supposed to choose top military officers from either the combatant commands or chiefs of the military services, all four-star positions, but the president can also waive this direction if there is a need to preserve national security.

After Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s confirmation, replacing Brown was believed to be one of his priorities. Hegseth seemed to believe that the now-former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff presided over a “woke” agenda to the detriment of military readiness.

In a November appearance on the Shawn Ryan Show, Hegseth argued for firing Brown, telling the host, “First of all, you’ve got to fire the chairman of the Joint Chiefs,” which stemmed from his beliefs regarding Brown’s tenure.

Brown received national attention in 2020 for a passionate video he made discussing race in America as the nation was in the middle of grappling with the implications of the death of George Floyd, which he later told NPR was inspired by his sons and his own experiences as a Black man.

“It was my own personal experiences but thinking about our two sons and their experiences, [is] actually what got me to do it.” Brown told NPR in 2020.

Brown continued, “I thought it was more important than in some cases confirmation. If confirmation had been withheld for some reason, I knew in my heart of hearts I did what I thought was the right thing to do. And that’s the way I approach life.”

Following Trump’s announcement, Hegseth made his own announcement, indicating that he would be firing more military officials, including Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the first woman to lead the Navy as Chief of Naval Operations, and Gen. James Slife, the vice chief of staff of the Air Force.

Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI), the top member of his party on the Armed Services Committee, issued a statement in response to the firings, framing them as part of a premeditated campaign from the Trump administration.

“This appears to be part of a broader, premediated campaign by President Trump and Secretary Hegseth to purge talented officers for politically charged reasons, which would undermine the professionalism of our military and send a chilling message through the ranks,” Reed said in his remarks.

Reed continued, “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.”