Trump’s Ultimate Power Grab: Purging the U.S. Military

As every aspiring autocrat knows, to succeed he or she must control the military, the business community and the church. This iron-triangle formula was perfected in Europe during the 1930s.

Once the dictator controls those groups, he can subvert the bureaucracy, the press and the judiciary.

Still learning the ropes

In his first term as U.S. President, Donald Trump was still learning the ropes. No surprise then that he got things backward. The neophyte President had the backing of most white Christian evangelicals, but many prominent corporate executives publicly opposed him.

To Trump’s surprise, although he is the Commander-in-Chief, top military officers often questioned his orders and even refused to obey him. Trump was deeply frustrated that “his generals” refused to carry out his wishes, like bombing drug cartel factories in Mexico or shooting American protestors in the leg.

Trump was also hemmed in by senior advisors who forced him to obey most of the United States’ democratic safeguards. One of these key “guardrails” is that the military stays out of politics and is strictly nonpartisan.

Furthermore, U.S. troops do not deploy inside the country. Until now, the only exceptions, as permitted by law, were when National Guard units intervened to stop violent riots or to enforce civil rights laws.

Setting his sights on the Pentagon

Donald Trump, in an unprecedented purge, fired the top brass at the Pentagon, as he moves to seize absolute power.

Trump evidently intends to politicize the U.S. armed forces, as he has done with the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He wants to make sure that, this time around, his generals will obey him without question.

Friday night massacre

On the evening of Friday, February 21, Trump abruptly fired Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., the head of the Air Force and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Trump also fired five other senior Pentagon officials, including:

– Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the first woman to lead the Navy.

– Gen. James Slife, the vice chief of the Air Force.

– The top lawyers for the Army, Navy and Air Force.

Just getting started

Trump announced the terminations on his Truth Social media platform. The President indicated the purge was not finished, saying that he had asked Hegseth for nominations for five more senior positions.

Firing the military’s top lawyers is also profoundly troubling, because they advise the armed forces on whether the President’s orders are lawful, or not. The President will presumably replace them with the kind of lackeys he has installed in the Department of Justice.

This is a profound, extraordinary shake-up of the U.S. military establishment. In his first month, Trump has fired four four-star generals. Within 24 hours of taking office, Trump terminated Admiral Linda L. Fagan, the first female commandant of the Coast Guard, implying that there were issues with her leadership.

Politicizing the military

The firings are a sharp break with long-standing practices designed to keep the military apolitical.

The Joint Chiefs Chairmen serve for four years, and they traditionally remain in their posts as administrations change. Chairman Brown had served only 16 months of his term.

Furthermore, top Pentagon officers are usually replaced for cause or retirement — not because of their political views.

An unlikely, “little known” candidate

Trump’s candidate to lead the armed forces is an unqualified individual who will probably follow his orders. Trump is again seeking loyalty rather than competence, as he did in proposing Pete Hegseth as Defense Secretary and other Cabinet nominees.

Trump has ignored the law, as well as long-standing practice, by choosing Air Force Lieutenant General Dan “Razin” Caine to serve as the next Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Under traditional criteria, Trump’s nominee, Lt. Gen. Dan Caine, would not be a likely candidate to head the armed forces. Caine may be a fine officer, but he lacks the breadth and depth of command experience needed to serve as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The Washington Post described the nomination as Trump’s “tapping a little-known, retired three-star officer” as the next Chairman.

Caine met Trump in 2018 while serving in Iraq. Trump liked his swagger and his Rambo-like talk about taking out ISIS, it seems.

Forget statutory requirements and norms

Caine’s nomination bucks explicit statutory requirements as well as several norms. Under the relevant law, a candidate to be Joint Chief must have served as:

– the top uniformed officer of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines or Space Command,

– the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, or

– the commander of a combatant command.

For the third category, think of a role such as the commander of U.S. forces in Europe. In practice, most Joint Chiefs have fulfilled all three requirements.

Promotions for yes men

As a three-star general, Caine would be promoted over many higher-ranking officers, including all current members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Unlike them, Caine has not served as the head of a major command. In another unusual twist, Caine is no longer on active duty. He retired last year and joined a venture capital firm.

Furthermore, unlike his predecessors, Caine has not been a career officer. This is not his first foray into business. Caine was a civilian, working as an entrepreneur, from 2009 to 2016, although he served part-time in the National Guard.

Under the statute, Trump can request a waiver from the requirements if he deems it necessary in the national interest. But those are realistic criteria for the leader of the U.S. military, and there is no obvious reason for an exception. A compliant, obsequious Senate will probably grant any such request, unfortunately.

Trump’s calculus

Why has Trump plucked Caine out of retirement and obscurity? Why did the President bypass more highly ranked and more qualified officers?

Trump is probably worried that officers with more stars and stature would act like Gen. Milley and refuse to obey illegal orders. Trump has already installed one lap dog in the Pentagon — Hegseth — and he wants to add another.

Will Hegseth and Caine refuse to send troops to disperse protestors? In Trump’s second term, many prominent executives have flocked to his side or caved in to him. They dare not oppose him.

Christian evangelicals fervently proclaim that God saved Trump from the assassin’s bullet and sent him to save America. Trump has needed to complete only one more step, securing control of the military. Now, Trump is accomplishing that. He is completing the iron triangle.

God save America.