US defense secretary saw few political drawbacks in backing joint chiefs ouster
Source: The Guardian
The US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, saw few political consequences in supporting Donald Trump’s ouster of the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff because he never had the support of the senators who wanted Gen Charles Brown to remain in the role, advisers close to the secretary said.
The ramifications of Trump’s decision to fire Brown and seven other senior officials at the Pentagon took on new urgency on Thursday after five former defense secretaries, outraged at Trump’s firings, urged Congress to hold hearings and extract justifications for their dismissals under oath.
But people close to the defense secretary said Hegseth felt that some senators who voted against his nomination, like Susan Collins who pushed for Brown to stay in his role, could be ignored because Hegseth never had their support in first place.
That calculus appears to have come into play when Hegseth met with Trump on 14 February to discuss the personnel moves, broadly agreeing that they should not have a joint chiefs chair or any other senior official who was associated with the Biden administration.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/28/trump-hegseth-joint-chiefs-chair
It's always the same with these bastards, to hell with who can do the best job or has the most experience. All they care about is blind loyalty to their king.
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