MaddowBlog-Hegseth ousts the Army's top general, further destabilizing the military in the middle of a war [View all]

[LetMyPeopleVote]

“Firing senior officers for cause is one thing,” one expert said. “Firing them repeatedly … with no explanation is unprecedented in our nation’s history.”

The former television personality who leads the Pentagon keeps purging qualified military leaders — without cause — destabilizing the armed forces during a war.

Seems like a big deal.
www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2026-04-03T13:57:25.653Z

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/hegseth-ousts-the-armys-top-general-further-destabilizing-the-military-in-middle-of-a-war

It was a pointed reminder that Hegseth is not exactly open to engaging with military officials whose views differ from his own. On the contrary, he’s proved himself eager to purge the armed forces of those he deems unworthy — a campaign that’s ongoing. MS NOW reported:

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has fired Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George, removing the Army’s top officer in the latest shake-up of military leadership amid the war in Iran.

Hegseth asked George to step down and retire immediately, a Department of Defense official confirmed Thursday to MS NOW. Christopher LaNeve, a former Hegseth military aide, is expected to serve as acting chief of staff. CBS was the first to report the ousting. The Pentagon confirmed George’s departure Thursday in a social media post, without further detail.

George was not exactly a controversial figure. When the Senate confirmed the highly decorated general and combat veteran in 2023, the vote was 96-1.

Hegseth pushed him out anyway and then kept going. MS NOW confirmed that two other Army generals were fired alongside George: Gen. David Hodne, the head of Army Transformation and Training Command, and Maj. Gen. William Green Jr., the 26th chief of chaplains......

About a year ago, five former defense secretaries, including retired Gen. Jim Mattis, Donald Trump’s first defense secretary, condemned the pattern of firings as “reckless.” Their joint letter, addressed to Congress, asked the House and Senate to hold “immediate hearings to assess the national security implications” of the dismissals. Hegseth and the administration appear to have ignored those concerns; the purge is still going on; and GOP leaders on Capitol Hill have scheduled no such hearings.

Democratic Rep. Seth Moulton of Massachusetts, who served as a Marine officer in Iraq and now serves on the House Armed Services Committee, spoke to Politico about Hegseth’s purges, which the congressman described as politically motivated.

“That’s a recipe not just for a politicized military, but an authoritarian military,” Moulton said. “That’s the way militaries work in Russia and China and North Korea.”

The Massachusetts Democrat made those comments last May. The problem is far worse now.