What did Donald Trump do today?

He fired the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of staff, for no reason—at best.

Trump announced today that he was firing Air Force Gen. CQ Brown Jr. as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the highest position in the United States Armed Forces. Brown is the second Black officer to serve in that role or its equivalent in the history of the United States.

Trump gave no reason for the firing, but his new Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, had said before he was confirmed that "you gotta fire" Brown because, according to Hegseth, there was no way to know if Brown was actually qualified to serve.

Brown went through ROTC, then was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Air Force in 1985 after receiving a degree in engineering aeronautical engineering from Texas Tech. He later earned a master's degree in aeronautical engineering from Embry-Riddle University. He was an F-16 pilot and instructor, logging more than 2,900 hours and 130 in combat. He qualified on sixteen different aircraft in total. Brown served in a variety of senior staff roles in the Air Force: he was the second to the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, the director of the unit reporting to the Secretary of the Air Force, and deputy director of operations and later deputy commander of CENTCOM. Prior to becoming a general officer, he commanded fighter squadrons and fighter wings, and has been deployed to commands in Asia, Africa, and Europe. His first role as a brigadier general was command of a fighter wing at Aviano Air Base in Italy, and he subsequently served as director of operations, strategic deterrence, and nuclear integration for the Air Force's European command. After his tour at CENTCOM, he took command of the United States Pacific Air Forces. Trump himself appointed Brown Chief of Staff of the Air Force in 2020, and he was confirmed 98-0. 

Hegseth is a former Fox News weekend host. He served in the Minnesota Army National Guard at irregular intervals. He volunteered for active duty in Iraq in 2005, after Baghdad had come fully under American occupation, and served as a public relations officer. He also worked for, and was fired from, two different veterans' organizations.

It is rare for a Joint Chiefs chair to be fired, much less for no stated reason. Normally, the role would pass to the next officer in line, in this case Navy Admiral Christopher Grady. Trump instead appointed an officer who, under the relevant law, has none of the required experience, and had to be issued a waiver. Trump didn't explain this either, but he has made clear that he will be vetting officers for personal loyalty to him.

UPDATE:  Shortly after the Brown announcement, Hegseth also fired the Navy's top officer, Admiral Lisa Franchetti, again without explanation. 

Trump also purged the top legal officials in three branches of the military. Judge Advocates General (JAGs) "serve as a conscience of the military and a moral guide as to what’s right and wrong."

According to two members of his own staff, Trump places such a premium on personal loyalty above all else that during his first term he complained he didn't have "the kind of generals Hitler had. People who were totally loyal to him, that follow orders."

Why does this matter?

• United States military officers take an oath to defend the Constitution, not to personally serve the president, which normally doesn't worry presidents.

• Replacing a Black officer with a white one who is literally, by law, unqualified, is not the best way to show that you are only worried about qualifications and not race.

• If Dan Hegseth can't tell whether CQ Brown had an outstanding career because Brown isn't white, he's even less qualified to run the Defense Department than he looks.