MAGA Military Purge in Pursuit of Ideological Purity
So, apparently they've been telegraphing that they were going to shit can the now former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff for awhile the Atlantic article linked below mentions how Hegseth had essentially been "just asking questions" about whether he got the position because he was Black. Instead of promoting any of the current four-star generals, they promoted a retired three-star. Here's what that article has to say about him:
"Trump apparently met Caine on a trip to Iraq in 2018. The president later recalled that first meeting during remarks at the Conservative Political Action Conference in 2019. He claimed that Caine—call sign “Razin” Caine—was insistent that ISIS could be defeated in a week, if America committed enough force to the effort. Trump said that Caine then donned a MAGA cap, and said: “‘I love you, sir. I think you’re great, sir. I’ll kill for you, sir.’” Trump added that he told Caine he was not allowed to do that, “but they did it.”"
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/02/cq-brown-and-friday-night-massacre/681803/
If that isn't a bastard thing to say, and something that should be immediately disqualifying for the position, then I don't know what is. What's even more terrifying is that they also fired the top three judge advocate generals, y'know the guys who are supposed to help officers know whether their orders are lawful or not, and they're telegraphing that they will be firing more.
I have no experience in the armed forces, and any family members that had served are now deceased, so it's not really like I have any special insight here, but given the stated desire of Hegseth for a domestic crusade against everybody to his left, and Trump's utter disregard for posse comitatus and desire to use the military against BLM protesters, it certainly seems like this could make things go from bad to worse.
On a slightly unrelated note, did you know that the period of social unrest preceding the Haymarket Square Riot was known as the Great Upheaval? From what I understand it kind of started around the time of a railroad strike in 1877, and then culminated with some more strikes and then the Haymarket Affair. I haven't done a ton of research on it yet, so I'd love to hear from people who know more about it than I do, but I bring it up because it certainly feels like America is on the brink of another Great Upheaval. Who knows what snappy name historians will eventually settle on for this period, though. Maybe after all the damage is done, if we're able to get reforms through that end the horrors of late capitalism, people looking back on this period will call it the end of the enshittocene.