Panelists discuss the president’s firing of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General C. Q. Brown.
Courtesy of Washington Week With The Atlantic
February 22, 2025, 9:51 AM ET
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Donald Trump abruptly fired the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force General C. Q. Brown, on Friday. Panelists on Washington Week With The Atlantic joined to discuss what the president’s move could mean for the U.S. military.
“Trump, in his first term, tried to assert control over the military in a way that went beyond what the commander in chief does, not just as a defense for the country against external enemies but as a tool, potentially, for internal use when he had domestic criticism,” Peter Baker said last night. “Clearly, there is a decision that C. Q. Brown is not someone [Trump] can trust to carry out his bidding.”
Whether Brown’s firing will be an isolated one, or the beginning of a “wholesale purge of generals,” remains unknown, Susan Glasser said. “Trump has made it very clear that he wants people who are loyal to him personally and not to the office, not to the Constitution,” she continued. Trump’s agenda “really suggests a politicization of the nonpartisan leadership of America’s armed forces if generals are being replaced on the basis of perceived political loyalty to the president.”
Meanwhile, Trump has also aligned with Russia’s Vladimir Putin on ending the war in Ukraine and has falsely blamed Ukraine for starting the conflict. Panelists discussed what’s behind the president’s pivot toward Putin.
Joining the editor in chief of The Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg, to discuss this and more: Peter Baker, the chief White House correspondent for The New York Times; Susan Glasser, a staff writer at The New Yorker; Jonathan Lemire, a contributing writer at The Atlantic and a co-host of Morning Joe on MSNBC.
Watch the full episode here.
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