A retired top general has landed a well-placed blow on President Trump and his use of the military.
Former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Charles Q. Brown, Jr., was one of three authors of an essay in the journal Foreign Affairs, published Friday, that slammed the politicization of the military.
Trump and his Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have tried to deploy the National Guard in blue cities, successfully in Washington, D.C., while simultaneously carrying out a purge of top generals.
Known for his balanced messaging and aversion to partisanship, Brown did not name Trump or Hegseth, but the targets of his words required little decoding.
“In the face of a genuine national disaster, the public will readily embrace the military’s help,” Brown wrote. “But when presidents use the armed forces for more politically contentious missions, such as addressing domestic crime in cities, the work of the military becomes more fraught.
“Resorting to a military solution rather than fixing the underlying incapacity or dysfunction in civilian institutions diverts the military from focusing on its primary combat mission,” he continued. “And as [George] Washington knew, it is not the military’s job to save the republic from political impasses. Indeed if you ask too much of the military, you risk the entire enterprise.”
The government has claimed that efforts to deploy the National Guard to the cities stemmed from a need to combat crime, but it was interpreted by many as a politicized show of strength, predominantly pulling service members from red states and deploying them in blue cities.
Last week, former pilot Brown also criticized the purge of top generals deemed surplus to Hegseth’s vision for the military, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Speaking at the Aspen Institute he said, “What is starting to happen now, it is not about merit. All of these people who are being removed are very well-experienced.”
Brown was nominated as Air Force chief of staff by Trump in 2020.
At the time, Trump patted himself on the back for nominating the “first-ever African-American military service chief.”
He also called Brown “a Patriot and Great Leader,” but things fell apart between the two men in Trump’s second term.
In between, President Joe Biden nominated him as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the country’s top military role, and in 2024, Hegseth questioned whether Brown’s ascension was due to the color of his skin.
In an appearance on the Shawn Ryan Show in November 2024, Hegseth said, “First of all, you’ve got to fire the chairman of the Joint Chiefs.
“Any general that was involved, general, admiral, or whatever, that was involved in any of that DEI woke s--t has got to go.”
In February last year, just weeks into MAGA’s return to power, Brown was fired.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House and the Defense Department for comment.
