Trump Fires Joint Chiefs Chair, Other DEI-Pushing Military Officials

President Donald Trump fired his Joint Chiefs of Staff chair and other DEI-pushing military officials on Friday night, marking a major step toward restoring lethality and efficiency to the Pentagon.

In a Truth Social post, the 47th president revealed that he is nominating Air Force Lt. Gen. Dan “Razin” Caine to replace Gen. Charles Q. Brown to lead the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Brown was previously promoted to the position by then-President Joe Biden in May 2023.

“General Caine is an accomplished pilot, national security expert, successful entrepreneur, and a ‘warfighter’ with significant interagency and special operations experience,” Trump wrote. “Alongside Secretary Pete Hegseth, General Caine and our military will restore peace through strength, put America First, and rebuild our military.”

Trump’s move is welcome news for Americans and service members concerned about the spread of neo-Marxist ideology throughout the military. Shortly after legacy media broke the news about his impending nomination, The Federalist first reported about Brown’s promotion of DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion), which military specialists and veterans have argued hampers the force’s overall readiness.

While participating in a virtual discussion hosted by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs in November 2020, Brown, then-chief of staff of the Air Force, indicated that “[a]t the higher level of the Air Force, diversity ha[d] moved to the forefront of personnel decisions such as promotions and hiring.” During the same event, the general also admitted to using his post to increase opportunities for so-called “diverse candidates” in the Air Force, saying he “hire[d] for diversity” when building his staff.

Brown’s remarks came months after he posted a video responding to the death of George Floyd, in which he questioned whether non-black airmen viewed racism as a problem. The former Joint Chiefs of Staff chair has also pushed back on Republican criticisms of DEI in the military and signed off on a 2022 Air Force memo directing the Air Force Academy and Air Education and Training Command to “develop a diversity and inclusion outreach plan” aimed at “achieving a force more representative of our Nation.”

But Brown wasn’t the only DEI-touting military official to get the pink slip on Friday night.

In his Truth Social post, Trump also said he had directed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to “solicit nominations for five additional high level positions,” which the president said would “be announced soon.” Not long afterward, Hegseth issued a press release revealing Navy Adm. Lisa Franchetti and Air Force Gen. James Slife had been removed from their positions as chief of naval operations and Air Force vice chief of staff, respectively.

Hegseth further disclosed that the administration is “requesting nominations for the Judge Advocates General for the Army, Navy and Air Force.”

“Under President Trump, we are putting in place new leadership that will focus our military on its core mission of deterring, fighting and winning wars,” the secretary wrote.

Much like Brown, Slife and Franchetti have not been shy about using their positions to promote DEI and other leftist ideology in the military.

As The Federalist previously reported, Slife authored a memo following the death of George Floyd, in which he espoused racialist jargon and claimed the matter was “an Air Force issue.”

“We’d be naive to think issues of institutional racism and unconscious bias don’t affect us,” Slife wrote. “We can’t ignore it. We have to face it. And to face it, we have to talk about it.”

Slife went on to contend that it’s important for the military to “listen to other perspectives and accept them as valid, but perhaps incomplete.” He also all but declared he has what leftists often refer to as “white privilege,” writing that he is “limited in [his] perspective” as a “middle-aged white man who grew up in a middle class family in a predominantly white area.”

Slife additionally encouraged service members to listen to “a series on the podcast ‘Scene on Radio’ called ‘Seeing White,’” which the then-lieutenant general claimed touched on so-called “institutional racism” in America. The “Scene on Radio’s” X, or Twitter, account indicates the podcast is extremely left-wing.

Meanwhile, Franchetti has participated in multiple military-sponsored events celebrating so-called “diversity” and “inclusion.”

In April 2023, the Navy admiral delivered video remarks at the Naval Surface Forces Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Summit, which focused on the issue of “connectedness.” She also spoke at a summer 2024 Navy conference in Norfolk, Virginia, in which she effectively argued that DEI is necessary for military success.

“I think that we’re strongest and most effective as a force when we build strong, inclusive, connected teams,” Franchetti reportedly said.

Franchetti also “[l]iked [a] LinkedIn post about gender bias and inequality,” according to the American Accountability Foundation.

Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood