President Donald Trump on Friday fired Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Charles Brown Jr., replacing the four-star fighter pilot with John D. Caine, a retired three-star Air Force general.
“Today, I am honored to announce that I am nominating Air Force Lieutenant General Dan ‘Razin’ Caine to be the next Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “General Caine is an accomplished pilot, national security expert, successful entrepreneur, and a ‘warfighter’ with significant interagency and special operations experience.”
Trump and Caine struck up a relationship in Iraq in 2019, according to The New York Times. Trump has shared the story of their first meeting several times over the years, beginning at a 2019 CPAC event.
At last year’s CPAC, Trump again shared a story about Caine—this time stating that general told him: “I love you, sir. I think you’re great, sir. I’ll kill for you, sir.” But what really seemed to seal the deal for Trump was that Caine then allegedly put on a MAGA hat, despite military protocol prohibiting active-duty troops from donning any clothing with a political message.
Brown, the second African American to hold the position of the nation’s top military officer, had been in that role since Oct. 2023, replacing Gen. Mark Milley.
Prior to his appointment during the Biden administration, Brown had been Air Force chief of staff since 2020, with Trump writing at the time that he was “a Patriot and Great Leader.” In his post on Friday, Trump reiterated that Brown is “a fine gentleman and an outstanding leader.”
Trump’s decision to fire Brown had reportedly been supported by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth since at least November, with the former Fox News host saying on The Shawn Ryan Show that month that Brown had a “woke” interest in diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs.
The cabinet-level change comes as the Pentagon announced that it will fire about 5,400 civilian employees next week—the latest instance of layoffs across the federal government.
