This is the most dangerous move yet

The canary is gasping for air

Friday Night Massacre

I constantly keep hearing how the latest outrage from Trump isn’t ‘the right hill to die on’ or the pitch we are waiting for. The smart people keep saying we can’t react to everything he does and not everything is the ‘canary in the coal mine’ for us to panic about.

Folks, that bird just hit the bottom of the cage.

Last night after business hours Donald Trump posted on his Truth Social account the firing of Chairman-of-the-Joint Chief’s General C.Q. Brown and replacement with recently retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Daniel ‘Razin’ Caine. The move had been signaled for some time but the naming of a retired officer that Trump has praised for years was a surprise.

That wasn’t the really dark part.

Shortly afterwards, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth issued a press release announcing that in addition to Brown they were relieving Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Lisa Franchetti, and Air Force Vice Chief of Staff General Jim Slife as well. Once again, it is absolutely shocking to see the first woman to lead a service fired but in the end wholly not surprising from the smearing of her we’ve seen for years from Hegseth and his MAGA bros.

Again, that wasn’t the really dark part.

Buried at the bottom of that press release was this tidbit.

“We are also requesting nominations for the Judge Advocates General for the Army, Navy, and Air Force.”

They fired the top lawyers of all three service branches.

That’s the really dark part.

The media has rightfully been chasing the firing of only the second black CJCS and first woman CNO. They are dutifully digging into the background of Trump’s favorite general "Raizin” Caine, but they are missing that Hegseth fired the three people responsible for telling them ‘no’ when they want to break the law.

I’m going to dive into some of the issues here that have me most concerned about this true ‘Friday Night Massacre’ of the United States Military. Namely, the cover story they are running to hide the ball, the significance of the removal of the top lawyers of the military services, and who is “Razin” Caine and the odd timing of his retirement, new career, and return to military service.

“Presidents have fired generals throughout history.”

We have been hearing rumors for weeks if not months that Trump would come in and fire C.Q. Brown and Lisa Franchetti. Hegseth has railed against them for years and the MAGA world hates both of them for having the audacity to discuss the challenges they faced as a black man in the armed services or for believing that diversity was a strength.

Any PR person could tell you that the messaging they would use to justify it would be historic examples of Presidents firing generals that went against their policies, and it was well within their rights in the law. I told many people that they would highlight Truman and even Obama to show how previous Commanders-in-Chief had acted to remove military leaders.

Right on cue…here is J.D. Vance.

They were always going to run this play. I am as outraged as anyone at the firing of three highly qualified and talented leaders who have dedicated their entire lives to serving the nation with professionalism and courage. None of the three officers fired have violated any laws, brought shame upon the service, or done anything to deserve this kind of disrespect and disgusting treatment.

However, I will leave others to go through their careers and lament the loss of talent. I will say that young officers are watching and they will walk with their feet. If you think that it is Trump’s military that will be white males only…I have bad news. It will weaken the United States military senior leadership for the next 20 to 40 years because the future flag officers of color and women are going to leave now.

Trump and Hegseth are doing generational damage to our national security.

This is all a trick play they planned. Remember in Ted Lasso when Ted teaches Jamie to play a distraction and ham it up?

“Look at me! Pass me the ball! I’m wide open!! PASS ME THE BALL!!”

Everyone marks Jaime and Obisanya scores the winning goal.

Jamie Tart working to win an Oscar

Guess what? C.Q. Brown and Lisa Franchetti are just Jamie Tart distractions. The scoring move for Trump and Hegseth was firing all of the lawyers.

Why fire the lawyers?

When I was the Public Affairs Officer for six different general officers in the latter part of my career in the Army, my best friend was always the Judge Advocate General of the command.

We were the bearers of bad news and the word “no” to our commanders. We were the ones that would walk into the office together and the boss would groan and say, “shit…now what?” It was a basic part of the job. You have to be able to stand up to a person who outranked you by multiple grades and say, “you can’t do this because it is illegal and the public will say X, Y, and Z.”

It’s a common refrain when judging JAGs if they are a “commander’s JAG” or not. What that means is a lawyer that has been in the thick of it and understands that rules of war, rules of engagement, and regulations are often opaque and need interpreting for the leaders and troops. A “commander’s JAG” would do that in a way that allowed us to conduct the mission as close to the edge of those things as possible.

In the end nearly every commander at some point is angry at their JAG for telling them they cannot do something or that their action will blow up in their face. There isn’t a commander in history who isn’t looking for a JAG that will allow them to do what they want with little interference.

The good JAGs are unafraid to speak truth to power and ensure the law is followed to the letter. Pete Hegseth hates those JAGs. This is a man that openly supported and campaigned for the pardons of multiple war criminals who were justifiably prosecuted and convicted based on evidence from fellow service members for the torture and murder of civilians in combat.

Hegseth bashed the military justice system repeatedly for years on behalf of his mythical belief in the “warfighter.” He has railed against the military justice system nearly constantly in books, on TV, and on podcasts.

Last night he fired all three of the top lawyers of the armed services. That is the dark part of this whole play. When you run out the reasons to fire the lawyers by a SecDef and President who do not respect the rule of law, it is clear that the intent is to remove barriers from breaking the laws and military regulations.

The obvious reason is usually the right one.

We know that Project 2025 and Agenda 47 both included references to enacting the Insurrection Act and using military forces to put down public protest and assist in mass deportations and interments. Lawyers with a loose relationship with the law would happily approve actions that skirt the letter of the law and provide legal cover for outrageous uses of our apolitical military against our own people.

Who do you think are the people that would have interpreted international law, military regulations, and treaty obligations when the military is ordered to carry out air strikes and raids in Mexico against the newly designated “international terrorist” drug cartels?

Who do you think will be advising the service chiefs on use of their forces for seizing the Panama Canal, Greenland, or the utterly comical, but entirely real chance of an invasion of Canada?

What about looking at the law and military regulations on the use of force against civilians? Remember, the former SecDef refused to order troops to shoot protestors in the legs under Trump’s first regime. I have no doubt that Hegseth with the right lawyers won’t share that restraint next time.

The three service JAGs that Pete Hegseth fired last night would have been the guard rails.

So, while everyone is justifiably angry at the firings of Brown, Franchetti, and Sliwe they are missing that Hegseth quietly removed one of the remaining barriers to enacting the most sinister aspects of the Project 2025 and Musk agendas: A non-compliant military.

They just need a Chairman of the Joint Chiefs who will happily advise the SecDef and President on their plans and provide a public face of compliance and support. We now know that Elon Musk, Peter Theil, and JD Vance are acolytes of Curtis Yarvin and his idea of a crypto and business-based network state.

Gil Duran lays it all out neatly here, ‘Reboot’ Revealed: Elon Musk’s CEO-Dictator Playbook.

Who would you install as the next Chairman? Is it even possible to find a general officer who is a MAGA believer, crypto bro, and will be willing to do whatever needs to be done?

Enter ‘Razin’ Caine.

Trump’s favorite ‘sir’ story of all time

For years now Trump has regaled the world with his famous ‘Sir’ stories. It’s always some big strong man straight out of central casting who comes up to Trump and says how amazing he is or has a tear in his eye thanking Trump. It’s become a cliche online he does it so often.

He’s always had one he loved the most. His favorite by far is the legend of “Raizin Caine” whom he met in Iraq and told him how easy it would be to defeat ISIS. Here he is sharing the second part of his favorite story at CPAC in 2019 after telling about how he loved his nickname.

Yes, the general whom Trump has lavished praise on for years was even brought up just at last year’s CPAC in this troubling story highlighted by the Daily Beast.

In his announcement of Caine, Trump took a swipe at Biden overlooking his favorite warfighter in his announcement saying, “despite being highly qualified and respected to serve on the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the previous administration, General Caine was passed over for promotion by Sleepy Joe Biden. But not anymore!”

We will start there. Caine is not highly qualified to serve on the Joint Chiefs of Staff. As a matter of fact, by letter of the current regulations he isn’t even qualified at all as he has missed key mandatory assignments and educational gateways that are necessary for service at the four-star level.

One example is that he has never actually commanded a large formation of combat forces like a wing or division in his career. He has also never served as a Vice Chief or chief of a service as has been tradition for decades prior to becoming Chairman of the Joint Chiefs.

On top of that, Caine actually took a break from Active Duty to serve in the National Guard from 2009 to 2016 where he worked in the private sector, including starting an airline that was acquired according to public records and reporting by the Washington Post.

It is incredibly difficult to reach the rank of general, and the odds of continuing on to achieve four stars is nearly infinitesimal. Anything that takes you off the “fast track” is a ding in your chances.

My own long term career was sidetracked when I decided to leave Active Duty after 13 years and join the Reserve in 2000. After 9/11, I volunteered to come back in but was counseled by the personnel branch that my chances of ever having a battalion command or reaching the rank of Colonel were almost zero due to my break in service. I accepted that and served for 8 more years before retiring as a Lt. Colonel.

Not so for Trump’s favorite general.

This is where it all gets even more odd. Caine spent three years at the CIA as the Associate Director for Military Affairs, meaning he was the intelligence agencies’ liaison with the military for coordinating operation and information exchange - a very important and serious job.

Serving at the rank of 3-star and above is based on position. To continue to serve, you must have another appointment to a position of equal rank and nominated by the President.

Typically an assignment at that level is for a two or four year term. Caine served at the CIA for three years and then retired. I assume he was not offered another role and decided to go to the private sector. But the timing of it all is what I find odd.

He only retired in December, after the election. A month later in January, he didn’t join an intelligence related company like Palantir or traditional defense contractor. No, he was brought on as an advisor or partner with not one but three different crypto-related investment firms and an advisory board for a space company.

Here is his LinkedIn as of this moment that the good folks at Capitol Hunters dug into. They took a look at these firms last night and came up with a fascinating analysis that I can’t confirm independently but will share here. They show some fascinating connections to Trump world, as well as the Thiel universe.

Did he already know that Trump planned to make him Chairman of the Joint Chiefs before all of this? When did he find out? What was the timeline from his decision to retire, hiring by these Trump/Kushner/Thiel world firms, and return to the military? Does he have any connections to Trump’s meme coin that made DJT untold millions just one day before taking office?

How much money did Caine make in two months?

We have to follow the money.

All of this is about money. Musk and his billionaire buddies aren’t doing any of this for altruism. They are removing barriers to untold billions of money for themselves and their favored partners. This is about creating unfettered and unchecked oligarchy with crypto and tech bros driving an unchecked economy for the rich.

Tying it all together

I am already seeing the ‘very smart people’ dismiss all of these concerns. It’s all simple. Hegseth hated these “DEI” generals and wanted to get rid of them. Trump is horny for his Hollywood general who loves him. The JAGs were fired because Hegseth hates JAGs and even called them “jagoffs” in his book.

I’ve been dropping old colleagues and friends from Facebook and elsewhere who have rolled in with the “well…those generals weren’t really doing their jobs very well by reasonable measures.”

Nothing to see here…just some light revenge and racism. Go back to sleep everyone. Nothing to see folks…move along.

No. I’m not going to look away.

We need answers to these questions and we need the Senate to do their damn jobs and ask these critical questions of Caine and the others. All of these positions are Senate confirmed jobs and they must be held to account.

I am not entertaining the old “the right hill to die on” arguments anymore. I have absolutely had it with the foolishness of many on our side constantly waiting for ‘the right pitch.’

The time is now. This is the game. Get in it.