The impending return of Donald Trump as Commander in Chief has caused some Pentagon officials to fear one of his first changes will be to replace current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. C.Q. Brown, Politico reported on Friday.
During Trump’s first term, conflict arose between the White House and the Pentagon during the riots of 2020 over the Insurrection Act which Trump wanted to invoke to bring order to civil unrest. One of Trump’s chief critics was C.Q. Brown, then chief of staff of the Air Force, who has spoken publicly about his rise as a Black man in the military and has been a staunch supporter of diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives (DEI).
“There is some anxiety,” one current Department of Defense official said to the outlet on a condition of anonymity. “I think they are immediately worried,” the official said of Brown’s team.
Last month, Trump posted a campaign video in which the president-elect promised to make a Trump-led military more like those seen in the 1987 film “Full Metal Jacket” and not like those showcasing pride month and transgender soldiers.
"We will not have a woke military!” Trump posted on X. The spot ends with the tagline “Let’s make our military great again.”
Two individuals in the Trump transition team said that Brown has long been a thorn in the side of congressional Republicans who had accused the current Pentagon brass of being more focused on DEI and less on building an effective military.
“He’s a DEI/woke champion,” a second DOD official said. “Can imagine he’ll [Brown] be gone quite quickly.”
Reached for comment by Politico, Trump transition spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said, “The American people re-elected President Trump because they trust him to lead our country and restore peace through strength around the world. When he returns to the White House, he will take the necessary action to do just that.”