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Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, retired Army National Guard lieutenant colonel and combat veteran of the Iraq War, wrote an op-ed for Fox News Sunday, outlining the dangers of President Donald Trump’s ongoing attack against U.S. military leadership and the federal government’s prioritization of loyalty to Trump over service to the country.
As the White House moved quickly to swear in retired Lt. Gen. Dan Caine as chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Duckworth called into question the legality of his appointment.
“Those aren’t the qualifications required by law to be the senior-most military officer in our Armed Forces. Federal law requires the chairman to be active duty and have served in any of three senior roles: vice chairman, service chief (except the Coast Guard) or commander of a combatant command. Caine fails to meet one of these,” she wrote.
And this is all true.
Trump’s only “national interest” in Caine’s nomination is that he supposedly told Trump that he “loves” him and would “kill” for him, which Caine has categorically denied ever saying.
“Which means either Caine lied—under oath—or that he told the truth and Trump has no justification,” Duckworth wrote in her op-ed.
Caine’s swearing in comes less than two months after Trump abruptly fired the previous chair, Air Force General Charles Quinton Brown Jr.
“By firing such an exemplary officer and replacing him with someone who President Trump—rightly or wrongly—believes declared fealty to him, our commander-in-chief is sending a dangerous message to the force that loyalty, not expertise or even a commitment to upholding the law, will be rewarded,” she wrote.
Duckworth also called Brown’s treatment by the Trump administration “disgraceful” but not unique.
Trump has fired at least 10 senior military officers under his racist DEI purge. Recently, he relieved Navy Vice Adm. Shoshana Chatfield, who was the U.S. military representative to NATO, and Air Force Gen. Tim Haugh, who oversaw the U.S. Cyber Command.
“Trump’s hiring decisions make a mockery of meritocracy, disrespect our service members’ sacrifices and do nothing to strengthen our force or our national security. Installing loyalists at the top of the military is the kind of thing autocrats do when they are trying to seize control of government,” Duckworth wrote.
Whether it’s the transparent loyalty test used to screen federal hires, Trump’s constant demands for groveling fealty from his Cabinet, or the fact that not a single person involved in the humiliating war plans leak, Duckworth’s warning remains unchallenged.
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