Donald Trump made yet another high-profile personnel decision Friday, firing Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force Gen. "CQ" Brown Jr.—a vocal advocate for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), which Trump has promised to rid the government of—and is nominating Air Force Lt. Gen. Dan “Razin” Caine as his replacement.

The president took to social media to thank Brown for his service even as he was announcing his firing:

I want to thank General Charles “CQ” Brown for his over 40 years of service to our country, including as our current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He is a fine gentleman and an outstanding leader, and I wish a great future for him and his family.

Today, I am honored…

— Donald J. Trump Posts From His Truth Social (@TrumpDailyPosts) February 22, 2025

The post in full:

I want to thank General Charles “CQ” Brown for his over 40 years of service to our country, including as our current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He is a fine gentleman and an outstanding leader, and I wish a great future for him and his family. 

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. General Caine is an accomplished pilot, national security expert, successful entrepreneur, and a “warfighter” with significant interagency and special operations experience. 

During my first term, Razin was instrumental in the complete annihilation of the ISIS caliphate. It was done in record setting time, a matter of weeks. Many so-called military “geniuses” said it would take years to defeat ISIS. General Caine, on the other hand, said it could be done quickly, and he delivered. 

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! Alongside Secretary Pete Hegseth, General Caine and our military will restore peace through strength, put America First, and rebuild our military. Finally, I have also directed Secretary Hegseth to solicit nominations for five additional high level positions, which will be announced soon. Thank you for your attention to this matter!

What is the exact definition of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, you might ask. The position is used to synthesize military information for the president:

The role of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs was established in 1949 as an adviser to the president and secretary of defense, as a way to filter all of the views of the service chiefs and more readily provide that information to the White House without the president having to reach out to each individual military branch, according to an Atlantic Council briefing written by retired Maj. Gen. Arnold Punaro. The role has no actual command authority.

BREAKING: Trump just replaced Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Charles “CQ” Brown.

Dan Caine has been selected to replace him.

Woke is being removed from the military! pic.twitter.com/QuHawygLfj

— Gunther Eagleman™ (@GuntherEagleman) February 22, 2025

As we reported, Brown failed to notify Biden when then-Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin went AWOL for four days for a hospital procedure without bothering to tell his superiors.

Joint Chiefs Chairman Knew Austin Was Hospitalized and Didn't Tell the White House or the Service Chiefs

Rand Paul Reminds Critics of Hegseth's Planning to Ditch Military DEI Why It Matters

You mean the same CQ Brown who set an explicit goal of reducing the number of white male pilots in the Air Force? pic.twitter.com/xY2SbRHuAT

— Dale Stark (@DaleStarkA10) February 20, 2025

The writing was on the wall for Brown after it became clear during Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s confirmation hearings that he was no fan of the general’s emphasis on social justice rather than on lethality.

But Brown’s future was called into question during the Senate Armed Services Committee’s confirmation hearing for Hegseth last month. Asked if he would fire Brown, Hegseth responded bluntly, “Every single senior officer will be reviewed based on meritocracy, standards, lethality and commitment to lawful orders they will be given.” 

Hegseth has embraced Trump’s effort to end programs that promote diversity, equity and inclusion in the ranks and fire those who reflect those values. 

Hegseth had previously taken aim at Brown. “First of all, you gotta fire, you know, you gotta fire the chairman of Joint Chiefs,” he said flatly in a podcast in November. And in one of his books, he questioned whether Brown got the job because he was Black.

“Was it because of his skin color? Or his skill? We’ll never know, but always doubt — which on its face seems unfair to CQ. But since he has made the race card one of his biggest calling cards, it doesn’t really much matter,” Hegseth wrote.

News is also breaking tonight of further firings and personnel changes, including that Hegseth is removing Adm. Lisa Franchetti as the chief of naval operations. RedState will bring you more information as it becomes available.

Update 2/23/25 9:30 p.m. ET - This tweet came to my attention post-publication and I felt that it was imperative I add it: 

.@POTUS: "What's your name?"

"My name is Caine, sir."@POTUS: "What's your first name?"

"They call me 'Razin.'"@POTUS: "I said, 'Wait a minute. Your name is Razin Caine? I love you. I've been looking for you for five years!'"

😂🤣 pic.twitter.com/2aCs62Ispw

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) February 22, 2025