He Was America’s Highest-Ranking Military Officer. Then Came the War on D.E.I.
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Why was General Brown's firing significant?
From The New York Times, I'm Michael Barbaro. This is The Daily. During his decades-long path to becoming America's highest-ranking military officer, General Charles Q. Brown won the crucial support of President Trump. Until that was, Brown publicly talked about the one subject that is now taboo in Trump's government — Today, Pentagon correspondent Helene Cooper on what got Brown fired and why it has so thoroughly rocked the military. It's Thursday, February 27th. Well, Helene, thank you for coming into the studio and thank you for making time for us.
Nice to be here, Michael.
What led to the 'Friday night massacre' at the Pentagon?
Aline, can you tell us about what is being described as the Friday night massacre inside the Pentagon that unfolded a few days ago? And why, even in the context of President Trump firing so many people across so many federal agencies, this felt different and important and worth singling out, which is, of course, what we're doing here in our conversation with you today.
Well, on Friday night, President Trump fired three very senior Pentagon officials. One of those people is the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Charles Q. Brown, known everywhere as C.Q. Brown, who is the highest-ranking military official in the country. This was known as the Friday night massacre at the Pentagon because it was so stunning for the simple reason that The American military is supposed to be apolitical. Like the FBI, the military is supposed to stay in place regardless of who the president is. Some of the greatest generals in history made a point of the fact that they didn't vote, like George Marshall. Even at one point, Ulysses S. Grant, back when he was a general fighting the Civil War, didn't vote in 1864 for the president.
This is a big deal in the military, and that's because you want a military that is not going to be the arm of a political party. So that's why what happened was so surprising.
So what explained that, as you have just described it, highly unusual decision to fire Brown?
Well, the story of how C.Q. Brown came to be fired by President Trump is really a story of perceived disloyalty. It's a story of a president who does not understand that the military is not supposed to be a political extension of himself. And it's a story of only the second black man to become chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff the military's highest-ranking officer, and his efforts to live and exist in his own skin, an effort that I think just ran afoul of Trump's own notions of loyalty and disloyalty.
Who is General C.Q. Brown and what is his military background?
Hmm. So in some sense, this is a story you're saying about loyalty and race. Yeah. Well, tell us that story of who C.Q. Brown is is in the kind of span of his career and how he and Trump's mind mishandles the question of race in a way that feels to Trump somehow disloyal.
Well, C.Q. Brown, as a kid, he was called Chuck, Chuck Brown. He's named after his father and grandfather. And he grew up in San Antonio, Texas, wanting to be an architect. His father, on the other hand, had been in the Army and really liked the idea of military service for his son. encouraged him to join the ROTC when he got to college. Brown joined the ROTC, but he wasn't very into it at first. He once told me until he went up in his first airplane. It was a T-37 twin engine, noisy airplane that pilots affectionately call Tweety Bird. He was hooked from that moment on. He wanted to be a pilot. Wow. Not everyone's normal path. No, no. Architect or fighter pilot. So he went on to join the Air Force and he became a fighter pilot. He flew F-16s throughout his career.
He led a squadron first and then continues to be promoted. He ends up at CENTCOM, Central Command. where he's like the number two at the Air Force there during the Iraq and Syria fights, where he gets a reputation of being very calm in the storm. One of his commanders at the time who said that, you know, whenever he walked out the door, there would be some crisis or another. And he'd say, who's in charge? And if somebody said CQ, he would calm down because he knew just how steady in a storm CQ Brown was. So he's built this reputation. He accumulates 130 combat flying hours. He's all over the world for the Air Force. And he eventually lands at Pacific Command, where he becomes the head of the United States Air Force in the Pacific.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
Why was General Brown's firing significant?
0:01–0:57
2
What led to the 'Friday night massacre' at the Pentagon?
0:57–3:26
3
Who is General C.Q. Brown and what is his military background?
3:26–8:07
4
How did the George Floyd incident affect C.Q. Brown's career?
8:07–11:03
5
What was the impact of Brown's video on the Pentagon?
11:03–15:05
6
How did C.Q. Brown's career progress under President Biden?
15:05–29:43
Speakers
5 identifiedMore from The Daily
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