In modern American politics, most candidates, especially those seeking national leadership positions, tend to go out of their way to show respect and appreciation for the U.S. military. Donald Trump has long taken a dramatically different task, including during much of the 2024 campaign, when the Republican condemned his own country’s military leaders in striking terms.
Indeed, a month before Election Day, he said during an interview, “The military is bad. We have generals that do such a bad job.” In the same interview, Trump went on to complain that U.S. military leaders “never get fired.”
Evidently, he meant it. The Associated Press reported:
U.S. Navy Vice Adm. Shoshana Chatfield, the only woman on NATO’s military committee, was fired over the weekend by the Trump administration, U.S. officials said Monday. Although no reason was given, officials said it was apparently tied to comments she has made that supported diversity in the force.
The AP’s account noted that Chatfield was notified of her ouster by Adm. Christopher Grady, the acting chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who told the admiral that the Trump administration wanted to “go in a different direction.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reportedly made the decision, and the AP report noted that it’s “unclear whether he received any direction” from the president.
While there’s ample precedent for military leaders being fired for cause, there’s no indication that Chatfield, a decorated helicopter pilot and the first woman to lead the Naval War College, did anything wrong or was falling short in her duties in any way.
So why was she removed from her post? According to The Washington Post, Chatfield had been targeted by a conservative group called the American Accountability Foundation, which lobbied Hegseth for her removal, pointing to a 2015 speech in which Chatfield said that “our diversity is our strength.”
And in 2025, such a sentiment is apparently beyond the pale.
The developments were not well received among Democrats on Capitol Hill. In fact, Rep. Adam Smith of Washington, the ranking member on the House Armed Services Committee, said in a statement, “Yet again, President Trump has fired a military officer serving in a role that is critical to maintaining U.S. national security and national defense with no explanation given for the person’s removal. … The lack of information regarding VADM Chatfield’s removal is unacceptable, as is the apparent lack of planning for her successor.
“Yet again, our country is less safe because of President Trump’s actions.”
Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, added, “Trump’s relentless attacks on our alliances and his careless dismissal of decorated military officials make us less safe and weaken our position across the world.”
But as the dust settles on the Chatfield news, it’s also worth appreciating the degree to which this reflects an intensifying Republican purge of U.S. military leaders. Indeed, the admiral’s ouster comes just days after Trump also removed Air Force Gen. Timothy Haugh, who was both the head of U.S. Cyber Command and the director of the National Security Agency. Officials didn’t elaborate as to why Haugh had to go, but the decision followed a private meeting between Trump and a fringe conspiracy theorist who had some recommendations about the administration’s national security team. Trump has also ousted Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., who was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Gen. James Slife, former vice chief of staff of the Air Force; Lt. Gen. Joseph B. Berger III, the Army’s top military lawyer; and Lt. Gen. Charles Plummer, the Air Force’s top military lawyer. Of particular interest, however, is the president’s apparent eagerness to target women in key military leadership positions. In fact, on the first day of the Republican’s second term, he fired Adm. Linda Fagan, the commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard, evicting her from her home with three hours of notice. The fact that Fagan was a four-star admiral and the first woman to lead a branch of the military apparently meant very little to the president who ousted her. The New York Times noted, meanwhile, that the same list also includes Adm. Lisa Franchetti, Lt. Gen. Jennifer Short, and now, Chatfield. Several weeks ago, five former defense secretaries — including retired Gen. Jim Mattis, Trump’s first defense secretary — condemned the administration’s military firings as “reckless.” Their joint letter, addressed to Congress, asked that the House and the Senate hold “immediate hearings to assess the national security implications” of Trump’s dismissals. “Mr. Trump’s dismissals raise troubling questions about the administration’s desire to politicize the military and to remove legal constraints on the president’s power,” they said in the letter. “Talented Americans may be far less likely to choose a life of military service if they believe they will be held to a political standard.” Trump appears to have ignored their concerns, and GOP leaders on Capitol Hill have scheduled no such hearings.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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