As Donald Trump’s second term got underway, Gen. CQ Brown Jr. knew that his job was on the line, but he hoped to remain the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. To that end, he attended Trump’s inauguration ceremony in the Capitol rotunda as an apparent sign of support, and after the ceremony, the general told reporters that he planned to remain at his post.
The president had a different plan. As part of a broader military purge, Trump fired the country’s highest-ranking military officer in February and nominated Air Force Lt. Gen. Dan “Razin” Caine to replace Brown.
Roughly two months later, as The New York Times reported, the Senate confirmed the president’s choice.
The Senate’s lopsided 60-25 vote approving General Caine, who is retired, was expected. While Democrats had expressed concerns about the rash of firings at the Pentagon in Mr. Trump’s second term, General Caine garnered little opposition because the majority of them appeared to view him as perhaps the best possible option, given the circumstances.
The final confirmation vote came around 2 a.m. local time, and the nominee received 15 Democratic votes.
During his confirmation process, Caine conceded to senators, “I acknowledge that I’m an unconventional nominee.” That was true. As the Times reported in February, “General Caine retired with three stars, as a lieutenant general. By statute, anyone picked to be the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is supposed to have served as a combatant commander, as the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff or as the top uniformed officer of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps or Space Force.”
After the president tapped Caine for the job, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was asked why Trump chose an underqualified retired lieutenant general to be the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs. He replied, “I’m going to choose to reject your ‘underqualified’ question.”
As a statutory matter, Caine is quite literally unqualified for the position. A Washington Post report added that the general was “plucked from retirement and relative obscurity” to serve as the nation’s highest-ranking military officer.
As for why, exactly, Trump did this, there were apparently a few elements to the decision-making process. Right off the bat, the president really seemed to like the general’s name. “‘Razin’ Caine. I liked him right from the beginning,” the Republican said in late February. “As soon I heard his name, I said, ‘That’s my guy.’”
Days earlier, the Times reported that Trump passed over more obvious choices who did meet the requisite qualifications and went with Caine because he believed Joe Biden passed over Caine for a promotion. And if his Democratic predecessor didn’t support Caine, then Trump concluded that the retired general must be great. Finally, the president has also frequently told a story about meeting Caine at a military base, where the president was delighted to see Caine wearing a red “Make America Great Again” cap. During his confirmation hearing, Caine said, “I have never worn any political merchandise,” adding that he believed the president was confusing him with someone else. Nevertheless, as a recent Washington Post report noted, Caine has never overseen a branch of the armed forces, never led a major combatant command and never managed a division with thousands of troops in combat. Sixty senators nevertheless made him the nation’s top military officer.
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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