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‘Accelerated Autocracy’: Why Hegseth’s Firing of Top Military Attorneys Is Raising Alarms

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President Donald Trump’s Friday night firing of the nation’s highest-ranking military official, coupled with U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s sweeping purge of senior military leaders and top military attorneys—removing a total of six of the Defense Department’s most experienced officials—has sparked serious concern among experts.

On Friday night, Trump terminated the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Charles Q. Brown, from his four-year appointed term. No reason was given.

Immediately after, Secretary Hegseth dismissed Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the chief of the Navy, and Air Force Vice-Chief General James Slife.

He also fired all three of the Judge Advocates General (JAGs, or TJAGs), the top attorneys for the Army, Navy, and Air Force — a move some experts say should be the greatest cause for concern.

READ MORE: ‘I’m — We Are the Federal Law’: Trump Blasted for Attack on Dem Governor

On “Fox News Sunday,” Secretary Hegseth explained his reasoning for the JAG firings.

“We want lawyers who give sound constitutional advice,” Hegseth told host Shannon Bream. “And don’t exist to attempt to be roadblocks to anything that happens in their spots.”

As Law & Crime reports, “Bream brought up an X post, specifically, from Georgetown Law professor Rosa Brooks, which said: ‘In some ways that’s even more chilling than firing the four stars. It’s what you do when you’re planning to break the law: you get rid of any lawyers who might try to slow you down.'”

Indeed, The New York Times calls the firings “an opening salvo” in Hegseth’s “push to remake the military into a force that is more aggressive on the battlefield and potentially less hindered by the laws of armed conflict.”

“Mr. Hegseth, in the Pentagon and during his meetings with troops last week in Europe, has spoken repeatedly about the need to restore a ‘warrior ethos’ to a military that he insists has become soft, social-justice obsessed and more bureaucratic over the past two decades.”

Experts on the law, the military, and authoritarianism and democracy are raising the alarm.

“The purge of senior officers at DOD is deeply troubling, but purging JAG officers worries me the most,” warned U.S. Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO), a former Army Captain who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. “JAG officers interpret law for our commanders. They help determine what’s lawful and constitutional. Replacing these military lawyers with [Trump] loyalists is so dangerous.”

Professor of history Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a scholar of fascism and authoritarian leaders, responded to Hegseth’s “roadblocks” remark:

“Well that is the truth. All of this is a process of rearranging government for an accelerated transition from democracy to autocracy. That includes a new domestic role for the military and new autocratic allies abroad.”

U.S. Senator Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), a former CIA analyst and Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, called the firings a “purge of senior officers who have served with distinction on the battlefield and off,” and said it “should send a shiver down the spine of any American who cares about an apolitical military.”

“No matter how they try and spin it,” she added, Trump and Hegseth “have brought their political retribution to the very warfighters they claim to care about. And we are no safer for it.”

Describing the firings as “an unprecedented shakeup of senior military leadership,” Associate Professor of Law Mark Nevitt—a former Distinguished Military Professor of Leadership and Law at the U.S. Naval Academy—warns at Just Security of “Trump’s purge of apolitical career officers.”

READ MORE: Trump’s USPS Takeover Plan a ‘Reckless Power Grab’ Endangering Mail-In Voting: Critics

“Make no mistake,” Nevitt writes in a lengthy and detailed explainer, “these firings are extraordinary and destabilize a longstanding norm of separating uniformed military members from politics. It is not an overstatement to characterize these firings as unprecedented and dangerous. What’s more, this purge is occurring against a backdrop of massively complex national security challenges in Ukraine, the Middle East, and beyond.”

On Trump’s firing of the JAG lawyers, Kevin Barron, the founding executive editor of Defense One writes: “Trump is also replacing the military’s top lawyers, who swear to defend the Constitution, with loyalists who will defend him. That’s Hegseth building in pure cover fire for ‘King’ Trump. If Trump has automatic SCOTUS immunity, so could his retribution orders to the military.”

Fred Wellman is a graduate of West Point and the Harvard Kennedy School, an Army veteran of 22 years who served four combat tours, and is now a political consultant and the host of the podcast and Substack newsletter,  “On Democracy.”

“They fired the top lawyers of all three service branches. That’s the really dark part,” Wellman declared, referring to the JAG firings. “This is the most dangerous move yet,” he wrote, calling it a “Friday Night Massacre.”

“When I was the Public Affairs Officer for six different general officers in the latter part of my career in the Army, my best friend was always the Judge Advocate General of the command,” Wellman explained. “The good JAGs are unafraid to speak truth to power and ensure the law is followed to the letter. Pete Hegseth hates those JAGs. This is a man that openly supported and campaigned for the pardons of multiple war criminals who were justifiably prosecuted and convicted based on evidence from fellow service members for the torture and murder of civilians in combat.”

Wellman appears to suggest that firing the JAG attorneys could precede possible enactment of the Insurrection Act.

“When you run out the reasons to fire the lawyers by a SecDef and President who do not respect the rule of law, it is clear that the intent is to remove barriers from breaking the laws and military regulations,” he said. “The obvious reason is usually the right one.”

“We know that Project 2025 and Agenda 47 both included references to enacting the Insurrection Act and using military forces to put down public protest and assist in mass deportations and interments. Lawyers with a loose relationship with the law would happily approve actions that skirt the letter of the law and provide legal cover for outrageous uses of our apolitical military against our own people.”

And he suggests those three fired JAG lawyers could have been the “guardrails” to stop a possible invasion of Mexico, Canada, Greenland, or Panama — or the use of the military against American citizens, should Trump choose to do so.

“Who do you think are the people that would have interpreted international law, military regulations, and treaty obligations when the military is ordered to carry out air strikes and raids in Mexico against the newly designated ‘international terrorist’ drug cartels?” Wellman posits. “Who do you think will be advising the service chiefs on use of their forces for seizing the Panama Canal, Greenland, or the utterly comical, but entirely real chance of an invasion of Canada?”

“What about looking at the law and military regulations on the use of force against civilians? Remember, the former SecDef refused to order troops to shoot protestors in the legs under Trump’s first regime. I have no doubt that Hegseth with the right lawyers won’t share that restraint next time.”

Watch the video above or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Played Like a Fiddle’: RFK Jr. Signals Plan to Renege on Confirmation Commitments

 

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‘Impossible to Lose’: Trump Pitches Strategy to Cement One-Party Rule

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18 minutes ago

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November 7, 2025

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President Donald Trump renewed his demand that Republican senators eliminate the 60-vote filibuster, which he sees as one of the biggest roadblocks to achieving his far-reaching agenda. Now, he said he wants to eliminate the filibuster as a way to ensure permanent Republican control of the government.

The president has been calling for senators to act, despite Senate Majority Leader John Thune’s strong opposition to invoking the “nuclear option.”

In a lengthy Truth Social post last week, Trump expressed his agenda.

“It is now time for the Republicans to play their ‘TRUMP CARD,’ and go for what is called the Nuclear Option — Get rid of the Filibuster, and get rid of it, NOW!” he declared.

READ MORE: Trump Admin Starts Setting Stage for Recession — and Shifting the Blame

He warned that Democrats want to “substantially expand (PACK!) the United States Supreme Court, make Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico States (Thereby automatically picking up 4 Senate seats, many House seats, and at least 8 Electoral Votes!), and many other highly destructive things.”

“Well, now WE are in power, and if we did what we should be doing, it would IMMEDIATELY end this ridiculous, Country destroying ‘SHUT DOWN.'”

Trump then admitted: “I want to do it in order to take advantage of the Democrats….”

Trump has repeated his call to end the filibuster several times since then, most recently on Friday afternoon.

“The Democrats will do this,” he said of killing the filibuster, “so if the Democrats are gonna do it, I’m saying Republicans should do it before they get a chance.”

“It’s very simple,” Trump explained.

READ MORE: Democratic Rep. Interrupts Speaker Johnson — Accuses Him of ‘Lies’

“And if we do it, we will never lose the midterms, and we will never lose the general election, because we will have produced so many different things for our people — for the people, for the country — that it would be impossible to lose an election.”

Critics quickly weighed in with warnings.

“I thought the vice president Vance statement about ignoring judges would be it for today,” wrote The Steady State, a group of over 350 former national security and intelligence officials, referring to JD Vance’s apparent suggestion to ignore a federal judge’s order to release about $6 billion in SNAP funds.

“President Trump went a little farther in terms of crossing yet another red line,” the group continued, “explaining why he wants [the] filibuster gone he is very clear. One party rule. Elections that he and his never lose —— that is autocracy.”

READ MORE: ‘Make Lots of Trump Babies’: Dr. Oz Highlights Midterm Goals

 

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‘Unique Action’: Trump Admin Spins Flight Cancellations as Fix for Traveling Frustration

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3 hours ago

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November 7, 2025

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U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy sought Friday to cast a positive light on the Federal Aviation Administration’s order requiring airlines to cut ten percent of flights at 40 major airports — a move prompted by overworked air traffic controllers who have gone weeks without pay as the government shutdown stretches into its 38th day with no immediate end in sight.

More than 800 flights nationwide were canceled on Friday, leaving some travelers “scrambling to figure out backup plans,” the Associated Press reported.

But According to Secretary Duffy, he has come up with a “unique action” that reduces a major frustration of air travel: flight delays.

READ MORE: Trump Admin Starts Setting Stage for Recession — and Shifting the Blame

“I asked the head of the air traffic controller union to reach out to his controllers, to ask them to show up. It is their jobs,” Duffy said on Friday.

“If they start coming to work, we may have the same experience we had in Newark: We had delays and cancellations in Newark in the early summer. We reduced the capacity, and then the flights were on time. Right?”

“It was the most on-time months we had in Newark ever,” he added. “So that could be an outcome of what we’re doing, and we’ll see probably more people on less flights, which means less pressure on controllers.”

READ MORE: ‘Make Lots of Trump Babies’: Dr. Oz Highlights Midterm Goals

Secretary Duffy also said, “There’s a very easy solution to the problem that they put directly on my lap, which is open the damn government. Vote to open the government, so those who snipe at me for having to take really unique action — they put that on my plate.”

Critics blasted Duffy.

Republican former U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger wrote: “Cutting flights because of the govt shutdown is a stunt, plain and simple.”

He also remarked, “We’re cutting flights and food because of the govt shutdown but ICE is out [in] full force!”

READ MORE: Democratic Rep. Interrupts Speaker Johnson — Accuses Him of ‘Lies’

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Trump Admin Starts Setting Stage for Recession — and Shifting the Blame

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6 hours ago

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November 7, 2025

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The Trump administration has begun quietly preparing Americans for the possibility that the economy may be nearing a recession — a broad and painful downturn that officials appear increasingly concerned may be on the horizon.

Economist Kevin Hassett, director of the Trump White House’s National Economic Council, on Friday laid both the groundwork and the blame for any impending recession.

“There’s holiday travel, but there’s business travel,” he told Fox Business’ Maria Bartiromo, as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) cut ten percent of flights — about 700 — in 40 high-volume markets across the country as air traffic controllers, who have not been paid in weeks due to the federal government shutdown, are increasingly overworked and under financial strain.

“Business travel is a really big, important part of air travel, and if ten percent of business travel isn’t happening, those are deals that aren’t being cut, and hotel rooms that aren’t being filled,” Hassett explained. “And so the ripple effects, and then the multiplier effects of all that, are really, really large.”

READ MORE: ‘Make Lots of Trump Babies’: Dr. Oz Highlights Midterm Goals

“And so I think Secretary Bessent wisely said we’re starting to see pockets of the economy that look like they might be in a recession, that we’re not in a recession because of this, but there are pockets that are really hurting,” he added. “And if we go another month or so, then who knows how bad the economy could be this quarter?”

“And we know whose fault that will be,” Hassett said.

Hassett was referring to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s remarks earlier this week.

“I think that there are sectors of the economy that are in recession,” Bessent said on CNN on Sunday, as The New York Times reported.

“He described the economy as being in a ‘period of transition’ because of a pullback in government spending to reduce the deficit,” the Times added. “He called on the Fed[eral Reserve] to support the economy by cutting interest rates.”

The Times also explained the White House’s strategy:

“Mr. Bessent’s remarks added to pressure on the Fed and deflected blame from Mr. Trump in case the economy does ultimately face a downturn, reinforcing a strategy that has been in place since the start of the year. As the administration has imposed aggressive tariffs on nearly all of America’s trading partners and slashed federal spending, potentially slowing growth, it has sought to pin blame squarely on the Fed in the event of an economic downturn.”

READ MORE: Democratic Rep. Interrupts Speaker Johnson — Accuses Him of ‘Lies’

But Hassett’s remarks appeared focused on pinning the blame for a possible recession on the shutdown of the federal government, which Republicans and the White House insist is the fault of Democrats.

President Donald Trump has railed against the Democrats over the shutdown, while increasingly demanding the Senate end it by going “nuclear” and eliminating the upper chamber’s 60-vote threshold for the filibuster, opting instead for a simple majority of votes to pass legislation.

For example, on Tuesday in a Truth Social post, President Trump vowed to hold up SNAP funds despite court orders, writing that food stamp benefits “will be given only when the Radical Left Democrats open up government, which they can easily do, and not before!”

READ MORE: ‘Sick’: Hunger Caucus Head Slams GOP for ‘Starving Children’ by ‘Weaponizing’ SNAP

 

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