More sludge from the bottom of the pit
A Mighty Girl writes:
This Veterans Day, we’re paying special tribute to Admiral Lisa Franchetti and Admiral Linda Fagan, the two highest serving women in the military until they were both fired from their historic commands by the Trump administration with no explanation or justification. Former Coast Guard Commandant Linda Fagan, a four-star admiral, 40-year veteran, and the first woman to lead a military branch, was fired by Trump on Inauguration Day as one of his first acts in office. In February, Pete Hegseth — arguably the least qualified Defense Secretary in modern history — then fired Admiral Lisa Franchetti — a four-star admiral and the first woman to lead the Navy. These abrupt firings represented just the beginning of Trump and Hegseth’s sweeping military leadership purge — condemned by one military expert as “squandering an enormous amount of talent” and treating decorated officers with shocking disregard after their lifelong commitment to serving the American people.
Admiral Linda Fagan was sworn in as the Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard in 2022, becoming the first woman to lead the Coast Guard in its 234-year history. During her 40 years with the Coast Guard, prior to becoming commandant, she has served on all seven continents; spent 15 years as a Marine Inspector; commanded Sector New York, controlling all Coast Guard operations in the New York metropolitan area and Albany; and served as the Coast Guard’s second-in-command as well as the commander of the Coast Guard Pacific Area.
After being fired by Trump on his first day in office, she was then abruptly evicted from her house at Joint Base Anacostia Bolling with just three hours of notice. She wasn’t even given enough time to gather her personal effects and household goods even though Coast Guard leaders had granted her 60 days to find new housing. According to Homeland Security officials, the unnecessarily swift and cruel eviction was because, as the base’s acting commandant was told, “the president wants her out of quarters.”
Shortly after Fagan’s eviction, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem moved into the Coast Guard commandant’s home at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling. Military experts have noted this unprecedented pattern of Trump administration officials taking over housing traditionally reserved for senior military officers, as Secretary of State Marco Rubio and presidential adviser Stephen Miller have also done by moving onto military bases, as yet another concerning erosion of the boundaries between political appointees and military leadership.
Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the first woman to lead the Navy, spent roughly half of her 40-year long career at sea, rising to command the destroyer U.S.S. Ross, and later a destroyer squadron, two aircraft carrier strike groups, all naval forces in Korea and the U.S. Sixth Fleet. She became the 33rd chief of naval operations in 2023, making her the first woman to serve as a permanent member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Ironically, this highly respected military leader with decades of distinction was fired by a former Fox News TV host with no senior military command experience, no experience managing large organizations, and no previous government service at any level. Hegseth’s only notable ‘qualification’ is his absolute loyalty to Trump.
It’s old news now but it’s stomach-turning.
Arguably? There’s someone else who was arguably a worse SecDef?
Colin, that’s a tough field that includes Robert McNamara, Don Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney. I realize it’s still early days, but Hegseth is way behind in body count.
Sumi, fair enough. But McNamara, Rumsfeld, and Cheney had some awareness of the need for logistics and maintaining alliances. Hegseth seem to believe we can win wars on sheer manliness.
If these two women were “DEI hires”, then the United States should be doing more of that rather than less. That their years of dedication, service, and duty should be ended by the likes of talentless, know-nothing hacks like Trump and Hegseth is a travesty. At some point (if that point hasn’t already been reached) the military and civil service brain drain under the Trump junta is going to cost them much more than the “loyalty” was ever going to be worth, and will take decades to undo, if there are decades to undo it in.
I fear this pit has no bottom. It is an infinite pit. Their depths are unplumbable. They are abyssally abysmal. Every “worst” is just a new sub-sub-sub-basement to dig through and exceed.
I take it these 2 people are real women rather than trans women, since this was mentioned neither in the quoted article or commentary by Ophelia.
If they were trans women they might still have been competent officers.