On Saturday's edition of MSNBC's The Weekend, former CIA Director and current MSNBC analyst John Brennan claimed it was "absurd" to suggest that President Trump fired C.Q. Brown, who Biden had appointed Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, because he had a woke agenda.
Absurd? Really? After the death of George Floyd in 2020, Brown put out a video in which he focused on his own trials and tribulations as an African-American, and concluded by saying that he wanted "to lead and listen to necessary conversations on racism, diversity, and inclusion."
In 2022, Brown co-signed a Memorandum that began by stating that "diversity and inclusion are an essential part of our society and key to the success of any organization. As such, it is imperative that the composition of our Military Services better reflect our Nation's highly talented, diverse, and eligible population."
The Memorandum laid out quotas explicitly reducing the percentage of whites in the Air Force, and ordering the Memorandum's recipients to "develop a diversity and inclusion plan aimed at achieving these goals no later than 30 September 2022."
And then there was this article: "Biden's pick to lead Joint Chiefs of Staff led DEI efforts at Air Force," which included this [emphasis added]:
"Brown has been a major backer of the DEI efforts at the Air Force, which has joined other branches in embracing the DEI agenda. The Air Force launched a Diversity and Inclusion Task Force in September 2020, and Brown said in the fall of 2020 that DEI was a key point of recruiting and a factor in promotions. "'I hire for diversity, because they all bring a different perspective, which makes my decisions that much better, because I hear different sides of the argument.'"
There was one ambiguous but potentially very troubling statement made by co-host Michael Steele. After co-host Symone Sanders mentioned that Hamas had finally turned over the body of Shiri Bibas, whose two children Hamas had murdered, after initially delivering to Israel a body that was not Shiri, Steele said:
"In light of this news, and the ongoing release of hostages, some of the hiccups that occurred last week, the disruption that we see here domestically at home and now starting to play out overseas with our European allies."
Could Steele conceivably have been dismissing as "hiccups" not only Hamas's initial failure to turn over Shiri's body, but the grotesque atrocity of Hamas arranging a celebration in which the caskets of her murdered children were paraded past crowds of cheering Gazans?
Here's the transcript.
MSNBC
The Weekend
2/22/25
8:01 am ETSYMONE SANDERS: Trump also fired Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman C.Q. Brown Jr. late last night. He was our nation's highest-ranking military officer.
Joining us now is former CIA Director and MSNBC Senior national security and intelligence analyst John Brennan.
I will just note on the Israeli hostage release, the body of Shiri Bibas was handed over, and again, the release of six more hostages is underway.
. . .
MICHAEL STEELE: Director Brennan, you know, in light of this news, and the ongoing release of hostages, some of the hiccups that occurred last week, the disruption that we see here domestically at home and now starting to play out overseas with our European allies.
You have the firing of C.Q. Brown as the Chairman of our Joint Chiefs. Noting Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth called Brown on Friday evening to inform him he was being fired, according to a Defense official.
During a November interview, Hegseth said that if confirmed, he would immediately fire Brown, arguing that the general had pushed a woke agenda. To replace Brown, he's looking to nominate Air Force Lieutenant General Dan Raisin' Caine, who Hegseth notes is someone who embodies the war fighter ethos, and exactly the leader we need to meet in the moment.
What does this look like from your perspective, given the onslaught against agencies in our government now touching Department of Defense? European allies looking at this, what do they see? And what should we expect from someone like Lieutenant General Kaine in this new role?
JOHN BRENNAN: I think a lot of folks look at this as a very haphazard period of time for the U.S. government, in terms of Donald Trump is dismantling a lot of the institutions of the executive branch. He's dismantling the leadership that has existed, basically saying that anybody who was working before in the government is somebody who is not going to be on my team unless they demonstrate full fealty.
And so I think our allies and partners around the globe are just watching, quite frankly, in horror at what's happening here in this country.
And so C.Q. Brown is a very accomplished individual who really rose through the ranks. and really has a storied career in many respects. And to say that he is being removed because of a woke agenda within the Department of Defense I think is just absurd.