Marshall purged the top ranks of old, ineffective generals just prior to World War II and thanks to that we got Eisenhower, Patton and Bradley.

Stalin purged the top, ideologically impure brass just prior to Herr Hitler’s crossing the Bug River. That stupidity lost Stalin 2-3 million men in the next few weeks and put the Wehrmacht at the gates of Moscow.

Hegseth purged the cadre of top officers- not who were necessarily old, but who were disproportionately black, or brown, or female, or who lacked sufficient loyalty to the MAGA cause, They were purged, not because they were old or inefficient, but because Hegseth judged them to have been good soldiers who followed the Constitutional orders of those civilians appointed over them.

We see, writ large across the length and breadth of this administration…. what Trump meant when he said he was only going to hire the”best people”- people with alarming ties to Russian intelligence, with no particular talent other than being suck-ups, people who leave sensitive information strewn about for hostile governments to find, people who lie when the truth would serve them better, people with no discernible integrity or fidelity to the Constitution.

In short, Trump in general, and Hegseth in particular, have purged the very pool of raw talent that produces the Bradleys and Pattons and Eisenhowers, and promoted the dandies, the “made for tv” faces, and the ticking time bombs that MAGA consistently confuses with the “warrior ethos”.

Sadly, this is what you get in a society that has devalued integrity, forgotten commitment to principles rather than personalities, and made the fatal error of confusing performative cruelty with true strength.

We’re fucked, dope. And there’s little time left to un-fuck ourselves before the deluge.