THIS IS REALLY BAD NEWS

Tonight, Dilbert fired Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General C.Q. Brown at 8:46pm ET. Josh Marshall at TPM reports the Chairman was replaced by retired 3-star general Dan Caine bypassing all active-duty generals and admirals in the US armed forces.

From my quick research, Lt. General John D. Caine retired after serving 34 years in the Air Force where he served as Assistant and then Commander at Joint Special Operations Command, and the Central Intelligence Agency's associate director for military affairs. JSOC is the most extreme politically and religiously of any other part of the military.

This is a grave crisis as the would-be dictator/king attempts to turn the military into a force personally loyal to him.

Caine has not been a service chief or held a combatant command or been the head of the air units in a combatant command. He has held none of the assignments which normally lead to promotion as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. What has happened is Dilbert has reached down in the ranks to find an officer who is most likely a personal Trumpist, who will be personally loyal. The position of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs is traditionally the chief military advisory to the President and the key person at the contact point of civilian control over the military.

Given Dilbert’s well-known impulses and ambitions, we must be very, very wary and suspicious of what understandings Trump has or believes he has with Caine.

THIS ONE IS REALLY, REALLY BAD.

At 9:10pm ET, Dilbert ALL the Judge Advocates General of the Army, Navy and Air Force. Among many other things, these are the military lawyers who determine what is a legal order and what’s not. If you’re planning to give illegal orders they are an obvious obstacle. This has all the look of preparation for a military coup that would establish him as dictator.