{"id":675,"date":"2026-06-25T16:15:05","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T16:15:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=675"},"modified":"2026-06-25T16:15:05","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T16:15:05","slug":"top-generals-early-exit-shows-hegseths-paranoia-tillis-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=675","title":{"rendered":"Top General\u2019s Early Exit Shows Hegseth\u2019s \u2018Paranoia,\u2019 Tillis says"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Republican Sen. Thom Tillis lambasted Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over reports that the Pentagon chief is forcing the retirement of Gen. Christopher \u201cC.D.\u201d Donahue, calling the move an example of the Cabinet member\u2019s \u201cparanoia\u201d and \u201cinexperience.\u201d<\/p>\n

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North Carolina\u2019s Tillis told NOTUS that pushing out one of the Army\u2019s most celebrated and senior commanders would damage morale across the military. The lawmaker suggested Hegseth \u2014 a former Fox News host who served in the National Guard \u2014 was uncomfortable with a straight-talking former commander of the Army\u2019s elite Delta Force in his orbit.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly,\u201d Tillis said in an interview, \u201cPete Hegseth couldn\u2019t carry his bag.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tillis, who has gotten louder about his displeasure with the Trump administration since announcing he would retire at the end of the term, has stepped into the role of Hegseth\u2019s chief Republican critic and recently told NOTUS<\/u><\/span> he regretted casting the deciding vote to confirm Hegseth because Hegseth has made decisions that, to Tillis, showed the Pentagon leader is out of his depth in the job.<\/p>\n

Tillis was among lawmakers from both parties who criticized what appeared to be the unexplained dismissal of yet another general officer under Hegseth\u2019s leadership. Donahue, the commander of U.S. Army Europe and Africa, is among more than a dozen senior officers who have been forced out or sidelined by the administration.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just another example of Hegseth\u2019s paranoia, where having people more capable than him around him is a problem,\u201d Tillis said of Donahue\u2019s imminent departure. \u201cExecutives have their best, most capable people around them instead of throwing babies out with the bathwater.\u201d<\/p>\n

Donahue has submitted his retirement paperwork and is due to relinquish command on July 2, according to two people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter. His planned retirement date isn\u2019t expected until later this summer, which means that he could still be given a new military role before then.<\/p>\n

A Pentagon official disputed reports that Donahue was forced out and said the general made the decision to retire.<\/p>\n

Under Hegseth, the Trump administration has forced out Joint Chiefs Chair CQ Brown, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George and other top officers with little explanation. Hegseth also, to an unusual degree, removed from promotion lists officers who have already been vetted and approved by their peers.<\/p>\n

Hegseth has argued that the military\u2019s senior ranks have become bloated and overly bureaucratic and has moved to reduce the number of general and flag officers. He ordered cuts to four-star billets and said he wants to shift authority and resources away from headquarters staffs and toward front-line warfighters.<\/p>\n

However, Tillis called Hegseth\u2019s \u201ctinkering\u201d in personnel decisions \u201call just hallmarks of inexperience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Donahue, a decorated special forces officer and former commander of the Army\u2019s 82nd Airborne Division, became widely known as the last American service member leaving Afghanistan in August 2021. More recently, he has led U.S. Army Europe and Africa, a command at the center of efforts to bolster NATO\u2019s eastern front. NOTUS was first to report<\/u><\/span> that Pentagon plans to downgrade the command raised questions about whether Donahue would be granted another role.<\/p>\n

Hegseth and Donahue had few interactions and never personally clashed, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter.<\/p>\n

Still, Tillis, who has known Donahue for years through his service at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, speculated that Donahue\u2019s well-known candor may have somehow alienated Hegseth.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe public should care because of the message it sends to other aspiring general officers,\u201d Tillis said. \u201cI think it has the effect of reducing the quality of our leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lawmakers are pushing for more oversight<\/u><\/span> of senior military dismissals. The House\u2019s 2027 defense policy bill includes language to mandate the Pentagon to notify Congress within five days whenever a four-star general or admiral is removed from a top position. The Pentagon would have to provide a written explanation detailing the reasons for the officer\u2019s dismissal.<\/p>\n

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Rep. Austin Scott (R-Georgia), a House Armed Services Committee member who supported the legislation, criticized Hegseth\u2019s removal of George, and said Donahue\u2019s imminent departure marked a \u201cbad decision.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very disappointed, and it is a bad decision on the part of the Pentagon,\u201d Scott told NOTUS. \u201cC.D. is one of our greatest warriors. He has tremendous value to our troops, to our country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rep. Don Bacon (R-Nebraska), a House Armed Services member and former Air Force officer, called the broader wave of dismissals of generals and admirals, without transparency to Congress, \u201cunacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we don\u2019t like is that there\u2019s no explanation,\u201d Bacon said. \u201cWe have probably about 20 generals and admirals been fired for no reason. I know many of them, and they\u2019re very good, so that is concerning. It\u2019s not decent when you fire people with no explanation.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also said the moves are bad for troop and officer morale.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople have worked out their careers, see this happening, and when there\u2019s no explanation given, it\u2019s bad,\u201d he said, adding that when Hegseth fires \u201cthe best of the best,\u201d it undermines his credibility.<\/p>\n

Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), an Iraq War veteran and member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, praised Donahue but stopped short of directly criticizing the reported ouster.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hate to see him go,\u201d she told NOTUS. \u201cHe\u2019s got so many decades of extraordinary service to our country. He is an absolute warrior, and he is the epitome of everything every American soldier should aspire to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rep. Keith Self (R-Texas), a former member of the Army Special Forces and Army Rangers who had recently met with the outgoing general, said the move was within the authority of the executive branch. But that doesn\u2019t mean he wants to see Donahue depart.\u201cChris Donahue is one of the studs in the United States Army,\u201d Self said.<\/p>\n

Democrats and former national security officials have also rallied to Donahue\u2019s defense.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very scared that we\u2019re pushing out some of the best and brightest generals and up-and-coming generals and admirals in the name of whether it\u2019s trying to stop DEI or just trying to pay political retribution, but I think it happened with Donahue,\u201d Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Arizona), an Iraq war veteran, told NOTUS.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you do that, you end up getting a bunch of yes men and yes women, and that\u2019s when you end up losing wars like we\u2019re about to lose this war in Iran,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Robert Greenway, a National Security Council official during the first Trump administration, posted on X<\/u><\/span>, that Donahue is a \u201cwarrior\u201d and \u201cOne of the best officers I\u2019ve had the honor to serve with.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some lawmakers were personally familiar with Donahue through their work to bolster Ukraine\u2019s defenses, including Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware, the top Democrat on the defense appropriations panel.<\/p>\n

\u201cGeneral (Donahue) is a true patriot, involved in some of our military\u2019s finest moments in recent memory, all the way through to our support for Ukraine,\u201d Coons posted on X<\/u><\/span>. \u201cTrump once claimed he\u2019d hire \u2018only the best people.\u2019 Instead, he and Secretary Hegseth keep purging them from the Pentagon.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The Republican senator lends a fiery voice to bipartisan pushback over what lawmakers say is a disturbing trend of pushing out military leaders without explanation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":674,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-675","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-congress"],"yoast_head":"\nTop General\u2019s Early Exit Shows Hegseth\u2019s \u2018Paranoia,\u2019 Tillis says - Modern Home Journals<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=675\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Top General\u2019s Early Exit Shows Hegseth\u2019s \u2018Paranoia,\u2019 Tillis says - Modern Home Journals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Republican senator lends a fiery voice to bipartisan pushback over what lawmakers say is a disturbing trend of pushing out military leaders without explanation.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=675\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Modern Home Journals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-25T16:15:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=675#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=675\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/533de239efc09a2ab59959cc1bff86d0\"},\"headline\":\"Top General\u2019s Early Exit Shows Hegseth\u2019s \u2018Paranoia,\u2019 Tillis says\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-25T16:15:05+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=675\"},\"wordCount\":1268,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=675#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/4859175d76b691e8486b56fb9aec493c-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Congress\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=675#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=675\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=675\",\"name\":\"Top General\u2019s Early Exit Shows Hegseth\u2019s \u2018Paranoia,\u2019 Tillis says - Modern Home Journals\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=675#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=675#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/4859175d76b691e8486b56fb9aec493c-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-25T16:15:05+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/533de239efc09a2ab59959cc1bff86d0\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=675#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=675\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=675#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/4859175d76b691e8486b56fb9aec493c-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/4859175d76b691e8486b56fb9aec493c-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1706,\"caption\":\"Sen. 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