Purges at the Pentagon

Purges at the Pentagon

From Letters from an American by Heather Cox Richardson

April 24, 2026 · 11 min

About this episode

The episode discusses military purges under the Trump administration and efforts to protect American democracy.

April 23, 2026 Pete Hegseth asks Secretary of the Navy John Phelan to resign, Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg moves to take over responsibility for shipbuilding and Navy acquisitions, Trump sides with Hegseth who has purged the military of its most senior ranks, The Pentagon cracks down on the independence of the newspaper Stars and Stripes , Republicans are trying to stengthen the power of the President, Republicans turn to budget reconciliation so they don’t have to negotiate with Democrats over funding, More than 100 former NASA astronauts launch a non partisan organization to protect American democracy. Watch today's recording here: https://www.youtube.com/live/g9TUa1Rwd6U?si=T8_KKcHQZElhpnZ- Get full, free access to Letters from an American here: https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/subscribe You can also find me: Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/hcrichardson.bsky.social Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heathercoxrichardson/?hl=en Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heathercoxrichardson/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@heathercoxrichardson Get full access to Letters from an American at heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/subscribe

People in this episode

Host: Heather Cox Richardson

Guest: John Phelan

Topics covered

  • Pentagon
  • military purges
  • Trump administration
  • budget reconciliation
  • American democracy
  • Stars and Stripes

Keywords

  • Pentagon
  • military
  • Trump
  • budget reconciliation
  • NASA
  • democracy
  • Stars and Stripes

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Stars and Stripes, NASA

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