" ... the most insidious step he took was his decision to fire the top judge advocates general of the Army, Navy, and Air Force.
The firing of the JAG leadership appears intended to cow JAG line attorneys and make them afraid to provide advice to military leadership that might run counter to the will of civilian command. A JAG might, for example, tell the president that he can’t deploy troops in Washington, D.C., with orders to shoot protesters in the legs, or deploy them to shoot unarmed migrants crossing the border.
Trump doesn’t want a military with a conscience. He wants a pliant military that does what he commands rather than what the law requires."
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/03/trump-jag-military-lawyers-fired/681888/
"Current military lawyers and legal experts told Military.com the administration's firings of the Air Force, Army and Navy's top judge advocates general politicizes and sets an alarming precedent for a crucial job in the military, all as President Donald Trump has mused about using the military in unorthodox and potentially illegal ways.
Trump has a history of suggesting that he would use troops against U.S. citizens despite federal legal restrictions."
"the removal of senior military lawyers from across the Department of Defense calls into question the willingness to follow the rule of law. The gratuitous firing of all three senior lawyers sends a chilling message about the precariousness of what protection under the law now means."
The real crisis in the U.S. military
"Now that Trump has captured the intelligence services, the Justice Department, and the FBI, the military is the last piece he needs to establish the foundations for authoritarian control of the U.S. government."
A Friday-Night Massacre at the Pentagon
1,500 people convicted of offenses related to storming the Capitol on Jan 6 at Trump's urging have been issued "full, complete, and unconditional" pardons by Trump. (14 had sentences commuted)
Anyone committing a crime on behalf of Trump can feel confident they will not be prosecuted, or if prosecuted, will be pardoned.
"Jacob Ware, a research fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, called the clemency “a pretty catastrophic moment for domestic counterterrorism.” Ware told the Washington Post that members of these groups now see “the return of battle-hardened leaders, who in addition to having a kind of real-life legitimacy due to having actually fought the government, will also have a strong sense of victimhood and martyrdom, which will further radicalize and fuel recruitment platforms.” He said this will “make combating terrorism far more difficult, not just over the next four years as groups feel like they have an ally in the White House, but beyond that as well.”"
"Incredibly damaging:" The fallout from Trump's January 6 pardons