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As Trump molds military leadership, do politics outrank merit?

When President Donald Trump last month fired six top U.S. military leaders, including a Black man and the United States’ only female four-star officer, he didn’t give a reason.

But it appeared to mark the fulfillment of plans long outlined by Trump administration officials to replace what they called “woke” officers with those who, in the parlance of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, prioritize the lethality of the armed forces.

Among critics, however, the “Friday night massacre,” as Democrats called the firings, fueled concern that the president’s goal is not seeking out martial merit but rather finding officers who pass a loyalty test of sorts.

Why We Wrote This President Donald Trump’s dismissal of top military leaders raises questions about his expanding influence, and about whether loyalty tests determine who directs America’s armed forces.

Mr. Trump likes telling a story about how his new pick for America’s top military leader, retired Lt. Gen. Dan “Razin’” Caine, told the president he “loved” him and would “kill for” him, and then donned a red MAGA hat when they first met in Iraq in 2018.