Pentagon Purges Black and Female Generals While Trump Floats Nuking Iran

May 3 | Hegseth fires Black and female generals as Trump ponders nukes, gas hits record $4.45, Spirit Airlines collapses, Trump goes shirtless and racist online, and the Comey indictment unravels

May 04, 2026

by Sharad Swaney, Director of Centered America

Good morning, everyone.

I need you to read that headline again. Pete Hegseth has fired or forced out 24 generals. Sixty percent of them are Black or female. No performance reasons given for ANY of them. And in a separate White House meeting, Trump was caught thinking out loud about NUKING Iran. While the blockade he ordered has already destroyed a majority of U.S. military bases in the region. While Spirit Airlines just DIED because of the war he started. While gas hit $4.45. While his approval hit 34 percent.

And then he went online at 11 p.m. and posted a picture of himself shirtless in the Reflecting Pool.

This is not a functioning government. This is a man with nuclear weapons who cannot sleep and cannot stop posting.

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Now here is your weekend briefing.

Hegseth Purges 24 Generals, 60 Percent Black or Female, As Trump Ponders Nukes

The Guardian reports Hegseth has fired or forced into retirement 24 generals and senior commanders since Trump returned to office, and roughly 60 percent of those pushed out have been Black or female, with no performance-related reasons given for any of the firings. The pace and scope have been compared by some to Stalin’s purges.
Retired Army Major General Paul Eaton, who commanded U.S. forces following the 2003 invasion of Iraq, told the Guardian the purges mirror plans outlined in Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation’s policy blueprint.
The Guardian reported, citing a source with knowledge of the meeting, that Trump raised the possibility of using nuclear weapons against Iran during a recent White House meeting, describing him as talking out loud about nukes during the discussion.
Kevin Carroll, a former Army colonel who served in the offices of the defense secretary and joint chiefs, told the Guardian: “All the retired officers I know are seriously concerned of the long-term effect on the force of senior leaders saying things like no quarter, no mercy, or [that] we’re going to eliminate a civilization without any remonstration from the senior military officials.”
At a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, when ranking Democrat Sen. Jack Reed asked whether Trump had instructed him to single out Black and female officers, Hegseth replied “Of course not” before adding: “Members on this committee and the previous leadership of this department were focused on height, social engineering, race and gender in ways that we think were unhealthy.”

CNN: Iran Damaged a Majority of U.S. Military Bases in the Middle East

A CNN investigation found at least 16 American military sites across eight countries were damaged in Iranian strikes during the war, representing a majority of U.S. positions in the region.
Bases hit include Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar (struck twice), Naval Support Activity Bahrain, Camp Buehring in Kuwait, and sites in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Iraq. A Boeing E-3 Sentry surveillance aircraft worth nearly half a billion dollars was destroyed at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia.
A U.S. source familiar with the situation told CNN: “I’ve never seen anything like this before. These are rapid, targeted strikes, with [advanced] technology.”
A congressional aide told CNN that Iran identified radar systems as “the most cost-effective targets to hit,” calling them the most expensive and limited resource in the region.
Iran’s precision was reportedly enabled by a Chinese TEE-014 satellite Tehran secretly purchased in 2024.
Undersecretary of Defense Jules Hurst said the Pentagon’s $25 billion war cost figure does not include base reconstruction, telling lawmakers: “We don’t have a final number for what the damage is to our installations overseas.”

Spirit Airlines Dead. 17,000 Jobs Gone. First Major Airline Collapse in 25 Years.

Spirit Aviation Holdings began an orderly wind-down of operations early Saturday after talks with the Trump administration over a $500 million rescue deal collapsed. All flights were canceled.
CEO Dave Davis blamed the collapse on the Iran war, saying the “sudden and sustained rise in fuel prices in recent weeks ultimately has left us with no alternative but to pursue an orderly wind-down of the company.” He added: “Sustaining the business required hundreds of millions of additional dollars of liquidity that Spirit simply does not have and could not procure.”
Spirit’s restructuring plan had assumed jet fuel costs of about $2.24 a gallon in 2026. By late April, prices had reached around $4.51 a gallon.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy denied the war was the cause, saying “Spirit was in dire straits long before the war with Iran.”
This is the first time in 25 years a major U.S. airline has gone out of business due to financial trouble. 17,000 employees are without jobs and thousands of passengers are stranded.
Rescue fares: United capped at $199 one-way (longer routes $299) through May 16. Southwest selling flat fares at counters: $200 under 500 miles, $300 for 501 to 1,000 miles, $400 over 1,000 miles. Frontier offering 50 percent off with code SAVENOW. JetBlue offering $99 one-way fares through May 6. American implementing fare caps on overlapping routes. Spirit is processing automatic refunds for direct purchases.

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Trump Says the Navy Is Acting “Like Pirates”

At the Forum Club of the Palm Beaches dinner Friday night, Trump described U.S. Navy seizures of Iranian shipping: “We took over the ship, we took over the cargo, took over the oil. It’s a very profitable business.”
He added: “We’re like pirates. We’re sort of like pirates. But we’re not playing games.”
Trump described how a vessel was seized: “They were going to ram the, we call it an iron wall... ‘Turn your ship around!’ And there was no response... Now, they’re 5 miles away, and one shot into the engine room, blew up the engine room. The ship stopped. They used tugboats, and then we landed on top of it.”
U.S. Central Command said 48 Iranian ships have been forced to turn around in the past 20 days. A senior official said: “Right now there are 41 tankers with 69 million barrels of oil that the Iranian regime can’t sell. That’s an estimated $6 billion-plus from which Iran’s leadership cannot financially benefit.”
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei called the comments “a direct and damning admission of the criminal nature of their actions against international” law.
The economic toll inside Iran: about two million Iranians have been put out of work and the rial dropped 15 percent over two days.

Trump Vows to Take Over Cuba “Almost Immediately”

At the same dinner, Trump told the crowd: “Cuba, which we will be taking over almost immediately.”
He floated using a returning aircraft carrier: “On the way back from Iran, maybe the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, the biggest in the world, we’ll have that come in, stop about 100 yards offshore, and they’ll say, ‘thank you very much, we give up.’”
The same day, Trump signed an executive order under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act expanding sanctions targeting Cuba’s security apparatus, energy, finance, mining, and defense sectors, with secondary sanctions against foreign banks doing business with blacklisted entities.
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez called the measures “collective punishment” and “unilateral coercive measures.”
Earlier this week, the Senate voted 51 to 47 along party lines to block a resolution requiring congressional approval for military action against Cuba.

Pentagon Pulls 5,000 Troops From Germany, Threatens Italy and Spain

The Pentagon ordered the withdrawal of 5,000 U.S. troops from Germany on Friday, with the drawdown to be completed in six to twelve months. About 36,436 active-duty personnel were stationed there as of December 2025.
The order followed German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s comments that the U.S. was being “humiliated” by Iran.
Trump said Saturday: “We’re going to cut way down. And we’re cutting a lot further than 5,000.”
Asked about Italy and Spain, Trump told reporters: “Yeah, probably will. Why shouldn’t I? Italy has not been of any help. Spain has been horrible. Absolutely.”
Spain has refused U.S. access to its bases for Iran-related operations. Italy denied use of a Sicilian airbase. Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez has called U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran “illegal.”
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk wrote on X: “The greatest threat to the transatlantic community are not its external enemies, but the ongoing disintegration of our alliance.”
Republican Sen. Roger Wicker and Rep. Mike Rogers, chairmen of the Armed Services committees, said they were “very concerned” about the withdrawal.

Gas Hits $4.45, Highest Ever for This Date

The AAA national average for regular gas was $4.45 a gallon on May 2, the highest ever recorded for that calendar date and about $1.28 higher than a year ago.
The price has surged about $0.40 in the past month and roughly $1.50 since strikes on Iran began February 28.
Brent Crude was over $111 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate over $105 in early Friday trading.
The all-time AAA national average record remains $5.016, set on June 14, 2022.

Trump’s Approval Hits Record-Low 34 Percent

A Reuters/Ipsos poll found Trump’s approval at 34 percent, the lowest of his second term. Cost of living approval: 22 percent. Economic approval: 27 percent.
A separate Washington Post/ABC News/Ipsos poll found overall disapproval at 62 percent, the highest of either of his terms.
77 percent of registered voters say Trump bears at least a fair amount of responsibility for rising gas prices: 95 percent of Democrats, 82 percent of independents, and 55 percent of Republicans.
58 percent of voters said they would be less likely to support midterm candidates who back Trump’s Iran approach, including one in five Republicans and two-thirds of independents.
The Republican Party’s economic edge over Democrats has shrunk to a one-point lead, down from a 14-point lead at the start of Trump’s second term.
Trump’s approval among Republican-leaning independents fell to a new low of 56 percent. Democrats hold a 5-point advantage on the generic House ballot, widening to 9 points among voters certain to vote.

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Reed Rejects Hegseth’s “Timeout” War Powers Theory

During Senate Armed Services Committee testimony, Hegseth told Sen. Tim Kaine: “We are in a ceasefire right now, which our understanding means the 60-day clock pauses or stops in a ceasefire.”
Sen. Jack Reed rebutted that interpretation Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” saying the War Powers Resolution does not allow for any pause once hostilities begin.
Reed told Hegseth at the hearing: “Mr. Secretary, I am concerned that you have been telling the president what he wants to hear, instead of what he needs to hear.”
David Janovsky of the Project on Government Oversight told The Hill: “The War Powers Resolution is written in very broad terms. It refers to ‘hostilities, not war,’ and it even covers situations where hostilities are imminent but not actually occurring.”

Tennessee Calls Special Session to Erase Memphis Congressional Seat

Gov. Bill Lee called a special session beginning Tuesday, May 5, to redraw Tennessee’s congressional map after Wednesday’s Supreme Court ruling narrowing the Voting Rights Act.
Lee made the call one day after Trump posted that he had a “very good conversation” with Lee, writing “This should give us one extra seat.”
Republicans hold an 8 to 1 advantage. Sen. Marsha Blackburn shared a proposed map showing Republicans winning all nine seats, saying: “I urge the state legislature to reconvene to redistrict another Republican seat in Memphis. It’s essential to cement President Trump’s agenda and the Golden Age of America.”
Rep. Steve Cohen, the Memphis Democrat whose seat is the target: “Donald Trump wants an extra seat. And he wants to get it by directing how the districts are drawn. It’s taking away potentially a goodly half of African American and African American-chosen representation in the United States Congress.”
State Rep. Justin Pearson: “I would be lying if I didn’t say it was also so painful because of what my ancestors went through to get access to the ballot, many of them who were lynched, who were shot, were beaten on bridges like the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma in order for us to have this right to representation.”
Tennessee’s primary is August 6. The filing deadline already passed. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey called a separate special session beginning Monday for the same reason.

Comey Indictment Defense Crumbles As Republican Senator Calls It “Vindictive”

Acting AG Todd Blanche said on “Meet the Press” the Comey case is “not just about a single Instagram post” but is based on “a body of evidence that [prosecutors] collected over the series of about 11 months.”
Blanche conceded that the “86 47” phrase “is used constantly” on social media and online merchandise but said: “Every one of those statements do not result in indictments.”
Sen. Thom Tillis, Republican of North Carolina, told CNN’s “State of the Union” that Comey was a “major disappointment” as FBI director but blasted the case: “If this whole case is based on a picture in the sand of a North Carolina beach, it again makes no sense to me. I can’t find any evidence where 86 is used as a call for violence.” Tillis said the term has its roots in the restaurant industry meaning to cancel a menu item.
Sen. Adam Schiff said: “It’s the fact that James Comey is a political opponent of the president’s. It’s the fact the president has called upon him for prosecution. It’s the fact that Todd Blanche wants to keep this job.”

Mifepristone Goes Back to Supreme Court

Danco Laboratories filed an emergency application with the Supreme Court Saturday seeking an immediate stay of a Friday Fifth Circuit ruling that ended telehealth and mail access to mifepristone nationwide.
Generic manufacturer GenBioPro filed a separate emergency application. The cases are likely to be handled together.
Danco argued: “Never before has a federal court purported to immediately enjoin a several years’ old drug approval; restrict a distribution system for that drug that manufacturers, providers, patients, and pharmacies have all been using for years; or reinstate conditions that FDA determined do not meet the mandatory statutory criteria.”
Mifepristone is the most-used medication in U.S. abortions. In states where abortion is legal and telehealth is permitted, fewer than 2 percent of prescriptions are filled in person.

Federal Judge Blocks Yemen Deportation Order

U.S. District Judge Dale E. Ho issued a 36-page emergency order blocking the Trump administration from forcing roughly 3,000 Yemeni refugees out of the U.S. The TPS designation was set to expire May 4.
Ho wrote: “TPS holders from Yemen are not ‘killers, leeches, and entitlement junkies.’ They are ordinary, law-abiding people who have been granted status to be here because the Government has repeatedly determined, in accordance with the TPS statute, that Yemen is subject to an ongoing armed conflict.”
He ruled DHS “acted unlawfully by terminating TPS in clear disregard of the procedural requirements established by Congress.”
Plaintiffs include a pregnant 33-year-old Detroit woman whose unborn child has a congenital heart condition not treatable in Yemen, and a 50-year-old former human rights worker in Brooklyn targeted by Houthi-aligned militias.
DHS responded: “Temporary means temporary and the final word will not be from activist judges legislating from the bench.”

Sinaloa Governor Steps Down on U.S. Cartel Charges

Sinaloa Gov. Ruben Rocha Moya announced Friday he will temporarily step down after a U.S. indictment charged him and nine other officials with helping the “Chapitos,” sons of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.
The five-count indictment alleges he met with the Chapitos before his election and promised to install officials friendly to their operations. Charges include narcotics importation conspiracy and possession of machine guns, carrying a mandatory minimum of 40 years.
Rocha Moya called the allegations “false and malicious.” Mexican President Sheinbaum said her government will not protect anyone who has committed a crime but rejected U.S. “meddling.”
Culiacan Mayor Juan de Dios Gamez, also indicted, said he will step down as well.

Kid Rock Gets Apache Helicopter Ride From Hegseth

At the Friday opening of Kid Rock’s “Freedom 250 Tour” in Dallas, the singer debuted a promo video showing Defense Secretary Hegseth offering him a ride in an AH-64 Apache attack helicopter. An Apache costs about $7,000 per hour to fly.
Pentagon spokesman Parnell said Kid Rock “participated in multiple troop touches with service members and filmed videos for Memorial Day, America’s 250th birthday, and for his Freedom 250 tour.”
Rep. Jason Crow, a former Army Ranger: “Why is Pete Hegseth spending your taxpayer dollars to give Kid Rock ‘joy rides’ on Apache helicopters?”
This follows Hegseth’s March intervention in an Army investigation of two Apache pilots who flew near Kid Rock’s Tennessee estate during a protest. Hegseth ended that investigation, writing on X: “No punishment.”

House GOP Split on Pardoning Ghislaine Maxwell

House Oversight Chairman James Comer told Politico “a lot of people” on the committee were considering whether a Trump pardon could secure Maxwell’s cooperation in the Epstein investigation. Comer himself opposes it, saying: “Honestly, other than Epstein, the worst person in this whole investigation is Maxwell.”
Ranking Member Robert Garcia released a statement: “It’s outrageous that Republicans on the Oversight Committee are considering a pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell. She is a sexual abuser who facilitated the rape of women and children.”
Maxwell, serving 20 years for sex trafficking, invoked the Fifth when she appeared before the committee in February. Her attorney has said she would speak fully if granted clemency.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is scheduled to testify May 6 and Bill Gates on June 10.

Garcia Probes Noem’s Rent-Free Coast Guard Mansion

Rep. Robert Garcia sent a letter to DHS Secretary Mullin demanding records on whether Kristi Noem is still living at the Coast Guard Commandant’s quarters at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling, nearly two months after Trump fired her on March 5.
Garcia: “Kristi Noem got fired in March and she is still living rent-free in a government home that belongs to the Coast Guard. The Trump Administration can’t explain why, nor do they seem to care. This same Administration threw out the Coast Guard Commandant with three hours of notice to make room for Noem, and even though she’s been fired from her government role, she won’t leave government housing.”
At a March 3 hearing, Noem testified: “I’m not in the Commandant’s house. I’m in a Coast Guard House, but not the Commandant’s house... And I will also tell you that I rent that facility.”
Admiral Kevin Lunday, the current commandant, is reportedly living next door waiting for her to leave.

ICE Hires Firm Sued for “Torture” to Track Migrant Children

ICE awarded a contract in mid-April to MVM Inc. to assist with “safety and wellness checks” on unaccompanied minors released to sponsors. An internal ICE document says the operations are actually aimed at deporting the children or pursuing criminal cases against them or their sponsors.
MVM is being sued in federal court for “torture, enforced disappearance and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment” tied to its role in family separation. In March 2025, Judge Dana Sabraw allowed the claims to proceed, writing MVM “fails to cite any authority to support its argument that conduct performed pursuant to a government contract renders that conduct exempt from claims of torture.”
Neha Desai of the National Center for Youth Law: “We have seen MVM harm children in federal immigration custody in egregious ways for many years now.”
MVM has received about $1.1 billion in ICE contracts in 2025 alone, plus $145.1 million in fiscal 2026.

Medicare Portal Leaked Doctors’ Social Security Numbers

CMS accidentally exposed the unredacted Social Security numbers of at least 102 healthcare providers in a downloadable file from a new national provider directory.
The numbers had been publicly accessible for weeks before the Washington Post discovered and alerted CMS.
CMS blamed the providers for entering the data in the wrong place. The directory was launched in November 2025 as part of the DOGE-era push to modernize Medicare.
It remains unclear whether affected providers have been notified.

Trump Endorses Andy Barr, Pushes Musk-Backed Rival Out of Kentucky Race

Trump endorsed Rep. Andy Barr in the Kentucky GOP Senate primary Friday night, calling him “the only Candidate who will easily defeat the Democrat.”
Sixteen minutes earlier, Trump posted asking businessman Nate Morris to drop out and accept an ambassadorship. Morris had received roughly $10 million from Elon Musk and was closely tied to VP Vance.
Morris confirmed: “When President Trump asks you to serve your nation, you answer the call.”
The seat opens with McConnell’s retirement. Former AG Daniel Cameron remains in the May 19 primary. Cameron’s campaign jabbed: “Congrats to Mitch McConnell for getting his guy.”

Trump’s Sleepless Spiral: 565 Posts in April, Shirtless AI at 11 PM

A Daily Beast analysis found Trump posted 565 times on Truth Social in April, an average of 18 posts a day, compared with 250 in April 2018. He posted between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. on 189 separate occasions, meaning on 83 percent of nights he was up posting at least once. Only five nights included an apparent uninterrupted full night of sleep.
At 11:03 p.m. Friday, Trump posted an AI image of himself shirtless on a gold throne-shaped float in the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool alongside Vance, Rubio, and Burgum, with an unidentified woman in a bikini. Over the next 41 minutes he posted 11 times.
At 11:13 p.m. he posted a doctored image of Hakeem Jeffries holding a baseball bat with the caption: “Low IQ Democrat Minority Leader, Hakeem Jeffries, is nothing but a THUG, and he is a danger to our Country!” This came less than a week after the WHCA dinner shooting prompted calls to tone down rhetoric.
Jeffries replied on X: “Do you need a hug? Be Best.”
Cameras have caught Trump dozing in cabinet meetings and once with his eyes closed and head dropping while standing behind Hegseth. At The Villages on Friday, he told the senior crowd: “I don’t happen to be a senior. I’m much younger than you. Look at you old guys. Wouldn’t you like to be my age? Young, vital, vibrant.” He turns 80 in June.
He also warned: “You get a guy who gets in there, he’s got a good line of crap. He gets in and all of a sudden you’re stuck with a man who’s a moron. This is not good.”

Two Mass Shootings: Amarillo Teens, Indianapolis Prom

In Amarillo, Texas, a shooting at an apartment party around 1:58 a.m. Saturday left two teenagers dead and 10 injured. Ezekiel Rudy Almazan, 17, and an unnamed 16-year-old boy were killed. Police say a group asked to leave an earlier party followed attendees to the apartment and opened fire with rifle-style weapons. Two suspects remain at large.
In Indianapolis, one woman is dead and three injured after a shooting at a post-prom party at a rental home early Sunday. Neighbor Jack Anderson: “Three houses down, I mean we could almost feel the vibration. It was probably 60-plus shots.”

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