On 31 August 2026, Dan Driscoll, the youngest Army Secretary in American history, resigned after months of friction with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Driscoll was no ordinary service secretary. An Army veteran and close friend of Vice President JD Vance, he was trusted enough by Trump to be handed a role in the Russia-Ukraine peace talks. The White House thanked him warmly on his way out, but nobody in Washington was fooled. Hegseth had fired the Army Chief of Staff, General Randy George, without explanation, along with other reform-minded generals, and reportedly struck four officers, two black men and two women, from a promotions list after Driscoll refused to do so himself. Driscoll told the president bluntly that Hegseth was blocking Army transformation by sacking the very generals responsible for delivering it.
The resignation lands amid wider evidence of strain on the American military, six months into the war with Iran. The aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln has spent over 260 days at sea, more than 200 of them without a port visit, a record. Reports describe food and toiletry shortages, mouldy showers, broken plumbing and a growing mental health crisis among its 5,000 sailors and marines, including one sailor who went overboard in August and had to be rescued. Around 200 family members confronted Navy leadership at town hall meetings, demanding to know when the crew would come home.
Congress has taken notice. Senate Democrats, including Armed Services Committee member Richard Blumenthal, wrote to the Pentagon demanding answers about conditions aboard the Lincoln, while lawmakers from both parties had already grilled Hegseth over the firing of General George. Trump publicly denied that families were worried, even as he confirmed the Lincoln would be swapped out for another carrier. An army losing its civilian leadership and a navy stretched to breaking point make awkward viewing for a president who promised strength.
So what does this reveal about the commander-in-chief? On paper, Trump’s authority is untouched: he can fire generals, accept resignations and wage war in the Gulf. But commanding is not the same as controlling. Presidential power in practice depends on capable people and functioning institutions willing to deliver the president’s agenda. A Pentagon consumed by purges, an exhausted fleet and congressional scrutiny all suggest that formal power may look imperial, while the informal power that actually sustains it is quietly draining away.