Microsoft has introduced a new RAM control feature in Edge, allowing users to cap memory usage to prevent slowdowns. Now available in the stable version, this setting can be enabled in the browsers performance section, as reported by Windows Latest.In the resource control panel, youll see a slider that you can adjust to let Edge use as little as 1GB or as much as 31GB. You can set the cap to apply when gaming or at all times. You can adjust this setting anytime. If you put the slider all the way to the right, the Edge browser will show no set limit, but if you move the slider anywhere else, a current limit will be displayed. The RAM control feature might not significantly improve your gaming experience, but every little bit helps.Recommended VideosThat said, you should be careful not to set the RAM limit too low, especially to 1GB, if you keep various tabs open. Doing so will likely cause performance issues. You may need to test various limits to find what works best for your setup. Chrome also has features to help improve the browsers performance, such as performance alerts and the Memory Saver feature. Nonetheless, the Chrome features dont give users the control Microsoft offers its users with the new RAM cap feature. As if this feature was not tempting enough, Microsoft Edge is introducing Live Capture, a tool that allows you to create your picture-in-picture mode using a screenshot-like feature. Could this featurefinally make users switch?Editors Recommendations

Table of ContentsTable of ContentsPricing and availabilitySpecsPerformanceNeither are great, but the 5070 Ti is better valueThe Nvidia RTX 50-series is one of the most controversial graphics card launches in many years, but that doesnt stop the top cards being some of the best you can buy if you can find them at a fair price. Two of the top options worth considering are the RTX 5080 and 5070 Ti: two powerful GPUs with lots of fast memory, plenty of CUDA cores, and the latest generations of RT and tensor cores.But how do these two cards stack up? With prices flying wild, heres how to nail down which graphics card is best for you.Recommended VideosBoth the RTX 5080 and RTX 5070 Ti aretechnically available in that they have both been officially launched and have their recommended retail prices: $1,000 and $750, respectively. However, those arent realistic, as third-parties control pricing for the 5070 Ti, and have vastly outstripped it; The ongoing Trump tariffs are driving prices higher across the board, too.Get your weekly teardown of the tech behind PC gaming Stock levels are almost non-existent due to ongoing production problems leading some cards to ship without the right internal hardware so pricing has gone completely bananas, on top of the manufacturer-mandated price rises.Jacob Roach / Digital TrendsAt the time of writing, the RTX 5070 Ti is sometimes available for around $800, but youre much more likely to find one at around $1,000. The RTX 5080 is going for as much as $2,000, but you can sometimes find them between $1,400 and $1,800.Nvidia RTX 5080Nvidia RTX 5070 TiCUDA Cores10,7528960RT Cores84, 4th generation70, 4th generationTensor Cores336, 5th generation280, 5th generationBoost clock2.6GHz2.45GHzMemory size16GB GDDR716GB GDDR7Memory bus256-bit256-bitMemory speed30Gbps28GbpsMemory bandwidth960GBps896GBpsTBP360W320WThe on-paper differences between these two graphics cards are relatively minor, giving us our first glimpse of what is in actuality, quite close real-world performance. The RTX 5080 has 20% more CUDA cores, RT cores, and Tensor cores, but at roughly the same clock speeds. Memory quantities are the same, with only the slightly faster speed of the GDDR7 making a real difference to the overall bandwidth and even then, its minor.Wattage demands arent insignificant, but 13% isnt anything crazy. If you have a PSU thats capable of handling the RTX 5070 Ti, itll almost certainly be enough for the 5080, t00.We tested the RTX 5080 when it first debuted, and found it a very capable graphics card albeit one that falls behind both the RTX 5090 and RTX 4090, by enough of a margin that 4090 owners must be very happy with their last-gen purchase.Jacob Roach / Digital TrendsAlthough we havent had a chance to test the RTX 5070 Ti, yet, its an easy one to compare, because its about as powerful as an RTX 4080 Super. In fact, the 4080 Super is slightly faster in some cases, though the added multi frame gen support with the RTX 50-series does give it an advantage in certain games.DigitalTrendsThe 7900 XTX isnt a bad analogy for the 5070 Ti in non-RT games, but when ray tracing is turned on the AMD cards fall far behind, so its not a universal analog.NvidiaIn Nvidias own graphs, it claimed that the 5070 Ti was around 20% faster than the 4070 Ti (non-Super) which kind of works out in the wider third-party testing.Although the RTX 5080 is the stronger card, it only works out around 10-15% faster than the 5070 Ti and it does it while demanding more power, and with a price thats at least 50% higher.In a normal graphics card generation where theres some immediate competition from AMD at every price point and the last-generation is still in stock, wed almost certainly be suggesting you avoid the RTX 50-series and indeed, until prices calm down, you should probably still do so. But its not a normal GPU generation. Its one of the most catastrophic weve seen in years.But! If youre going to buy one of these cards, where should you put your money? Its pretty obvious: The RTX 5070 Ti. Its not a great card when compared to the year-old, last-generation 4070 Ti Super, but it is faster. Its not as fast as the 5080, but its pretty close (especially with overclocking) and you can often find it for close to two thirds of the price. Thats huge.It just isnt worth spending $500+ more on a 5080 to maybe get 10% added performance.But better yet? Wait out either of these cards. Wait for stock to resume, prices to come down, and AMD to offer an alternative that might encourage Nvidia to correct course and make its cards more affordable and more capable for the money its demanding. A boy can dream.Editors Recommendations

It wasnt until her 30s that the 1923 actress got over her fear of performing in front of others,

Hub-a Hub-a Donut Labs and the electric motors everyone has been talking about This startup says it has solved the problem with hub motors. Jonathan M. Gitlin Feb 25, 2025 11:15 am | 26 A closeup of Donut Labs' electric motor. Credit: Donut Labs A closeup of Donut Labs' electric motor. Credit: Donut Labs Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreOne of the big advantages of electric vehicles is their greater freedom when it comes to packaging. Batteries go where it makes the most sense in terms of stability and safety. Electric motors are compact and don't need much cooling compared to a combustion engine, and there's no exhaust to worry about.Putting the motors close to the wheels makes sensein the wheel itself if possibleand it seems that a startup called Donut Labs may have solved some of the problems hub-mounted motors have faced in the past.You can see where the name came fromthe motors look like metal donuts. That originally had me thinking they used axial flux technology, as some hybrid supercars do, but I was mistaken. These are radial flux motors, just ones that make a lot of torque considering their size and mass.Hub motors do a lot to simplify an EV powertrain, as there's no need for any driveshaft or gearing. But they've also added unsprung weight in prior implementations, and exposing the motors to the harsh environment experienced by the wheels did little for reliability.That won't be a problem with these motors. "We call it the infinite motor because it will outlast the life of the vehicle when done right," said Marko Lehtimki, Donut Labs' CEO. The family of motors. Credit: Donut Labs "It's really about a manufacturing process more than anything," said Donut Labs Chief Product Officer Ville Piippo, "to get the process in a repeatable way, like a bulletproof way, so that no magnets or coils or anything are flying in the wrong places."It's very, very difficult to destroy in any other way but crashing in a very traumatic way... because it is really just the one moving part of the bearing," Piippo told me.At CES, Donut Labs unveiled a family of five motors; the smallest one is suitable for large drones or uncrewed eVTOL vehicles, and the larger versions are for semi-trucks and passenger cars."The set of benefits is different to each application or each size," Piippo said. "In small things, you're very price conscious, and you need to kind of optimize for the cost. And then the bigger you go, the more performance you can get or the more performance increase compared to the conventional setup you can get.""But then there's also the kind of unlocked new industries where nobody has been that capable making a heavy lift... dronelike lifting shipping containers or something like thisuntil now. Because we have a very compact shape and very lightweight design, we can do quite a bit of performance in everything that flies because we can play with the cooling in a smart way with this design," Piippo said.For a compact EV crossover, Donut Labs thinks its tech could reduce the number of components in a powertrain by three-quarters, saving weight and assembly timeand therefore money. For a semi-truck, the savings could be an order of magnitude higher, according to the company's case study. Credit: Donut Labs In fact, the first use has been for motorcycles. The Verge TS Pro electric motorcycle we tested last summer was created to show off the motor technology.The reaction at CES was positive"we had maybe 10 to 20 times more business than we anticipated, and we were aiming quite high," Lehtimki said."Major OEMs have understood for decades that in-wheel motors would be the golden solution if they could get the weight down," he said. "But I feel that there's been some education going on in the last few years because it felt to us that everybody we spoke to, you just show the graph of torque and power per kilogram, and they're like, 'OK, when can we have it?'"Plenty can happen between an OEM testing parts for proving and a product appearing in the showroom that uses that technology. But if all goes well, we might see vehicles with Donut Labs' motors in a couple of years. They may show up elsewhere, too. Lehtimki told me that interest has come in from outside the automotive and mobility sectors, including applications like wind turbines and washing machines.That last one has some charming history to itwhen inventors were tinkering with electric cars in the 1970s, they often turned to washing machines for a source of torquey electric motors.Jonathan M. GitlinAutomotive EditorJonathan M. GitlinAutomotive Editor Jonathan is the Automotive Editor at Ars Technica. He has a BSc and PhD in Pharmacology. In 2014 he decided to indulge his lifelong passion for the car by leaving the National Human Genome Research Institute and launching Ars Technica's automotive coverage. He lives in Washington, DC. 26 Comments

One display, one purpose Hands-on: This 3.5-inch smart display makes my digital calendars more digestible The Deskbuddy is a $100 desktop calendar display that may take simplicty too far. Scharon Harding Feb 25, 2025 10:38 am | 21 Credit: Scharon Harding Credit: Scharon Harding Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreMy preferred methods of organizing my schedule could be considered dated, so when I got a chance to try out a gadget meant to streamline my various digital calendars, I took it.While I do use digital calendars and to-do lists, my go-to method for organizing my days tasks, goals, and upcoming events is pen and paper. I use paper calendars in agendas for a visual layout of events, including those as far away as next month. They give me a sense of control, as I'm able to highlight, circle, draw arrows, underline, erase, and so on. I also write more to-do lists than might be considered efficient (as evidenced by make to-do list being a frequent line on my to-do lists).But there are many benefits to using tech for staying organized, too. With digital options, I can easily check my availability on the go with my phone and get alerts to remind me of events.But its hard to find a simple, stripped-down tech solution to put my work calendar, work goals, personal calendar, and personal to-do lists in one place while minimizing distraction. When checking what time I set aside to work out, for example, I typically don't want to think about whether the event is recurring, who else knows about it, what "type" of event it is, or how many minutes before, during, and after the event I'll get phone alerts about it. Those details are often valuable for creating a highly informative digital calendar, but they can also be distracting and result in information overload.Enter a smart display called DeskBuddy. The 3.5-inch touchscreen device has essentially one capability: showing today's events from your synced digital calendars. Blueberry Consultants, a custom software development firm headquartered in Birmingham, England, crowdfunded the desktop accessory via Kickstarter in December 2023 and currently sells it online, including on Etsy.After connecting to a power source via the included USB-C to USB-A cable and a Wi-Fi network, DeskBuddy can show the days events from your iCloud, Gmail, and Office 365 calendars. You sync the calendars by using a portal that requires a PIN, provided by the powered-on DeskBuddy, that's accessible via any browser.For $100, this is a pretty diminutive piece of technology. Per the products Kickstarter page, the device uses a WT32-SC01 Plus, which is an EP32 development board with a 3.5-inch IPS touchscreen. The creators said they used WS2812B LED chips for color and brightness control, as well as a custom-made PCB.The display is in a plastic case with parallel lines surrounding the USB-C port that give away its 3D-printed origin. The DeskBuddy's underside, where the USB-C port is. Credit: Scharon Harding The chassis has an integrated speaker that sounds an alert one to 90 minutes before and at the start of an event, depending on user configuration. The back of the DeskBuddy, where you can see the speaker. The screen isn't adjustable. Credit: Scharon Harding Keeping it (very) simpleThe DeskBuddy sounded like the type of calendar tech I was looking for: a simple way to see my digital calendars that doesnt require checking multiple apps and that quickly and clearly conveys necessary information. What could be simpler than a list of the days events with time stamps that are color-coded by digital calendar source?Well, as I learned, when it comes to organization tech, sometimes more is, in fact, more. And that more comes in the form of control. Simple gadgets can streamline things, but oversimplifying your work and social calendars can result in overlooked appointments and mismanaged time.For example, I thought I wanted fewer customization options. With DeskBuddy, all I had to do was put an event in one of my calendars, and it would show up on the device. But DeskBuddy doesnt show how long each event is. It doesnt even show event bars of different thicknesses to demonstrate how long an event is compared to another appointment.Each event is color-coded based on the calendar it represents (in this article's pictures, the yellow-looking bars are work appointments, while the green ones are personal). But especially with more than two calendars synced, it could be hard to quickly understand which color means what. The DeskBuddy starts showing notifications one to 90 minutes before the start of a calendar event. Credit: Scharon Harding Also, my DeskBuddy didnt pick up tasks from Google Calendar, only events. Thats not necessarily a big loss, but it could be if I accidentally listed an important chore as a task on Google Calendar. With digital and paper calendars, I don't have to double-check that something I added and saved is showing.DeskBuddy's succinct list of today's events means having a clear overview of the next few hours, but theres no way to see whats going on beyond today. Sometimes being organized today means knowing how much time is available tomorrow, throughout the week, or even over the next few weeks.Still, there's something relaxing about having a small screen dedicated to today and today only. It's much less distracting to glance at my DeskBuddy than to open an online calendar and get lured by an email, text message, or the general temptations of the vast web.So yes, the DeskBuddy can help declutter the digital calendar experience. And it fits in with other increasingly popular sole-purpose gadgets aimed at simplifying tech, like dumbphones or FreeWrite devices.But for serious time management, the DeskBuddy fails to provide the type of control I need to truly seize control of my day. Without the portability or detailed orientation of calendars viewed on a phone, computer, or on my tried-and-true agenda, this one-trick pony needs another incentive or two to make a case for itself.Scharon HardingSenior Technology ReporterScharon HardingSenior Technology Reporter Scharon is a Senior Technology Reporter at Ars Technica writing news, reviews, and analysis on consumer gadgets and services. She's been reporting on technology for over 10 years, with bylines at Toms Hardware, Channelnomics, and CRN UK. 21 Comments

The Department of Government Efficiency is making swift cuts to federal agencies. Tech companies should prepare for the fallout.

By working together, CEOs and CIOs can fully leverage the benefits of generative AI to drive innovation, improve efficiency, and stay competitive in the market.

A WalletHub analysis found Mississippi spends the highest share of its median household income on groceries among US states.West Virginia and Arkansas ranked second and third, while New Jersey came in at No. 50 on the list.The three states that spend the lowest percentage on groceries also have the highest earnings.Retail food prices have increased across the US, but Mississippians are arguably feeling it the most at the grocery store.WalletHub, a personal finance platform, recently released an analysis examining the share of median income residents of US states allocate to groceries, and those in Mississippi, West Virginia, and Arkansas are spending the highest percentages.The company studied the prices of 26 common grocery items, including meat, dairy, fruits, and cleaning products, across all 50 states. It then combined the costs and compared them with the median household income in each state to identify where residents spend the highestproportion of their income on groceries.Mississippi ranked No. 1 on the list for highest spending on groceries relative to income, with the cost of groceries reaching 2.64% of median monthly household income. West Virginia ranked No. 2 with 2.57%, and Arkansas ranked No. 3 with 2.49%.You can hover over the map below to see the percentage of median monthly household income residents spend on groceries by state.Despite Mississippi ranking highest on the list, the report said that "grocery prices in Mississippi are actually relatively low," withHowever, a more significant factor is that Mississippi had the lowest median annual household income in the country, at $52,985 in 2022 dollars, per Census data spanning 2018 through 2022. That was well below the national median of $75,149."So even with relatively low grocery prices overall, Mississippians are spending a higher percentage of their income on groceries than people in any other state," WalletHub said.WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo told Business Insider that the study compared the prices in each state to median annual income because it seemed to be a better indicator on a statewide basis than solely looking at grocery prices. Lupo said that the cost of grocery prices in New Jersey "won't mean anything to someone in West Virginia."The report said that West Virginia is "around the middle or bottom of the country" for some of its grocery prices, although some products, like eggs and potatoes, tend to be more expensive. Still, West Virginia had the second-lowest median household income in the US, bringing in $55,217 annually.Similarly, while Arkansas, which spends the third-highest percentage of its median income on groceries, is in the top 10 states with the cheapest groceries in the US, it has the third-lowest median household income, with $56,335 annually.Meanwhile, New Jersey ranked No. 50 on the list, meaning its residents spend the lowest percentage of their income on groceries, with Maryland and Massachusetts placing right above it. All three states have the highest median annual household incomes in the country and spend between 1.5% and 1.54% of their median monthly household income on groceries.Lupo suggested that those who want to see their spending go down should buy store-brand versions of products, buy in bulk, and look into reward programs for grocery stores they frequent. You should also budget carefully and try to stick to it, Lupo said."That will keep you from splurging," Lupo said. "And most importantly, from making those impulse buys."

On Monday morning, screens at HUD briefly displayed a fake video of Trump sucking Elon Musk's feet.Later that day, the monitors began displaying soundless videos of Trump signing executive orders instead.As of Tuesday morning, HUD monitors were still showing Trump signing executives orders.It's a toe-tal switch-up over at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, where monitors are no longer showing fake videos of President Donald Trump sucking Elon Musk's feet.Instead, TV screens throughout the agency on Tuesday displayed clips of Trump signing executive orders on a loop, a HUD worker said and union officials confirmed.A worker at HUD said that the screens began showing videos of Trump's signings last night. The worker noticed the videos showing as they left the office for the night, and as of this morning, the clips were still playing. Business Insider viewed recordings showing the videos being played on at least two monitors; both appeared to be playing without sound or closed captions."It's making people uncomfortable," the worker said. "It's like state propaganda."Two HUD workers said that the monitors are generally used to convey information, not broadcast videos. Both said the toe video was the first time they'd seen the monitors used to show video.On Monday night, the press office for HUD Secretary Scott Turner released a statement on the day's excitement."The monitors at HUD are now showcasing the wins of the Trump administration, including action to lower the cost and expand the supply of affordable housing," the statement said. "We expect the media to cover these historic achievements with the same level of detail and immediacy as other frivolous stories."The White House and Turner's office did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment on the executive order videos.HUD spokesperson Kasey Lovett said in a statement Monday that the Trump-Musk video was "another waste of taxpayer dollars and resources."The toe-sucking video hit the monitors inside the agency as bargaining unit employees at HUD officially returned to office on Monday morning. The agency is facing potential cuts amid the Musk and Trump push to efficiently slash the federal workforce, with the Associated Press reporting that half of the agency could be on the chopping block.Federal workers this week have also been asked to account for what they've been doing on the clock. The Office of Personnel Management sent out a weekend email asking workers to reply with five bullet points on what they had worked on in the past week. However, some agencies later said that a response was voluntary or that they'd reply on behalf of their workers.Are you a federal worker with a story or tip? Contact this reporter on Signal at julianakaplan.33 or via email at jkaplan@businessinsider.com.

Donald Trump had talked about firing senior military commanders on the campaign trail as far back as last summer. After the election, his transition team reportedly drew up a list of senior officers to be fired. Trumps secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, had told a podcast just days before he was named to his position, First of all, youve got to fire the chairman of the Joint Chiefs. Still, the Friday night massacre that befell senior US military leaders, came as a shock. Those fired include Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. Charles Q. Brown, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti, Air Force Vice Chief of Staff James Slife, and the judge advocates general for the Army, Navy, and Air Force. Hegseths top military assistant, Lt. Gen. Jennifer Short, was relieved on Saturday.While Trump and Hegseth certainly have the right to assemble a team of military leaders they trust, the circumstances and timing of the purge raise troubling questions about whether the White House is seeking a military thats motivated not just by the nations security, but also by the administrations political agenda. And the firing of the three top military lawyers alongside the senior commanders raises concerns that Trump and Hegseth may look to challenge longstanding principles around the laws of war and accountability in the ranks. Trump had reportedly reconsidered firing Brown after a positive meeting in December, and lawmakers, including some Republicans, had hoped up until recent days that the administration could still be dissuaded from a move that could potentially mark a major shift in the relationship between the executive branch and the military, but to no avail. Even critics of the decision concede that the president, as commander-in-chief of the armed forces, was within his legal rights to replace these commanders. The president has the right to have military leaders he has confidence in, for whatever reason, said Kori Schake, the director of foreign and defense policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute and a former White House and Pentagon staffer. It doesnt even have to be a good reason.Presidents have, of course, relieved military commanders in their posts in the past. Some of the most famous examples include Abraham Lincoln cycling through five Union army commanders during the Civil War and Harry Truman publicly dismissing Gen. Douglas MacArthur from his command after he publicly criticized the administrations policies during the Korean War. Barack Obamas sacking of Gen. David McKiernan, commander of US forces in Afghanistan, in 2009, might be the nearest thing to a recent precedent for a president firing a general this early in his term. Some military officers and defense officials have argued in recent years that presidents should be less deferential to military leaders and more willing to fire them over battlefield failures. In this case, however, the difference is that these officers dont appear to have failed in their duties in an appreciable way. Trump praised Brown as an outstanding leader this week. It was Trump who elevated him to Air Force chief of staff in 2020, and Browns priorities, on paper at least, seem to be in line with the administrations. Brown has called for ruthless prioritization, including cutting established and expensive military programs, to focus on preparing the US for conflict with near-peer adversaries like Russia and China, exactly the sort of shift in priorities some of Trumps top advisers have also called for. What got Gen. Brown nominated and confirmed to be chief of staff at the Air Force was his adamance that we were unprepared for war with China and that we needed greater mission focus on lethality, Schake said. In theory, this should make him appealing to a secretary of defense who has vowed to make America lethal again, but the cardinal sin of Brown and the others appears to have been their perceived association with diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies, which have been Hegseths primary target since he was appointed. The underlying argument is that you cant pursue modernization and warfighting while you have DEI, said Jeffrey Edmonds, an Army veteran and former senior adviser in the secretary of defenses office.Brown was the first African American to serve as chair of the Joint Chiefs, and Hegseth had previously written that Brown may only have advanced to his position because of his skin color and that he has made the race card one of his biggest calling cards.Hegseth had likewise criticized Franchetti, the first woman to serve on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, whose four-decade career included numerous command posts, as a DEI hire. Slife, removed as Air Force vice chief of staff, had been accused of giving preferential treatment to a woman candidate for the Air Forces selective special operations branch, though he denied this. Its hard for this not to look like theyre firing women and people of color and people who say nice things about women and people of color, said Peter Feaver, a former National Security Council staffer and Duke University professor who studies civil-military relations. I dont think Hegseth would accept that, but since they havent provided much background to explain their decision, its hard to resist that interpretation.In Schakes view, the firing of the three judge advocates general for the Army, Navy, and Air Force, was the more worrisome move. These top officials, known as TJAGs, oversee the military internal justice system, dealing with both criminal and administrative discipline issues for Hegseth has, in his past writings, denigrated these officials as jagoffs and said during his confirmation hearing that his priority would make it a priority that lawyers arent the ones getting in the way of military effectiveness. During Trumps last term, Hegseth advocated for and supported the presidents pardons of two Army officials and a Navy SEAL accused of war crimes in Afghanistan. Two officers kicked out of the military for bucking the chain of command to publicly criticize military leaders during the Biden administration have also been named to senior Pentagon posts under Trump. Its reaching into the institution to send a signal that they want a different kind of approach to the laws of war, Schake said. I think it misunderstands the extent to which its advantageous to the United States that our military is widely perceived as a military that doesnt just follow the orders, it also follows the law.Hegseth said that the new TJAGs would be lawyers who give sound constitutional advice and dont exist to attempt to be roadblocks and described those fired as insulated officers who perpetuate the status quo,This, however, raises questions about what new status quo he is seeking. When youre firing the lawyers its because youre getting ready to do something illegal, Edmonds said. Next: a MAGA general?Browns replacement will be Air Force Lt. Gen. John Dan Razin Caine, a highly unusual move since Caine is only a three-star general, not a four-star commander of a combatant command or service branch, as would normally be required for the job of Joint Chiefs chair, and is also retired from active duty. (John F. Kennedys decision to recall the retired Maxwell Taylor to duty as his chair might be the closest parallel.) The chair is supposed to be an apolitical position this is one reason why it spans presidential administrations but Trumps comments about Caine do not suggest that is what he is looking for. The two met in 2018 in Iraq, when Caine was deputy commander of US Central Commands Special Operations Component. As Trump recalled it in a 2019 speech, Caine, a general out of central casting told the president he could wipe out ISIS in one week. Trump also says Caine told him he would kill for you while wearing a MAGA hat. Other officials recall the incident differently and describe Caine as not a political guy. Just how political a guy Caine is will likely be the main topic when he faces a Senate confirmation hearing. By all accounts, Caine though an untraditional pick for this role is an accomplished and respected military commander with several high-profile postings under his belt. The question lawmakers will want to press him on, Feaver says, is if he is a partisan general who is committed to a partisan agenda for the military.Looming over the proceedings will be the question of what Caine and other senior military commanders might do if they receive an unconstitutional order. Mark Milley, Browns predecessor as Joint Chiefs chair who has become an outspoken critic of Trump, has said he was concerned throughout his tenure, and particularly during the January 6 insurrection, that the military might be asked to do something that probably was extrajudicial or unconstitutional.This isnt the first time Trump has appointed a general out of central casting to a senior role, or even one with a tough-guy nickname. (Remember Mad Dog Mattis?) Its possible hes finally found his man in Razin Caine, but this presidents standards for loyalty are not easy to meet. See More: