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| - A now-defunct X account with a history of sharing misinformation appeared to be the source of the quote.
In April and May 2026, social media users alleged Gen. Randy George — the former U.S. Army chief of staff whom Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ousted on April 2 — said, "A madman will lead the great U.S. military to ruin."
According to The Associated Press, Hegseth did not provide a reason for George's removal, which came weeks after the U.S. and Israel started a war with Iran and followed numerous other firings of generals and admirals during President Donald Trump's second term.
As an example of the rumor, David J. Harris Jr. — host of the Newsmax TV show "The Pulse" — shared a Facebook post (archived) alleging, "BREAKING: An hour after announcing his resignation, the U.S. Army Chief of Staff says: 'A madman [Trump] will lead the great U.S. military to ruin.'" Other users shared the rumor, some mentioning George by name and some not, on Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Reddit, Threads, TikTok and X. Snopes readers also emailed us to ask whether George said the quote.
(David J. Harris Jr. accessed via Facebook)
In sum, no credible news media outlets or journalists reported about George saying the quote. Searches of Bing, DuckDuckGo, Google and Yahoo, as well as searches of the social media accounts of journalists who covered George's ouster, found nothing of the sort. All available data pointed to the quote originating in a post on a since-removed X account that had a history of sharing misinformation.
Citing unnamed sources, some reporters wrote on X and in articles that George penned an email addressed to "Army leaders" regarding his departure as Army chief of staff. The purported email did not include the "madman" quote, reading in part, "Our Soldiers are truly the best in the world — they deserve tough training and courageous leaders of character. I have no doubt you will all continue to lead with courage, character, and grit."
We emailed Newsmax to ask Harris for comment regarding sharing the quote from a dubious source, as well as the Army's public affairs office to inquire whether it could verify the alleged George email. We also attempted to reach George through a previously-active email address but received a delivery failure notice.
Looking for the original 'madman' post
The earliest post the aforementioned searches located containing the "madman" quote originated from the defunct @AnsarNews_en X account on April 3. As of May 19, the account displayed the message, "Account suspended."
Bing displayed search-result remnants of several posts showing the @AnsarNews_en account shared misinformation, including the fabricated claim that Russia announced future oil and gas deals with Europe would be priced in Iranian currency. Other posts advanced similar evidence-free claims of an Israeli rabbi named David Lau dying, as well as of China rejecting an Israeli request to enact a law criminalizing anti-Israel sentiment, supposedly declaring, "We do not allow foreign entities to dictate the rights of our people."
Some X users reposted the @AnsarNews_en post with the "quote" option — including this one (archived) — showing time stamps earlier than any other posts containing the "madman" quote.
(@PopescuCo accessed via X)
Despite the account's removal, as of May 19, Google search results still displayed a preview of the post when searching for the post's original link address, including showing the post received more than 113,600 likes. Yahoo search results helped to further confirm the April 3 date. We did not locate an archived post link showing what the post originally looked like.
(Google)
Later on April 3, another X user posted (archived) the rumor without mention of @AnsarNews_en. That post — with photos of George and Trump — received millions of views. Users have since shared many other posts advancing the rumor, including those linked earlier in this article.
(@World_Affairs11 accessed via X)
Prior to the @AnsarNews_en X account's suspension, Google search results confirmed the user's bio called it the "official English account of the Ansarollah official website." That designation potentially referenced "Ansar Allah," the formal name for Yemen's Houthi movement. We attempted to contact a spokesperson via the movement's associated website, ansarollah.com.ye. Our attempt to access the website at publishing time failed, and the IsItDownRightNow.com returned the message, "Ansarollah.com.ye is DOWN for everyone."
For further reading, we previously reported about fake videos involving George allegedly issuing a statement on live TV declaring Trump a direct threat to national security and calling for him to be immediately removed from office.
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