Talk to him, Goose.
Over the past week, two big stories have vividly illustrated how Donald Trump’s magical thinking is making a mess of the U.S. Navy. One is a real crisis aboard an aircraft carrier that is a direct consequence of Trump’s ill-conceived war with Iran, and the other is an absurd distraction that may have something to do with Trump’s preference for classic naval architecture, his confusion about how magnets work, or his love 1980s pop culture.
First, there were reports of dire and deteriorating conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, which has been deployed for more than 260 days and on Monday set a new modern record of 207 days at sea without a port call. According to family members of some of the 5,000 sailors onboard, morale has gotten so bad that some of the crew have contemplated or even attempted to jump overboard to their death.
The reason the Abraham Lincoln hasn’t had a port call for so long, as well as why it has suffered shortages of supplies and fresh food, is reportedly that the Navy base in Bahrain that U.S. warships would normally rely on during a Middle East deployment was heavily damaged by Iranian air strikes soon after the war began. An alternative Emirati port in the Gulf of Oman, which could easily be targeted by Iran, is no longer an option either. Another aircraft carrier, the USS George Washington, is on its way to relieve the Lincoln, but while career U.S. military officials have acknowledged and seem to be working to address the problems, Trump has dismissed the reports as fake news and said the ship has been deployed “not nearly long enough.”
