Pete Hegseth stood up in Panama City this week and said the reports coming off the USS Abraham Lincoln are “completely misrepresented.” Moldy showers? Misrepresented. Broken toilets? Misrepresented. Sailors rationing soap and meals while working 16-hour shifts with no days off for nine straight months? Misrepresented. A sailor’s wife telling Navy leaders her husband messaged her that “he hopes he doesn’t wake up tomorrow”? Apparently that’s misrepresented too.
Here’s what I know. Five thousand sailors and Marines left San Diego on November 21. They were supposed to be gone seven months. It’s been 264 days. They went 208 consecutive days without touching land. That is the longest any American carrier has stayed at sea without a port call in the modern era. The ship made one quick stop in Oman on July 7 and went right back out. There is still no homecoming date.
Donald Trump, who promised he would never start a new war, launched an air campaign against Iran in February. He told the country it would last a “few weeks.” It’s been five months. The Lincoln has been in the fight the entire time.
So when Hegseth says “we make sure every ship, every crew, every captain has everything we can provide them at every single moment,” I have a question for the manager. Which moment? The moment a sailor ate two tortillas and a half-cup of rice for dinner? The moment the laundry room broke and stayed broken for weeks? The moment a doctor on the ship reportedly warned the crew needed to reach port before people started “losing their minds”?
These aren’t leaks from some disgruntled blogger. Navy Times and Stars and Stripes broke the story. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Marine Corps reservist, wrote a formal letter demanding answers and gave the Navy two weeks. Sen. Ruben Gallego, who actually served in combat, called it “disgusting” and “dangerous” and said he’s pushing for a bipartisan oversight visit. Rep. Sara Jacobs warned that the kind of exhaustion being reported on the Lincoln carries a heightened risk of suicide. Multiple sailors have tried to jump overboard. One was restrained by crewmates who happened to be on watch.
And Hegseth’s response? “Misrepresented.” This is the same man who looked at photographs of near-empty meal trays from the Lincoln back in April, saw parents screaming that their kids were going hungry, and called it “fake news.” He didn’t visit the ship. He didn’t order an inspection. He called the families liars and moved on.
U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class James R. Evans (Public domain) via Wikimedia CommonsHere’s the part that really ought to make you want to flip a table. Two days before the families went public this time, Trump sat in the Oval Office and signed an order creating a new panel on military family welfare. He put Hegseth’s wife, Jennifer, in charge of it. The panel includes Christie Mullin, wife of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, and 20 spouses of senior military leaders. So the same administration that stranded 5,000 people at sea for nine months without enough soap wants you to believe Jennifer Hegseth is going to fix military family welfare from a conference room in Washington.
Meanwhile, the Associated Press counted 51 military spouses taken into immigration custody since Trump took office. At least six have been deported. Markwayne Mullin’s department is doing the arresting. His wife is on the welfare panel. You can’t make this up.
Bonnie York voted for Trump because he promised no new wars. Her stepson is on the Lincoln. She told reporters, “You’ve essentially stranded them out there.” Nicole Conrad also voted for Trump. She hasn’t seen her son’s face in months. She wants Hegseth to go see the ship himself. He won’t.
The USS Theodore Roosevelt is supposedly being sent to relieve the Lincoln. The Navy can’t say when, citing “operational security.” The Wall Street Journal says the USS George Washington is coming as part of a “previously scheduled rotation plan.” Previously scheduled. Nine months in, and they’re still scheduling.
Five thousand Americans are floating in the Persian Gulf with moldy showers, broken toilets, and no idea when they’re coming home. The defense secretary says it’s all misrepresented. The president says the war will be over in a few weeks. The families are begging someone to listen.
So I’ll ask again, for the people in the back: if everything is fine, why are sailors trying to jump off the ship?