by Clarissa-Jan Lim | Aug 15, 2026 | News, White House, World
On the heels of President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth dismissing reports of poor living conditions and low morale aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell blamed the media for what he called “a false narrative.”
“Combat deployments bring real hardship. That is simply the truth,” Parnell wrote in a post on X on Friday.
“The media treatment of the USS Abraham Lincoln is something different,” he added. “Legitimate challenges of a long combat deployment are being twisted into a false narrative, while the genuine difficulties faced by military families are being used for headlines. That is shameful.”
Parnell’s rejection of the dire issues reported aboard the aircraft carrier, which has been at sea for nine months now, is in lockstep with Trump and Hegseth’s comments this week about the controversy.
When asked about the Lincoln’s extended deployment, Trump said Friday that it was “not nearly long enough” and denied that families had expressed concern about the service members onboard. Hegseth said conditions onboard were “completely misrepresented.”
The Lincoln has spent the past five months engaged in combat operations against Iran, and its deployment at sea appears to have been extended twice during the war. It broke a modern day record for the most continuous days at sea without a port call earlier in July.
Families of the sailors and Marines have repeatedly sounded the alarm about the declining mental health of the sailors aboard and the conditions on the ship. A dozen family members of crew members told MS NOW about excruciatingly long shifts, food shortages, broken toilets and a lack of basic supplies like soap and toothpaste.
The
by Steve Benen | Aug 14, 2026 | Iran, Iran Tensions, Maddowblog, News, Politics, World
It’s been more than a week since MS NOW first reported on the conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, including moldy showers, food shortages and sailors running out of basic necessities, like soap.
The report, based on conversations with a dozen family members with loved ones serving on the ship, sounded the alarm about “excruciatingly long shifts” and potentially dangerous conditions as the aircraft carrier enters its ninth month at sea and its fifth consecutive month of combat operations against Iran. The Lincoln, MS NOW went on to note, left its home port of San Diego on Nov. 21 and has set a modern-day record for the most continuous days at sea.
President Donald Trump said effectively nothing about this until Friday afternoon, during a brief Q&A with reporters.
Q: The family members of US service members are concerned about the conditions on the USS LincolnTRUMP: No they’re notQ: Has the deployment gone on too long?TRUMP: No no no. Not nearly long enough.— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2026-08-14T17:16:35.974Z
When one reporter noted that family members of U.S. service members are “concerned about the conditions” on the USS Lincoln, the president started to reply before rejecting the premise of what he’d been asked. “No, they’re not,” the Republican said.
After insisting that the Lincoln would soon be “replaced” by another ship, Trump was asked whether the current deployment has gone on too long.
“No, no, no,” Trump replied. Leaning in closer to the press corps for emphasis, he quickly added, “Not nearly long enough.”
At that point, the president turned and walked away.
The suggestion that the family members of sailors and Marines aboard the USS Lincoln are not concerned
by Kevin Baron | Aug 14, 2026 | Opinion, White House, World
I love my media colleagues, but they and others being made decoys in President Donald Trump’s secret, switcheroo plane swap in Turkey last month so the president could avoid a perceived assassination threat is not the top story. We should focus on the first fact: that there was a perceived international assassination threat against the U.S. president so serious that security officials believed he had to be pulled off Air Force One, put on a separate plane and secreted away from a NATO summit in Ankara, the capital city of a member country.
That shouldn’t happen.
The escapade illustrates three worrying issues: First, whether an actual threat existed or not, there appear to be U.S. intelligence and security gaps. Second, animosity toward Trump has reached a level that such a foreign attempt would seem plausible, especially in Turkey. Third, U.S. and Israeli intelligence services have credibility problems, which many believe are being caused by the countries’ top leaders.
The escapade illustrates three worrying issues.
Was the threat real? If not, then why did U.S. officials so readily believe it? According to multiple reports, the warning did not come from U.S. intelligence; Israeli intelligence alleged there was a threat from an Iranian-sourced shoulder-fired missile. Such missiles are especially frightening because they are so hard to detect or defend. CIA officials assessed the claim as “Israeli-derived, not U.S.-generated, and viewed as low confidence,” The Washington Post reported Wednesday. Those CIA officials reportedly told Trump administration officials as much. The president was moved anyway.
As with any credible threat of presidential assassination, Congress should quickly hold classified and unclassified hearings with Secret Service, U.S. military and intelligence leaders. The
by Allison Detzel | Aug 14, 2026 | News, World
“Morning Joe” co-host Joe Scarborough tore into Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, saying sailors are being treated “like trash” as reports of dire conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln continue to emerge. In an exclusive interview with MS NOW, the wife of one service member said her husband had grown so desperate to get off the ship that he jumped from the aircraft carrier last week in what she described as a suicide attempt.
According to their families, crew members have raised concerns about increasingly difficult conditions aboard the ship, which has broken a modern-day record for consecutive days at sea while assisting the military’s efforts in the war with Iran. Sailors have complained of shortages of fresh food and hygiene supplies, as well as mounting exhaustion, low morale and mental health concerns.
Hegseth dismissed the concerns, saying that reports of conditions on the carrier had been “completely misrepresented.”
But Scarborough was not buying the defense secretary’s story.
“It’s about military readiness,” he said Thursday on “Morning Joe,” adding, “The basics always start with readiness. Are men and women of the United States military militarily ready to go into combat if called upon? And this is the exact opposite of what you do to make sure that they are prepared and ready to go.”
The MS NOW host said he had “never seen anything like this before” and told viewers the situation showcased Hegseth’s lopsided priorities at the Pentagon.
“This is what happens when you have a defense secretary that’s obsessed about the color of people’s skin, whether somebody is a man or a woman, testosterone levels, this obsession over DEI — and that’s all we ever
by Erum Salam | Aug 14, 2026 | Civil Rights, News, White House, World
The State Department announced the creation of a task force that targets so-called birth tourism, which aims to prevent people from traveling to the U.S. on tourist visas for the primary purpose of giving birth to secure U.S. citizenship for their children.
According to the State Department, the “Task Force to End Birth Tourism” reviews the activities of U.S. visa holders to monitor for potential activity it deems as “instances of birth tourism,” then revokes visas “of those who engage in or facilitate it.” The task force has already revoked more than 600 visas from foreign nationals, according to a government fact sheet.
The State Department did not disclose how the task force would be reviewing the activity, but said it analyzes information held by the State Department, the Department of Homeland Security and other federal agencies.
The new task forces come after President Donald Trump signed two executive orders last week aimed at limiting the scope of birthright citizenship, a key objective of his second term.
The first executive order expanded the definition of people the administration says are ineligible for birthright citizenship. The second executive order targeted “birth tourism,” in which foreign nationals travel to the U.S. to give birth so their children automatically receive U.S. citizenship. Trump called birthright citizenship “a disgrace” when signing the new orders.
“As President Trump has made clear, citizenship is not a commodity to be acquired through the calculated exploitation of U.S. immigration laws,” the State Department said in a statement on the task force.
It is already illegal for people to obtain tourist visas “for the primary purpose of obtaining U.S. citizenship for a child by giving birth in the
by Priya Sridhar | Aug 12, 2026 | Iran, News, World
As the USS Abraham Lincoln completes its 264 day on deployment supporting the war with Iran, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., wrote a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao demanding answers about conditions aboard the aircraft carrier that were first reported by MS NOW.
The carrier beat a modern day record for the most continuous days at sea without a port call in early July, raising concerns from family members about exhaustion and low morale potentially leading to deadly accidents.
Family members also expressed to MS NOW and at two subsequent town halls with Navy leaders last week that they are worried about food shortages; a lack of hygienic products, such as deodorant, toothpaste and soap; moldy showers, nonoperational toilets; and laundry facilities that have been broken for weeks.
“These reports warrant immediate attention, but they also raise a broader question: whether the Navy can sustain the operational tempo now being demanded of its carrier force, particularly as this Administration repeatedly commits U.S. forces to conflicts of its own choosing and increasingly relies on aircraft carriers to sustain those operations,” Blumenthal wrote in the letter dated Aug. 12.
The Lincoln left San Diego on Nov. 21, made a brief port call in Guam on Dec. 11 and then didn’t stop again until July 7, when it quickly stopped at a port in Oman.
The Lincoln isn’t the only aircraft carrier that recently broke a Navy record. The USS Ford spent 326 days at sea, breaking a record for longest modern day carrier deployment after supporting both Operation Epic Fury and military operations in Venezuela.
“The Lincoln’s prolonged deployment is
