Gallego: USS Lincoln concerns prove Trump views servicemembers as 'toys'
The Hill · C · trust 36/100
Comments: by Max Rego - 08/16/26 11:25 AM ET Comments: Link copied by Max Rego - 08/16/26 11:25 AM ET Comments: Link copied NOW PLAYING Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego (Ariz.) said Sunday the reported mental health concerns among servicemembers on board the USS Abraham Lincoln are proof that President Trump does not care about their well-being.
“The president has shown that he just doesn’t really care about the troops,” Gallego told host Martha Raddatz on ABC’s “This Week.”
“His... lackadaisical attitude about men and women and their deployments... just kind of reflects what he actually thinks about them,” added Gallego, who served in the Marines. “He thinks about them more as toys and as ways to basically show off or show his strength, but not the fact that they truly, at the end of the day, are humans.
“They’re Americans. And they have families, and these things, these deployments, these wars have consequences.”
Families of servicemembers on board the USS Lincoln say multiple sailors have tried to jump overboard during the carrier’s 260-plus-day deployment.
The aircraft carrier, with about 5,000 sailors and Marines on board, has been deployed since Nov. 21 of last year — with the Navy extending its deployment in support of the U.S. war with Iran.
Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have denied an increase in suicide attempts on the carrier, which acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao said earlier this week will soon return home as part of a planned rotation.
“That ship is moving right now, or very shortly and is being replaced with another very similar ship,” Trump told reporters on Friday, referring to the USS George Washington, which the Navy will send to replace the Lincoln in the Middle East.
Senate and House Democrats . have pressed Hegseth and other military officials for answers on the reported concerns among service members. On Thursday, Gallego joined Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) in demanding an official, bipartisan visit to the carrier.
The Arizona Democrat on Sunday further criticized the administration for the reported issues, telling Raddatz they indicate Hegseth is “absolutely not qualified” for his position.
Gallego specifically referenced a conversation he had with the wife of a servicemember on board, during which she said Navy officials have not fully resolved servicemembers’ mental health concerns.
In announcing the impending return of the Lincoln, Cao acknowledged officials treated a “small” number of mental health cases without a loss of life, adjusted meal plans when “fresh resupply was unavailable” without missing a single meal and limited sailors’ calls home because the “operational threat was too high.”
Cao also claimed media outlets are trying to paint “our warriors as victims.” While Gallego did not mention the acting Navy secretary by name, the senator said military officials “downplaying” the “sacrifice” servicemembers have made will have negative consequences.
“So when [servicemembers] get back to home and they start having that conversation with their wife or with their husband, is it worth rejoining? They’re going to have to think twice because look at how this leadership is treating them,” the Arizona senator predicted.
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