President Donald Trump has a constitutional obligation to check his ego at the door when it comes to military readiness. Increasingly, he is failing to do so, and it is having deleterious consequences for the Navy.

Trump reacted petulantly to concerns about conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier. Operating in the Arabian Sea, the carrier was supposed to return home in June. But the war with Iran has significantly extended its deployment. The crew and carrier air wing have had just one liberty port call during their long voyage, a single-day stop in Guam in December 2025. They have now spent more than six months at sea, working seven days a week, 12 hours or more each day, under wartime conditions.