Comedian Bill Maher criticized the reported conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln and President Donald Trump's response to concerns raised by families of deployed sailors. Maher described the situation as "deplorable" during his show "Real Time."
Reports from Military Times and Stars and Stripes indicated that multiple sailors aboard the aircraft carrier had attempted to jump from the ship. One spouse reportedly shared a text message from her husband expressing hopelessness.
When presented with these concerns, President Trump reportedly stated that families were "not" concerned and claimed the deployment had not been "long enough."
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, according to reports, characterized the news of poor conditions as "completely misrepresented" and affirmed that the U.S. provides deployed personnel with "everything we can."
Maher, who has previously expressed a desire for U.S. withdrawal from conflicts, argued that while the mission in the Middle East was initially "worth fighting," the Trump administration "fucked it up."