President Donald Trump reacts as he holds a press conference at the end of his participation in the NATO leaders summit at the Bestepe Presidential Compound in Ankara, Turkey, July 8, 2026. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
The latest military scandal engulfing the Trump administration has exposed how badly the president and his officials have botched the "common sense" basics of war-fighting, according to one Army veteran.
Andy Levy is a journalist and podcast host, known for often taking conservative or libertarian stances, while being notably critical of President Donald Trump. He is also a veteran of the U.S. Army, having been stationed at the Demilitarized Zone in South Korea during Operation Desert Storm.
This week, he was a guest on the "Fast Politics" podcast, where host Molly Jong-Fast pressed him for his reaction to the ongoing fiasco surrounding the USS Abraham Lincoln, given his own military background. Recent reports have revealed the alarming conditions aboard the naval vessel, which has been stationed in the Middle East since November and is nearing the record for the longest-ever deployment. Aboard the ship, troops and officers are reportedly dealing with worsening food and resource shortages, as well as deteriorating physical conditions, with some areas becoming infested with mold. Some troops have also reportedly attempted to jump overboard to escape the conditions onboard, revealing the true extent of the desperation they are dealing with.
Levy argued that the situation exposed the right's hypocrisy, given their oft-repeated claims about supporting the troops, as well as the Trump administration's dismissal of troop morale as a key factor when managing an army.
"I can't speak to what it's like to be stuck on a ship for nine months. I can imagine it's not pleasant," Levy said, "And the reports coming out of it certainly weren't pleasant. And, you know, it makes you think about how all these people on the right always talk about loving the troops, but they don't seem to really care about the troops' general welfare, which is sort of an important thing to do."
He continued: "On top of which, you know, [Defense Secretary Pete] Hegseth is always running around talking about warfighters and stuff like that. And it's just like, again, this is part of like they seem to think that morale doesn't matter, that people should just be carrying out their duties and they're tough, and they're warfighters, and it's such a load of s——. Troop morale is incredibly important for reasons I suspect, Molly, you will realize are obvious: Troops whose morale is good are going to perform better, and, you know, they don't seem to understand that."
The matter of the food shortages reported aboard the Abraham Lincoln, Levy added, shows another basic aspect of waging a war: logistics.
"It's all these little things that someone like Pete Hegseth is not at all concerned about, doesn't give a s—— about, doesn't even think about," Levy added. "And, you know, there are certain tropes that go back centuries. I don't know if it was Napoleon who said an army travels on its stomach, and then going back even further than that, anyone who has any grasp of military history or just common sense knows that if your army is not well fed, if the certain little creature comforts, which i hesitate to even call them that because like a working toilet is not really a creature comfort it's just it's kind of a necessity... if you don't have that stuff, you're in bad shape."