'Trump sent them to war, kept them at sea for 260 days - then sneered they hadn’t suffered enough'

For nine months, more than 5,000 sailors and Marines aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln have been stuck on a deployment that was never supposed to last. Their mission was transformed by a war they did not choose, ordered by an ego that did. The carrier left San Diego last November bound for the Pacific. Then Donald Trump launched his needless assault on Iran, and it was redirected to the Middle East, where its crew has now spent a record 260 consecutive days without touching land. Families have described broken toilets, mouldy showers, laundry failures, shortages and poor food. More seriously, there have been reports of sailors attempting to jump overboard. One wife said her husband texted that he hoped he would not wake up the next morning. Trump and his flunkies dispute claims of a worsening suicide crisis and insist support is available. But the sailors are still there for one reason: their Commander-in-Chief chose this war. Trump loves playing wartime president. The flags. The uniforms. The missiles. The parades. The chance to stand behind a lectern and tell everyone how strong he is. The convenient part is that somebody else has to do the fighting. He won the White House promising to keep America out of the sort of open-ended Middle East conflicts he spent years mocking Washington politicians for starting. Then, presented with his own chance to show restraint, he reached for the missiles while threatening to wipe out entire civilisations. The man who promised to end endless wars started another. And when he was asked whether the Lincoln's crew had been away too long, Trump replied: "Not nearly long enough." Four words that reveal everything about the man. Nine months at sea, exhausted crews, frightened families and sailors reportedly at breaking point - and Captain Bone Spurs apparently thinks they should toughen up. There is something particularly nauseating about military swagger from a man who avoided serving in Vietnam through a series of deferments, including one for supposed dodgy feet. Trump later mocked army veteran John McCain, who spent more than five years as a prisoner of war after being shot down over North Vietnam. "He's a war hero because he was captured," Trump sneered. "I like people that weren't captured." The now late senator was tortured in captivity. Trump was safely at home. Yet somehow he still appointed himself judge of courage. Then came reports that he called Americans killed in war "losers" and "suckers". Trump denied them, but his former chief of staff, John Kelly, a retired Marine general whose son was killed in Afghanistan, later publicly backed the account. It fits an old pattern. Trump adores the military as theatre. Aircraft carriers make magnificent backdrops. Generals look impressive standing nearby. Soldiers are useful when there is a flag to salute or a speech to make. The human beings inside those uniforms seem rather less interesting once the cameras disappear. That is what makes his response to the Lincoln crew so ugly. Trump chose this war. He ordered others to fight it. He boasts about its destruction. Yet when those carrying the burden are exhausted and desperate to come home, their Commander-in-Chief mocks the very idea that they have sacrificed enough. "Not nearly long enough" could almost be the Trump doctrine: unlimited sacrifice, provided somebody else is making it. He can wrap himself in as many flags as he likes. Real patriotism means valuing the lives you send into danger. Trump started a war America did not need, left thousands of servicemen and women carrying the cost and then treated their exhaustion as a punchline. His troops have sacrificed enough. Trump, who has spent a lifetime making sure the sacrifice belongs to somebody else, may never understand what that means. For mental health support, contact the Samaritans on 116 123, email them at [email protected] or visit samaritans.org to find your nearest branch.