Donald Trump on Friday downplayed the toll on American sailors enduring nearly nine months at sea on the USS Abraham Lincoln as concerns escalated about mental health and supply issues aboard the aircraft carrier supporting U.S. operations against Iran.
In a brief exchange with reporters before flying to New York for an event to highlight falling violent crime rates across the U.S., Trump refuted that family members have raised concerns about the deployment’s length and even said that the deployment — which includes a record-setting uninterrupted time at sea of more than 240 days — is “not nearly long enough.”
Authoritarian followers do not introspect, and they compartmentalise their beliefs to sustain contradiction. They are quick to forget the insults and failures of the dear leader, who tends to be deep into dark triad territory and is knowingly exploiting their collective frailty.