President Donald Trump’s dismissive comments about bad conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln will come back to bite him, according to a new analysis.
Trump’s refusal to comfort families whose loved ones are reportedly attempting to hurl themselves overboard could prove disastrous for Republican candidates fighting to represent districts with active-duty military populations, the Washington Post reported Wednesday.
“It hits home very much for our district,” Elaine Luria, the Democrat running to oust Rep. Jen Kiggans in Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District, told the Post. “I’d be talking about it all day, every day.”
Trump is reportedly desperate to hold onto Republican majorities in the House and Senate as the Justice department makes moves to shield him from investigation, should Democrats be empowered in November to launch one.
On Wednesday, Washington Post columnist Dan Merica argued MAGA Republicans’ decision to swiftly echo his rhetoric regarding the Lincoln could lower the odds on their holding their majorities — and pointed to Kiggans as proof.
Kiggans also called the USS Lincoln reports “fake news” and blamed the media for spreading “misinformation about our great Navy,” according to the Post.
It isn’t the first time her dismissals have raised eyebrows.
Kiggans received considerable criticism in March when concerns about the aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford spurred her to snap, “This is not Carnival Cruise, this is the U.S. Navy.”
Now her Democratic candidate has a strong platform to present to military families in the battleground district, the Post argued.
“Concern about the war is so much more personal in our district,” Luria said. “They’re sending your sons, daughters, husbands, wives, into harm’s way. And they’re not even compassionate about it. So it really shows like a broader carelessness about veterans and service members.”
John Sitka III, chairman of the Republican Party of Norfolk, argued to the Post that the war clearly “exposes the administration” to criticism.
“These kinds of dust-ups have been common during Trump’s terms, and they follow a similar pattern — a few news reports lead to a controversial statement, followed by a doubling down,” wrote Merica. “And they are often forgotten in a few weeks.
“But what makes these comments interesting is that Trump’s rhetoric about the Lincoln might be remembered well.”
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