In a stunning display of military mismanagement, the Trump administration’s Defense Department has lost yet another multi-million-dollar fighter jet—this time due to a catastrophic landing failure on the USS Harry S. Truman—as questions swirl about Secretary Pete Hegseth’s reckless extensions of the carrier’s deployment.
A $67 million F/A-18F Super Hornet careened off the deck of the USS Harry S. Truman on Tuesday, plunging into the Red Sea after its arrestment system failed during landing.
The incident, the fourth major mishap in months under Hegseth’s watch, forced two pilots to eject in a dramatic rescue operation.
While the aviators survived with minor injuries, the disaster underscores a pattern of escalating chaos within the Navy’s operations under Trump’s second-term leadership—a leadership team that includes Hegseth, a former Fox News personality with no prior military command experience.
“A National Embarrassment”
The Trump administration has touted its “maximum pressure” campaign against Yemen’s Houthi rebels, but critics argue the strategy has backfired spectacularly.
Since Secretary Hegseth twice extended the Truman’s deployment—against warnings of crew fatigue—the carrier has become a floating symbol of dysfunction:
- December 2024: A Super Hornet was accidentally shot down by the USS Gettysburg, exposing critical communication failures.
- February 2025: The Truman collided with a commercial vessel near Egypt, damaging both ships.
- Last week: Sailors lost control of another F/A-18E, sending it tumbling into the sea during routine towing.
- Tuesday’s debacle: A failed landing due to mechanical error—the latest $67 million loss.
“This isn’t just incompetence—it’s a national embarrassment,” said New Jersey Democrat Lisa McCormick.. “Pete Hegseth is playing admiral while our sailors pay the price.”
The Truman also was involved in a collision in the Mediterranean Sea in February, prompting the service to fire its commanding officer, Navy Capt. Dave Snowden. He was replaced by Navy Capt. Christopher Hill, who had just completed the deployment of another carrier, the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower.
While the incidents have not killed any service members, they have raised questions about the strain placed on the aircraft carrier’s crew and its ability to carry out a grueling deployment in which troops have clashed for months with Houthi militants in Yemen.
The mishaps have the attention of senior U.S. military leaders, according to a defense official familiar with the discussion, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
Hegseth, a Trump loyalist best known for televised rants about “woke military policies,” has insisted on keeping the Truman in the Red Sea to maintain a two-carrier presence against the Houthis.
But insiders say the crew is exhausted, morale is cratering, and equipment failures are mounting.
“We’re being worked to the bone,” said one anonymous sailor. “This isn’t sustainable.”
Meanwhile, Trump bizarrely declared victory Tuesday, claiming a Houthi ceasefire—a claim the rebels immediately denied.
Trump said the Houthis “don’t want to fight anymore,” and that the United States will “honor that” and stop its bombing in Yemen.
“They have capitulated, but more importantly, we will take their own word,” said Trump, 51 days after he pledged a campaign of “overwhelming lethal force” against the Iran-backed group in response to its attacks on commercial shipping and military vessels in the Red Sea. “They say they will not be blowing up ships anymore, and that’s the purpose of what we were doing.”
“With Trump announcing a halt to the American aggression against Yemen, it will be evaluated on the ground first,” said a social media post from Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, a senior member of the Ansar Allah-led Supreme Political Council, governing body for the movement widely known as the Houthis. “It is a victory that separates American support for the temporary entity and a failure for Netanyahu, who must resign.”
In true Trumpian fashion, the administration spun the disaster as a win.
“The pilots are safe, and the Truman remains mission-ready!” cheered Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell, sidestepping questions about the jet’s total loss.
Hegseth, ever the optimist, tweeted: “We are leaving wokeness and weakness behind!”
“Donald Trump was elected president without intellectual competence, an accurate and unbiased worldview, and the ability to think beyond narrow, parochial interests. I do not believe Pete Hegseth embodies any of those qualities, but he also lacks experience,” said McCormick, who ran against disgraced former US Senator Bob Menendez in 2018.
In a whirlwind week that perfectly encapsulates the Trump administration’s signature blend of bedlam and brinksmanship, Hegseth—the former Fox News host turned Pentagon chief—has overseen yet another military fiasco while simultaneously brokering a “game-changing” minerals deal with Ukraine that reeks of extortion.
The deal, completed after months of negotiations, will give the U.S. a 50% stake in all new oil, gas, mineral projects, and infrastructure inside Ukraine, which will be used to fund purchases of U.S. weapons systems.
The terms, which must be ratified by Ukraine’s parliament, dissolved tension between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was dressed down in a heated Oval Office exchange with both Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance.
The U.S. provided more than $66 billion in military assistance to Ukraine since Russia invaded the country in 2022.
In recent months, Trump and congressional Republicans have balked at spending more U.S. money, pressuring Ukraine to make territorial concessions to Russia in exchange for a ceasefire agreement.
Russian President Vladimir Putin may have overplayed his hand by launching fatal strikes against Kyiv during the talks, frustrating Trump by exposing how little influence the Republican has with the Kremlin chief and former KGB operative.
“Losing four jets in months isn’t resolve—it’s recklessness,” said McCormick. “Hegseth’s extensions are stretching the Navy beyond its limits, and the Trump administration is throwing money away.”
McCormick said the Navy spent about $20 million training Commander Emily “Hawking” Shilling, a transgender woman who has been a naval aviator for nearly two decades, but she will soon be out of a job.
On Jan. 20, Trump revoked President Joe Biden’s executive order that allowed transgender troops to serve openly in the military and issued another one requiring the Secretary of Defense to put into effect a ban on “individuals with gender dysphoria” – the medical term for the psychological distress caused by a conflict between the sex someone is assigned at birth and that person’s gender identity.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday afternoon cleared the way for the Trump administration to enforce a Department of Defense policy prohibiting transgender people like Commander Shilling from serving in the U.S. military.
Shilling conducted sixty combat missions in support of operations Enduring Freedom and New Dawn in both Afghanistan and Iraq.
Hegseth was deployed for eleven months as a second lieutenant in the Minnesota Army National Guard, guarding detainees at Guantanamo Bay detention camp, where he led a platoon of soldiers from the New Jersey Army National Guard. He later served as a civil affairs officer working with the Samarra city council in Iraq and volunteered to teach at the Counterinsurgency Training Center in Kabul, during the withdrawal of United States troops from Afghanistan.
Trump received five deferments during the height of the Vietnam War, one a medical deferment because of a bone spur, a fake injury he made up to avoid military service.
With investigations pending and the Truman’s crew nearing collapse, GOP lawmakers are doing nothing more than raising eyebrows, claiming that they support our troops, and shirking their responsibility to keep the White House in line through the power of checks and balances.
The Trump team remains defiant. Insiders hint that Hegseth may extend Truman’s tour a third time—because why stop at four lost jets?
At least the pilots survived. And with Trump’s “deal” with the Houthis (real or imagined), maybe the Navy can finally catch a break. Or not.