This is galling in the extreme. Like others, I was initially willing to give Modly the benefit of the doubt, because Capt. Crozier had broken the chain of command, which is everything in the military. (And one reason among a zillion others why Trump is singularly unfit to be Commander-in-Chief, but I digress.) But Modly has proven that he is just as unfit for the post he's in, trying to make Crozier the scapegoat for their own ineptitude, and needlessly creating a public relations nightmare for the Navy.

Are all of Trump's people bereft of any semblance of common sense? That's a rhetorical question. Of course they are.

Modly should resign, effective immediately.

Source: CNN

The Acting Secretary of the Navy Thomas Modly blasted the now-ousted commander of the USS Theodore Roosevelt as "stupid" in an address to the ship's crew Monday morning, in remarks obtained by CNN.

Modly told the crew that their former commander, Capt. Brett Crozier, was either "too naive or too stupid" to be in command or that he intentionally leaked to the media a memo in which he warned about coronavirus spreading aboard the aircraft carrier and urged action to save his sailors.

The acting secretary accused Crozier of committing a "betrayal" and creating a "big controversy" in Washington by disseminating the warning so widely.

"It was a betrayal. And I can tell you one other thing: because he did that he put it in the public's forum and it is now a big controversy in Washington, DC," Modly said, according to a transcript of remarks Modly made to the crew, copies of which have been provided to CNN by multiple Navy officials.

Transcript below:

Audio below:

If you listen closely, you can hear sailors yelling profanities at the Acting Secretary of the Navy as he made his remarks.

Twitter reacted immediately with disgust and outrage.