Month: September 2025

• US President Donald Trump once again shared his thoughts on the appearance of Navy vessels.
• He told generals and admirals how he feels about “ugly” warships.
• Trump has repeatedly fixated on the aesthetics of naval vessels across both his administrations.

US President Donald Trump went off Tuesday on the aesthetics of US Navy warships, talking to a crowd of hundreds of generals and admirals about an unspecified stealthy design that he thinks is “ugly.”

The president has a long history of criticizing the appearance of American warships. He’s compared them to rival navies, commented on the designs and technology involved, and also bothered senior officials about things like rust.

During Tuesday’s summit of American military leaders at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia, Trump said that he’s “not a fan” of some of the Navy’s ships.

The focus of the discussion got a lot less clear from there. “They say, ‘Oh, it’s stealth.’ I said, ‘That’s not stealth.’ An ugly ship is not necessary in order to say you’re stealth.” Trump also called himself “a very aesthetic person.” 

The president didn’t specify which vessels he was speaking about. The Navy does have stealth warships though, specifically the Zumwalt-class destroyers. The ship’s tumblehome hull design is intended to reduce the ship’s radar cross-section, making it harder for adversaries to detect. The sea service has also explored stealthy designs.

Trump has made many comments about the look and function of Navy vessels in the past, and many complaints made during his first administration have continued into his second.

Mark Esper, Trump’s former defense secretary during the first administration, documented several such instances in his memoir, including Trump complaining on “multiple occasions” that Navy ships “look ugly” especially compared to Russian or Italian counterparts, which the president reportedly said looked “nicer, sleeker, like a real ship.”

Esper recalled telling the president that US warships “are built to fight and win, not win beauty contests; we prize function over form,” but that didn’t satisfy Trump.

At the end of his first term, Trump jokingly took credit for the aesthetic design of the Navy’s new frigate. “That’s a terrible-looking ship, let’s make it beautiful. It’ll cost you the same, and maybe less,” he recalled himself saying. Trump said his feedback ultimately led to the design changing, making what he called “like a yacht with missiles on it.”

And across both his terms, Trump has raised several complaints about the USS Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carriers. Per Esper’s book, Trump repeatedly called the first-in-class Ford “overpriced” and “broken,” focusing on its electromagnetic catapults and elevators for aircraft. He also said that the carrier’s island “looks really bad — it’s stupid,” pitching that the command center be moved toward the middle of the warship.

As Esper wrote, for Trump, “the most important thing always seemed to be about the image and ‘the look.'” 

Weeks into his second term, in February 2025, the president again criticized the Ford, noting its severe cost overruns and problems with the catapults and elevators. That was less appearance, and more technology. Trump has expressed skepticism with some of the newer systems on the ship.

But looks have still come up. His Navy secretary, John Phelan, said during his confirmation hearing that same month that Trump regularly texted him about the look of Navy warships. 

“I jokingly say that President Trump has texted me numerous times very late at night — sometimes after one in the morning,” he told lawmakers, adding that the texts are about “rusty ships or ships in a yard, asking me, what am I doing about it?”

Trump’s speech at Tuesday’s unusual military summit trailed into a variety of different topics and rehashed previous talking points. On ships, the president brought up budgeting for more Navy ships because the US “basically doesn’t built ships anymore.” 

Fixing problems with US shipbuilding, including major delays for top Navy programs and cost overruns, has been a priority for the second Trump administration and military officials, but questions remain on plans to realistically realize common talking points and revitalize the industry and work with US allies and partners to counter China, which continues to dominate shipbuilding. 

• MSNBC plans to triple the number of events it puts on next year.
• The network also aims to capitalize on its fandom with a DTC subscription product.
• MSNBC, along with CNN, has experienced declines in viewership under the Trump administration.

As MSNBC prepares to be hived off from NBCUniversal and reintroduce itself as MS Now, it’s making sure its audience knows who it is — live and in person. The cable network aims to triple its events next year from three in an effort to diversify its business.

Leading the expansion is Marcus Mabry, who joined from CNN four months ago as SVP of content strategy. He envisions a range of events — big and small, virtual and live, open and invite-only — supported by a mix of sponsors and ticket sales. Possible topics include health, particularly mental health, and wellness. The company is also considering events with a focus on men and Gen Z.

In addition to in-person events, MSNBC is exploring an expansive direct-to-consumer subscription product that includes virtual events and premium content, the company said.

MSNBC is looking to capitalize on its loyal viewers, taking a page from its corporate sibling Bravo’s BravoCon, where reality TV fans can interact with the network’s celebrity stars over three days in Las Vegas.

“I’m excited about the fandom I see,” Mabry said. “It’s unlike anything I’ve seen in the world of a lot of commodity news. Our watchers aren’t just an audience, they’re a community. The time we’re in right now, there’s a greater thirst for connection with our talent.”

The stakes are high for networks like MSNBC. Cable news has been in decline for years as more people cut the cord and shift their entertainment and sports viewing to streaming. Major cable network parent companies Comcast and Warner Bros. Discovery have decided to spin off many of their cable networks. Now, the test is whether channels like MSNBC can survive and thrive in a new era when direct audience connection is increasingly important.

Other cable news networks have had live events in different forms. CNN has had “Citizen by CNN,” a recurring virtual series featuring its journalists to discuss the issues of the day. Fox News has had its Patriot Awards for several years, a ticketed event where its talent presents awards to military vets, first responders, and others.

MSNBC will soon test its appeal with MSNBCLive, a daylong event that returns for the second year on October 11 to New York’s Hammerstein Ballroom under the direction of MSNBC exec Lauren Peikoff.

For tickets starting at $100, attendees of “MSNBCLive: This Is Who We Are” will get to hear from and break bread with more than a dozen of MSNBC’s well known hosts, including Rachel Maddow, Lawrence O’Donnell, and Jen Psaki.

An expanded lineup this year will add Nicolle Wallace, who will speak with the actor Martin Sheen for a live taping of her podcast, “The Best People with Nicolle Wallace,” plus Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski, and Jacob Soboroff.

The company said it listened to people at last year’s MSNBCLive, who gave feedback saying they wanted more interaction. This year, it’s adding more Q&A opportunities and a lunch in addition to a dinner. It expects a similar turnout to last year’s event, which drew 4,000 to a Brooklyn venue. Highlights included Ari Melber giving out monogrammed lighters and Jen Psaki sharing a hug with a fellow redhead.

“It’s not a shock that a lot of people in America are a little scared with what’s going on in the news cycle, and having these moments where they see people they can trust and understand them is deeply meaningful,” said Luke Russert, creative director of MSNBC Live.

Shoring up its audience is critical. MSNBC’s ratings have declined year over year, along with those of fellow cable news outlet CNN, in the second Trump era. The president’s favored network, Fox News, has seen its ratings soar. Fox News averaged 1.63 million full-day viewers in the second quarter, more than MSNBC and CNN combined.

MSNBC is also about to have to reintroduce itself with a new name and ownership structure as it and fellow spun-off cable channels establish themselves as a new publicly traded company, Versant, under Mark Lazarus’ leadership. MSNBC will become MS Now — or My Source News Opinion World — and no longer be able to use NBC’s famous peacock in its logo. Versant leadership has said that being free of Comcast will free the company up to grow organically and through acquisition. MSNBC is on a hiring spree and in the process of adding 100 roles, the company said.

Cable news audiences have largely sorted themselves into partisan bubbles. One in three Democrats say they regularly get their news from MSNBC, compared to 11% of Republicans, according to June data from the Pew Research Center. On the right, 57% of Republicans say they get their news from Fox News, versus 18% of Democrats.

Mabry said MSNBC research suggests there’s a chance to capture new viewers who may be conservative but not part of Trump’s loyal MAGA base.

“We think it’s huge,” he said of the opportunity. “People who care about democracy, the rule of law — it’s progressive, but also centrist, Republicans. We saw it with the Jimmy Kimmel controversy.”