The U.S. Navy has been quietly considering renaming an aircraft carrier that was set to honor Doris Miller, a heroic Black sailor at Pearl Harbor, after President Donald Trump instead.
The effort to rename the planned USS Doris Miller began earlier this year, three sources told CNN Thursday. It’s not yet clear who the newest Gerald R. Ford–class aircraft carrier will be named for, but two of the sources revealed there have been conversations about naming the carrier to honor Trump.
The leaks come after Trump recently ordered redesigns that will waste billions of dollars to put old-fashioned steam catapult technology on board.
Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao and his office had started to look into updating the official guidance for how ships should be named, two of the sources told CNN. No aircraft carrier has ever been named after a sitting president, and naming the vessel after Trump would be a massive break with precedent.
The effort comes amid a wider trend of the Trump administration expunging Black history from American monuments and museums. The White House has also made a concerted effort to rename institutions after the president.
At the same time, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has launched a campaign to remake the U.S. military in his image. The secretary has repeatedly thwarted the advancements of Black and female Defense Department personnel.
One of the sources told CNN that the Navy is looking to name another warship after Miller, who was the first Black sailor to receive the Navy Cross of Valor. When the bombs started to fall at Pearl Harbor, Miller, a mess attendant, aided his wounded commanding officer, and despite having no training, took control of an anti-aircraft gun to defend the base.
Additionally, the Navy is moving to recommend him for a Medal of Honor. Thomas Bledsoe, Miller’s great-nephew, told CNN that the family had not been informed of the Navy’s plan to rename the ship, or its renewed effort to award Miller with the Medal of Honor, something the family had been working on “for years.”
A federal judge in Oregon ripped the Trump administration for placing political conditions on crucial, potentially lifesaving disaster relief.
On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Michael McShane, an Obama appointee, issued a ruling regarding the city of Salem, Oregon’s July lawsuit against Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and FEMA leadership. In it, the city accused the Trump administration of dangling disaster aid above local leaders’ heads in exchange for a rejection of diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.
Salem argued that the conditions were “unlawful,” especially given that the city was still recovering from storm damage from last winter. McShane agreed.
“As wildfires, severe storms, and floods routinely ravage through the State of Oregon, disaster relief has become a tool to advance unrelated executive policy.… It is hard to imagine the connection between the use of preferred pronouns and the fires currently burning through central Oregon,” he wrote in his order.
McShane issued a preliminary injunction blocking the DHS restrictions on aid while the case continues.
Withholding basic disaster funds from American citizens just because they live in states that recognize trans people exist or talk about racism in school has become an obvious, spiteful trend for Trump. Last month, he denied FEMA disaster aid requests from four blue states after accepting the aid requests of six red states just two days before.
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