CNN anchor: Trump making military 'ripe' for 'weaponization' by political parties

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Navy official confirms White House requested USS McCain be kept away during Trump visit

U.S. Navy officials tell Fox News that all ships were in their normal configuration during the president's visit; national security correspondent Jennifer Griffin reports.

CNN anchor Brianna Keilar on Thursday lamented that the military obscured view of the USS McCain in Japan, claiming that it represented another instance of dangerous, military "politicization" under the Trump administration.

:"This is just the latest example of the politicization of the military by the president or in his interests," she said, before referencing examples such as President Trump sending troops to the border, and sailors who wore patches with the president's face, reading "Make Aircrew Great Again."

"The Trump administration has sent troops to the U.S. border with Mexico to enforce a highly-partisan immigration policy," she said, before claiming it is harmful to politicize civil-military relations.

"As a whole, the president's politicization of the military actually undermines how other countries view U.S. military action abroad."

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"U.S. involvement in conflicts looks like the policy of a minority faction of the U.S. maybe instead of the whole," she added.

Trump denied knowledge of the decision to obscure the view of the USS John McCain, which bore the name of one of his most prominent critics.

But according to Keilar, that made matters worse because it indicated the military had already started pursuing his agenda on its own accord.

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“The fact that the president never authorized this move to obscure the name of the ship is actually worse than if he did because it means that some officials in the Navy are catering to the president’s political vendetta against John McCain," she said.

"It means that not only is the president politicizing the military, the military is politicizing itself."