Acting U.S. Navy Secretary Thomas Modly needs to get his mouth washed out with soap.

The idiot bureaucrat demoted the captain of the USS Theodore Roosevelt for seeking help for his sailors struck down by the coronavirus. Capt. Brett Crozier has been reassigned, but was cheered wildly by the sailors under his command as he left the aircraft carrier for the final team the other day.

Modly then flew to where the Roosevelt is docked and was overheard describing Crozier as being “too stupid” or “too naïve” to command a ship with a 5,000-member crew.

Modly has been “rewarded” for popping off by incurring the wrath of U.S. House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith, who wants Modly fired.

Of course, Defense Secretary Mark Esper — Modly’s immediate supervisor — won’t do it because Esper doesn’t exhibit anything approaching the integrity that Crozier exhibited when he sent out that letter. You see, these men serve at the pleasure of a commander in chief, Donald J. Trump, who lacks any of the compassion and empathy that men and women who serve their country deserve from the individuals who command them.

I agree with Chairman Smith that Modly doesn’t deserve to continue as acting Navy secretary. It’s just a shame that no one with the authority to show Mobly the door will heed the chairman’s demand.

Crozier is the hero in this saga. Modly is the zero.