On the fifth day of the ongoing war in Iran, the public learned that six U.S. service members have been killed in the line of duty. Donald Trump and his team are still figuring out how to talk about this — and their efforts do not appear to be going well.
On Sunday, for example, the president tried to comment on the deaths of U.S. service members during a prerecorded video that he posted via social media. “Sadly, there will likely be more,” Trump said. Appearing to break from the text on his teleprompter, he added: “Before it ends, that’s the way it is. Likely be more.”
The comments generated immediate criticism for their apparent callousness, but that didn’t stop Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth from making matters worse. With regard to weapons that killed American service members abroad, the former Fox News host said Monday: “Every once in a while, you might have a squirter that makes its way through.”
On Wednesday, the Pentagon chief kept going. The New Republic reported:
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth took time from his Wednesday briefing to complain about the media coverage of President Donald Trump’s unauthorized war on Iran.
‘When a few drones get through or tragic things happen, it’s front-page news,’ Hegseth said. ‘I get it — the press only wants to make the president look bad, but try for once to report the reality.’
In other words, the beleaguered secretary believes that independent news organizations covered the war deaths of American service members not because the fatalities were important, but as part of a plot on the part of journalists to undermine the president.
Evidently, Hegseth would prefer a media environment in which the deaths of U.S. troops are downplayed.
According to a report in The Atlantic, after the secretary made the comments, there was a “stunned silence” in the briefing room.
Soon after, during a White House press briefing, a reporter asked press secretary Karoline Leavitt: “Is it the position of this administration that the press should not prominently cover the deaths of U.S. service members?”
The president’s chief spokesperson replied that the Republican administration expects journalists to “report on the success” of the mission. Leavitt added that she believes it’s “a fact” that the nation’s free press “does only want to make the president look bad.”
The White House’s focus, in other words, isn’t solely on a foreign war. Closer to home, it’s also about pushing a falsehood about independent news organizations that prioritize coverage of fallen American soldiers.
