Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth unleashed the hounds of hell on the American media Thursday morning, eviscerating their lack of favorable coverage on the airstrikes against Iran's nuclear program and doing their best to downplay the success of the mission.
Hegseth might as well have dropped his own MOAB on the room, as he delivered an angry, finger-pointing, but well-deserved tirade against the media.
"I mean specifically you, the press, specifically you, the press corps," he said, pointing directly at reporters in the room. "Because you cheer against Trump so hard, it's in your DNA and in your blood to cheer against Trump, because you want him not to be successful so bad, you have to cheer against the efficacy of these strikes. You have to hope maybe they weren't effective."
"'Maybe the way the Trump administration is representative isn't true,'" Hegseth continued, suggesting this is the mindset of the journalism industry.
"So let's take half-truths, spun information, leaked information, and then spin it, spin it in every way we can to try to cause doubt and manipulate the mind, the public mind, over whether or not our brave pilots were successful."
Oh, it was a thing of beauty.
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To see the media completely undressed over their handling of coverage of the airstrikes on Iran is just - chef's kiss.
Especially when comparing and contrasting how the media covered the botched Afghanistan withdrawal under Biden to this particular mission, which was an overwhelming success.
What Hegseth is addressing is reporting by CNN and The New York Times suggesting the attacks didn’t do as much damage as the administration was portraying, and only set the Iranian regime’s nuclear weapons program back by a few months.
That reporting, based on a leak of what White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has defined as an "alleged" initial assessment, was clearly meant to demean not only President Trump but the men and women who took part in the mission. It was leaked early, with the perpetrators knowing full well that initial estimates of the damage would be cautious until a comprehensive investigation could be conducted.
The administration has pushed back hard.
Hegseth pointed out that the media couldn't even bring themselves to praise those who took part in the mission for conducting a dangerous 36-hour flight through enemy territory. Heroes, ignored by bitter left-leaning journalists who think they, themselves, are the story.
He spared no outlet in the takedown either.
"How many stories have been written about how hard it is to, I don't know, fly a plane for 36 hours? Has MSNBC done that story? Has Fox?" the Defense Secretary asked. "Have we done the story, how hard that is?"
"There are so many aspects of what our brave men and women did that because of the hatred of this press corps are undermined because people are trying to leak and spin that it wasn't successful," he continued, fuming. "It's irresponsible."
"You're undermining the success of incredible B-2 pilots and incredible F-35 pilots and incredible refuelers and incredible air defenders who accomplished their mission."
Hegseth accused the leakers and the media of working in concert for political purposes "to try to make the President look bad," something they've been doing since about 2015.
The only mission for the anti-Trump media is to destroy the President's reputation, and the reputation of anyone in his circle, American heroes be damned. They truly are the enemy of the people.
Editor's Note: Thanks to President Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's leadership, the warrior ethos is coming back to America's military.
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