What the Increasing Pettiness of Democratic Attacks on Trump’s War Leadership Tells Us
“He just ordered our military to give “no quarter” during an active war against Iran. Just giving this order constitutes a war crime. Trump must fire him immediately, & retract this order.”
There is little doubt that the U.S. and Israeli strikes on military targets inside Iran have dealt a severe blow to the country’s capacity to wage war. The campaign has eliminated the first and second tiers of Iran’s leadership, destroyed most of its naval fleet, degraded its weapons stockpiles, dismantled key air-defense systems, and left its leadership in complete disarray.
With its military options dwindling, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has turned increasingly to another weapon: information warfare — and it has found no shortage of useful idiots in the Democratic Party and the U.S. legacy media to help amplify their messages.
Instead of supporting the commander in chief’s decision to confront a brutal and dangerous regime — one responsible for the deaths of countless citizens, the killing of American soldiers, and decades of instability throughout the Middle East — Democrats, joined by a handful of Republicans who reflexively oppose the president, moved to shut down the war effort. They promoted the narrative that Trump lacked the authority to strike Iran and that the war itself was unlawful. They drafted a war powers resolution and forced votes in both the House and the Senate. But even with the full-throated support of a complicit media, the measure failed in both chambers.
Since then, the Left has bombarded the Trump administration with a steady stream of inane attacks: the war has dragged on too long, it’s too expensive, and — most scandalous of all — why did Secretary of War Pete Hegseth approve steak and lobster dinners for our troops?
In short, they’ve left little doubt that denying Trump a victory matters more to them than securing one for America.
Their criticisms have grown pettier by the day. Among the most preposterous claims is that Trump administration officials were somehow blindsided when Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz — as though the possibility, and the resulting spike in oil prices, had never occurred to them.
Of course, they expected a temporary surge in oil prices. It was a calculated risk, and a necessary one, if the aim was to topple this evil regime.
DRIVE-BY MEDIA: CNN claimed that three sources confirmed that the Trump administration never considered that Iran would close the Strait of Hormuz. This report came out the day after Chinese propaganda accounts and their useful idiots began spreading the false story. Trump and… pic.twitter.com/hSKp1Yr4kO
— @amuse (@amuse) March 13, 2026
The following tweet captures the life cycle of this unbelievably stupid allegation. It also negates the Democratic talking point that Trump went to war against Iran because Israel demanded it. In 2012, he suggested on social media that the U.S. should send aircraft carriers to the Strait of Hormuz.
[Note: Trump has publicly supported U.S. action against Iran since at least 1989.]
2012 pic.twitter.com/D9gYSkVSts
— Stacey Mangum (@StaceyM91582) March 15, 2026
During a Friday press briefing, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said. “We will keep pressing, we will keep pushing, keep advancing, no quarter, no mercy for our enemies.” [Emphasis mine.]
Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) and Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO) — both members of the so-called “Seditious Six,” a group of lawmakers who released a video warning service members not to follow unlawful orders — along with Rep. Eugene Vindman (D-VA), claimed that Hegseth’s use of the phrase “no quarter” constituted an illegal order, a war crime.
Hegseth: No quarter, no mercy for our enemies. Yet some in the press just can't stop. More fake news from CNN reports that the Trump administration underestimated the Iran war's impact on the strait of hormuz. The sooner David Ellison takes over that network, the better. pic.twitter.com/BehjVYK0Hy
— Acyn (@Acyn) March 13, 2026
The social media post below sums up the Left’s line of attack. “He just ordered our military to give ‘no quarter’ during an active war against Iran. Just giving this order constitutes a war crime. Trump must fire him immediately, & retract this order.”
Pete Hegseth is Secretary of Defense
The top U.S. military leader.
He just ordered our military to give “no quarter” during an active war against Iran.
Just giving this order constitutes a war crime. Trump must fire him immediately, & retract this order.https://t.co/4nqGGFMe88 pic.twitter.com/AhF24Hz1xF— stop tRumpnado stand w/🇺🇦 🇬🇱 (@tRumpnado2016) March 13, 2026
The next broadside came from CNN’s Natasha Bertrand, formerly a reporter for Politico, who is best known for publishing the pivotal and now-discredited letter signed by 51 former top intelligence officials claiming the Hunter Biden laptop story showed “all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation” in October 2020.
Bertrand rebuked Hegseth on X over what she claimed was his minimization of the deaths of six U.S. troops killed in a helicopter crash in Iraq last week. She posted, “Hegseth says ‘when tragic things happen it’s front page news’ to make POTUS’ look bad.’ Six U.S. service members died Sunday.”
During a joint briefing, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan “Razin” Caine spoke first. He honored the six service members and expressed regret for the tragic accident that had taken their lives.
Next, Hegseth spoke: “War is hell. War is chaos. And as we saw yesterday with the tragic crash of our KC-135 tanker, bad things can happen.”
He then pivoted to the “fake news” coverage of the war:
This is what the fake news misses: We’ve taken control of Iran’s airspace and waterways without boots on the ground … But when a few drones get through, or tragic things happen, it’s front page news. I get it. The press only wants to make the president look bad, but try for once to report the reality.
Hegseth says "when tragic things happen it's front page news" to make POTUS "look bad." Six US service members died Sunday. https://t.co/TjdDcmpM4J
— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) March 4, 2026
Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) piled on:
Six American service members lost their lives and Hegseth is upset that the media is covering it because the headlines about dead soldiers are unflattering to him. https://t.co/jztArt6uwb
— Ruben Gallego (@RubenGallego) March 4, 2026
The media gleefully repeats propaganda reported by Iran’s state media. The false story that four ballistic missiles had struck the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln comes to mind. U.S. Central Command quickly dismissed the claim, stating on March 1: “The Lincoln was not hit. The missiles launched didn’t even come close.”
The media also reported that a U.S. F-15 fighter jet had been shot down over Tehran on March 4. NewsGuard later determined the footage had been misrepresented. The video, originally released by the Israeli air force, actually “showed an Iranian Yak-130 being shot down over Tehran” by an Israeli F-35.
Yet both claims and others like them circulated widely in American media before they were exposed as fake news.
Remarkably, The View co-host Whoopi Goldberg suggested last week that Trump ordered the strikes to distract from the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie and the Epstein files controversy. Co-host Sunny Hostin agreed, saying the situation had a “wag-the-dog” feel.
One might reasonably ask which political party has been most affected by the release of the Epstein files. As for why Trump would supposedly want to draw attention away from the Guthrie case, I haven’t a clue.
When Democrats and the media fixate on petty criticisms like those above, aid and abet the propaganda of an enemy regime, and ignore the very real progress the U.S. military has made in the war, they have abdicated their responsibility as journalists.
In the end, the increasing triviality of these attacks tells us far more about Trump’s critics than it does about the war itself. When opponents are reduced to nitpicking menu choices, mischaracterizing common military language, and amplifying propaganda from an enemy regime, it is usually a sign that the underlying case against the policy has collapsed. The reality is that the U.S. and its allies have dealt Iran a devastating strategic blow. Unable to challenge that fact, the president’s critics have chosen instead to argue about everything else.
Elizabeth writes commentary for Legal Insurrection and The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation. Please follow Elizabeth on X or LinkedIn.
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Comments
The left cannot countenance:
A game show host who somehow became president, and
A Fox News host who somehow became Secretary of Defense, er um… War.
Never mind the fact that their characterizations are grossly misleading, they will howl with indignation at everything they do, correct or otherwise.
I, for one, shut these bloviating arseholes off years ago, depriving them of at least the oxygen that I’m responsible for.
I do not believe that the majority of Americans agree with the mainstream media any longer. Walter Cronkite signed off a long time ago (not that he was above this kind of thing either).
The vile, stupid, gullible and wretched Dhimmi-crats are greasy subversives and fifth columnists, and have been allying with the U.S.’s foreign, despotic enemies since the Bolshevik revolution in 1917.
Nothing new, under the Sun.
Iran is not bound by nor protected by the Additional Articles I, II and III of the Geneva Convention of 1949 because they’ve never incorporated them and become a party to them; they are a ‘signatory’ but didn’t undertake their domestic equivalent of ‘Senate ratification’. Any combatant Nation is free to withhold or to provide the protections of the original ’49 Convention and the successive Additional Articles to a combatant Nation which is itself not party to them. IOW unless both Nations are a party to a specific provision there’s no ‘requirement’ to extend the terms and protections to the non party Nation.
Treasonous “judges” and demonrats also claim that illegal invaders deserve Constitutional rights.
The constitution protects all persons who are in the USA, regardless of how they got there.
Actual members of a literal invading army are not subject to US jurisdiction — which means they’re exempt from all US laws. You don’t want that to apply to illegal immigrants.
Strange how the Second Amendment mysteriously doesn’t apply to them, isn’t it?
Yes, it is.
The excuse seems to be that the amendment specifically says it protects only “the people’s” RKBA and not anyone else’s, and “the people” means “the people of the united states” who are referred to in the preamble.
But if that were the case then aliens would also not have any protection for their right to assemble or to petition the government, or for their right to be secure from unreasonable searches and seizures. Nor would they have any protection under the ninth and tenth amendments. And no one seems to be suggesting any of those things.
Orders not to give quarter are banned by Article 23 of the Annex to the Hague Convention of 1907, which is incorporated by reference into US law.
The Nuremberg tribunal declared that the convention is binding on all nations, whether or not they’re parties to it.
You’re doing the meme;
International law surrogate – that’s a violation.
USA -Tough cookies, call the world police
International law surrogate – I am!
USA – phone ringing
The folks whining out ‘its a war crime’ are referencing ‘international law’ not US Code. Ultimately each Nation decides which measures to employ, refrain from or apply. As you point out we’ve, to an extent, codified some provisions and self enforce the provision. There’s in truth no such thing as ‘international law’ b/c where there’s no enforcement mechanism the ‘laws’ are just words strung together on a piece of paper, an appeal to morality. Or more bluntly ‘How many Divisions does the Pope have?’
FWIW one common experience of units as they rotated into Iraq in the early years pre ’06 was:
1. Have a fire fight
2. Capture Larry, Moe, Curly
3. Turn Larry, Moe,.Curly over to the Iraqi Judicial system
4. A couple months later another capture of….Larry, Moe and Curly
From that point onward once the lightbulb went off that capturing POW results in their quick release back to the battlefield…. if you plotted it on an X/Y chart there’s a very clear point where the # of POW drops like a stone and the number of enemy KIA jumps up like a hockey stick. We enforced a curfew by gunning down anyone out after dark in Ramadi. They didn’t even have an opportunity to surrender, the act of violating the curfew was deemed presumptive of bad intent and we shot them, no questions asked, didn’t even have to ask higher HQ for permission, just pull the trigger.
Chief, did you follow my links? Section 23 of the 1907 Convention is incorporated by reference into US law. It’s not that we’ve “codified some provisions”. The entire section is incorporated into US law and has the force of US law.
You also forget that the convention itself is US law, just like every treaty to which the USA is a party. Treaties have the same status as statutes passed by Congress and signed by the president. They override all earlier statutes, and are overridden by any later statutes that explicitly say they override them; otherwise the later statute must be read in a way that does not contradict the treaty.
Finally, there is “the laws and customs of war”, which the Nuremberg tribunal held to be binding on all nations whether or not they have signed or consented to them.
Milhouse,
Yeah that’s pretty much what I wrote using slightly different language. FWIW I was agreeing with you about US Law.
You avoided the issue that the people complaining here ain’t referencing US law but ‘international law’. Nice attempt to white knight on their behalf but we’re taking issue with their ineffective whining for the moment.
You once again refuse to understand that words any piece of paper claiming to require X or prohibit Y are manifestly impotent without:
1. Sufficient available force to compel
2. Willingness of those with sufficient force to use their available force to compel
‘Make me’ hasn’t gone away b/c we graduated elementary school. While simplistic it very much applies to most any situation but especially armed conflicts. Then there’s the very important point of Nuremberg, that the winners write the rules. Future winners might just alter them, including retroactively and at that point no one could prevent it.
It was a political speech and not orders.
What price would be paid by the US if Iran succeeded in arming itself with intercontinental nuclear-armed missiles? Contrast that price against the cost of the war in lives and money and which costs less?
If Americans are stupid enough to not comprehend how the math dictates the correct path, maybe they deserve to have a city or two incinerated. But if the Dems manage to halt the current war, and a US city is later obliterated by Iran, they will blame Trump for not finishing the war he “started” (but wasn’t allowed to end). Because this is how the game is played.
This isn’t chickenshit. This is for real. But the Dems know only chickenshit.
The drive-by media: The enemy within.
Sunny Hostin agreed, saying the situation had a “wag-the-dog” feel.
How fitting coming from one of The View dogs.
“claimed that Hegseth’s use of the phrase “no quarter” constituted an illegal order, a war crime.”
Oh, dear.
Well, then, you should sue us.
I have no idea how that showed up as a reply instead of a mainline comment.
About 20 years ago Glenn Reynolds labeled them “Democrats with bylines”. Nothing since then has discredited that.
What the increasing pettiness of attacks on Trump’s war leadership tells tells you—
It tells me I don’t have to subscribe to WAPO or NYT, I can read all the petty attacks by trolls posting right here on LI.
I cancelled my NYT subscription 24 years ago, and haven’t regretted it since. The only use I have for the NYT is Wordle and Connections.
I like Wordle, but am not good at it.
“no shortage of useful idiots in the Democratic Party and the U.S. legacy media”
Frankly they are all useless idots. I certainly have no use for them.
Who voted against this? 🙂
Someone tell me how an air campaign is supposed to give quarter? It’s just
not possible and that military genius Kelly should know that.
If a unit surrenders you stop bombing it? It can wave a white flag, I suppose, or it can radio you and say it’s laying down its arms and what would you like it to do now? Or it can join the resistance.
That would be a war crime if he were referring to Iranian forces. But he was clearly referring to our enemies in the news industry, so it’s all good. They’re not protected by the Hague or Geneva conventions 🙂
As a student of WWII and specifically the Pacific area, the understanding of “no mercy, no quarter” was quite different. From Guadalcanal to Okinawa it was truly no quarter, no mercy. A fight to the absolute death. I was in Iran in late 1978 to March of 1979. The Iranian mullahs showed no quarter or mercy. They killed thousands to prove a point. And they were responsible for millions of deaths thereafter. They murdered 10’s of thousands of their own people to enforce their religious fanaticism. The mullahs, irgcc and the basji believe that they must trigger the apocalypse to release the 13th imam. A death cult like the mullahs is beyond comprehension to rational thinking people. So yes, NO quarter, NO mercy to the mullahs, irgcc and the basji.
For the other side, sure. They committed war crimes, and those responsible were hanged after the war. But if anyone on our side gave such an order then they were committing a war crime too. It doesn’t matter what the other side is doing.
The 12th imam. There is no 13th.
This entire parady of leftists attacks and anti-American attitude can be sumarized in the new catch phrase Trump Derangement Syndrome, TDS. It truly is a modern disease that has no cure.
TDS is a deadly disease…for others.
The left doesn’t care what’s good for our country, or even whats good for their own party. They only care about stopping Trump, no matter what it is.
‘Petty’ doesn’t begin to describe it.
Democrats have shown us that there quite literally is no one they wouldn’t side with to resist something Trump did.
It’s tells us what we’ve always known. The Communists are nothing but overgrown toddlers.
The hysterically frantic, wide-spread panicked braying from the Left has all the classic earmarks of a Donk / MFM propaganda campaign in favor of an enemy with which we are in active kinetic conflict. S.T.F.U. and let the grown-ups at the big table handle it.
So they are waiting on their 12th Iman! PRESIDENT TRUMP uses “I” almost exclusively, and he’s calling the shots to destroy the mullahocracy so wouldn’t THAT alone make HIM the 12th “I” MAN? Imagine the insanity if he was portrayed as such!!
Imam, not iman.