Mainstream media rallies for war, again

[marmar]

Mainstream media rallies for war, again
Why Donald Trump isn't bothering to make the case for war against Iran

By Sophia Tesfaye
Senior Writer
Published March 2, 2026 12:10PM (EST)
Updated March 2, 2026 12:49PM (EST)


(Salon) onald Trump may be a world-upending political force, but in the end, even he could not resist the gravitational pull of American militarism. The lure of legacy, regime change and perhaps political distraction proved too strong when it came to Iran, which the president, in partnership with Israel, attacked with a brutal series of air strikes on Saturday. The campaign, which has continued, is already engulfing the entire Middle East.

There is a ritual in American war-making that predates the particular pathology of Trumpism. The targets shift and the platforms move from broadcast television to social media, but the punditry lusting for regime change fantasies feels eerily familiar.

As if on cue, Bret Stephens is once again cheerleading for intervention on the opinion pages of the New York Times, invoking the language of resolve and credibility that lubricated the invasion of Iraq. On CNN, chief national security analyst Jim Sciutto claimed that U.S. military veterans “are likely welcoming these strikes tonight,” a sweeping assertion offered with the same confidence that once accompanied talk of “shock and awe.” On Fox News, chief political analyst Brit Hume is claiming, like he did in 2003, that Americans support this war of choice. We have been here before: an American president launches strikes in the Middle East, elite opinion closes ranks, the ghosts of quagmires past hover unacknowledged in the studio lights.

Still, there is something disturbingly surreal about this moment.

....(snip)....

This is not a commander-in-chief laying out strategy or telegraphing that he has a plan for what comes next for Iran. This is an impulsive president workshopping his war in real time, throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks and knowing full well that rapid-fire phone calls leave no opportunity for sustained follow-up from reporters on the other end of the line. Vague answers go unchallenged, and the public is left with fragments instead of anything remotely coherent. This, of course, is the point. ....................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2026/03/02/mainstream-media-rallies-for-war-again/