Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Monday doubled down on the Trump administration’s use of religious imagery, using a biblical analogy to attack U.S. press coverage of the Iran war. It follows controversy over an image President Donald Trump posted and later deleted depicting himself as Jesus Christ.
Speaking at a Pentagon briefing, Hegseth compared members of the press to Pharisees described in the Gospel of Mark, accusing journalists of downplaying U.S. military achievements against Iran.“Even though they witnessed a literal miracle, it didn’t matter,” he said, recounting a recent church sermon he attended. “They were only there to explain away the goodness in pursuit of their agenda.”
Despite U.S. and Israeli battlefield successes in their war against Iran, the Trump administration hasn’t achieved its stated aim of regime change, there’s been vast international economic damage, the war is polling poorly, and U.S.-Iran peace talks remain stuck on the question of Tehran’s pursuit of a nuclear weapon.