HEGSETH IS RIGHT. This newsletter has often noted a peculiar feature of some media coverage of President Donald Trump: When Trump or Republicans say something, many reporters and commentators reflexively seek to knock it down. When Trump or Republicans say A, they immediately say not-A. Do Trump and his GOP allies say former President Joe Biden seems out of it? Then Biden must be just fine.
On Thursday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth offered his own description of the phenomenon when he was addressing media coverage of the effectiveness of the U.S. bombing attack on Iran’s nuclear weapons program. Trump has said the raid was a huge success and that U.S. bombers “completely demolished” and “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear sites. Almost immediately, some media reports, citing anonymously leaked early assessments, said that was not true. Addressing the Pentagon press corps, Hegseth accused journalists of rooting for the president to fail. “You cheer against Trump so hard,” he said. “It’s like in your DNA and in your blood to cheer against Trump because you want him not to be successful so bad.”
