Donald Trump’s presidency is so mired in incompetence, eye-popping corruption, economic pessimism, and grossly unpopular policy choices that he increasingly resorts to cover-ups and censorship to try to keep rotten news from voters.
 |
No decision has been as unpopular and humiliating for Trump as the decision to launch a harebrained war against Iran. The war has delivered on none of its goals — e.g., regime change; an end to Iran’s nuclear program or missile production — or even undone the reckless damage it caused, like ceding control of the Strait of Hormuz to Iran. Despite constant chest-thumping from Trump and his testosterone-obsessed Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, the war has resulted in one military calamity after another, which civilian leaders have tried to minimize, hide, or simply lie about.
“In the week leading up to the Iranian attack on Friday that killed two U.S. soldiers and left one service member missing in Jordan, Iran carried out three other strikes against U.S. forces in the country,” the New York Timesreported. While dozens of American troops were injured and several helicopters damaged:
The Pentagon did not disclose the earlier strikes, nor the casualties and damage they inflicted. On social media, its chief spokesman said on Monday that the number of U.S. military casualties from Iranian attacks since July 7 had risen to nearly 100.
The Times reiterated, “The episode is the latest example during the Iran conflict of the tension between what the Pentagon says is the need for operational security and the government’s obligation to inform the public about the conduct of the war.”
SubscribedIn addition, the Trump regime has tried to conceal “how the Iran war has drained U.S. supplies of critical, costly weapons, and how Iran retained and rebuilt substantial missile capabilities,” just as it denied responsibility for an errant double-tap strike that killed 168 girls and 14 adults at a school. Again, Hegseth refused to conduct a proper investigation. “The investigation into a US strike that hit a school in Iran has sat for months with a military command while leaders have held off on ordering a critical, standard intelligence review to help determine what happened,” CNN reported. Specifically, “a step where analysts — typically from the Defense Intelligence Agency — review the entire body of relevant satellite imagery and other intelligence sources to provide a more holistic determination about what took place and how a strike impacted the broader mission, was not ordered.”
This is not only unprecedented and irresponsible; it represents a complete betrayal of civilian leaders who are so busy protecting their own hides that they are refusing to undertake the basic after-the-fact assessments essential to preventing future casualties and mission failures.
Republicans in Congress are, frankly, entirely blameworthy for the “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil” that prioritizes PR damage control over operational excellence, devotion to the troops, and accountability to voters. Spineless Republican senators — particularly confirmed, incompetent, unfit leadership — refused to press for Hegseth and others’ removal when scandal struck (e.g. Signalgate) and instead sought to punish congressional critics. They remained mute as Hegseth made personnel decisions and promotions based on cronyism, racism, and sexism, further diluting the quality of military leadership. They condoned extrajudicial murders. And they refused to defund an illegal, irresponsible war.
When looking for culprits for the deterioration in the U.S. military’s international reputation and morale and its unprecedented politicization, look no further than Trump’s lackeys such as Sens. Jon Husted (R-OH), Dan Sullivan (R-AK), Pete Ricketts (R-NE), and Roger Marshall (R-KS) — none of whom challenged this disastrous downward spiral at the Pentagon; all of whom must face the voters in November. Democrats need to put their feet to the fire and challenge every House and Senate lawmaker seeking re-election who has not said boo about the military’s gross mismanagement and malfeasance, and who has allowed cover-ups to supplant a culture of self-criticism and transparency. They have the blood of U.S. men and women in uniform (not to mention innocent civilians) on their hands. They bear the responsibility for the erosion of the U.S. military’s reputation.
Democrats would furthermore be wise to pledge that, when they win the majority in at least one house, they will conduct a top-to-bottom investigation of these serial scandals and calamities. In pledging to follow the facts, they must then be prepared to exercise greater oversight in approving senior officer promotions, and to pursue impeachment for civilian leaders who have failed to live up to their oaths to look after the best interests of our armed service personnel.
Unfortunately, the penchant in the rotting Trump regime for cover-ups to conceal responsibility for deaths, mayhem, and jaw-dropping incompetence is not limited to the military. As the New York Times reported, “Federal agents around the country were told in recent days that the F.B.I. would no longer investigate confrontations with immigration agents — cases that sometimes yield evidence that could be used to prosecute Department of Homeland Security agents implicated in violent encounters, according to people briefed on the decision.” When egregious scandal surfaces, this so-called administration scrambles to settle and prevent damaging facts from coming to light.
The mentality is evident even at the Interior Department, where Trump toadies are refusing to “confirm deaths or details about severe injuries at U.S. national parks,” the Los Angeles Times reported last month. It does not take a park ranger to attest that “communicating basic information about deaths at parks is necessary because it can help make visitors aware of possible risks so they can take precautions.”
The answer to every debacle, be it DOGE, Kennedy Center mismanagement, or Trump’s most notorious cover-up — the Epstein documents concealment executed by attorney general nominee Todd Blanche — is secrecy, deflection, and blatant lying. In the case of the Epstein files, the result of Trump’s nonstop obsessions with protecting himself and his cronies has meant denying survivors justice and discouraging all sexual violence victims from stepping forward and trusting law enforcement, thereby giving protection to the most heinous criminals and their enablers.
Trump’s disastrous presidency has spawned an epidemic of deceit, secrecy, evasion, and contempt for public disclosure, the antithesis of how democratic governments are supposed to conduct themselves.
Democracy and accountability are the last things the Trump crowd wants to promote. Instead, its goal is to avoid — at all costs — accountability for its reign of terror and incompetence.
Without spineless Republicans, the Trump regime would not have been able to bottle up the truth on so many fronts. Democrats, however, can challenge MAGA candidates during the election, vow to undertake wholesale disclosure of wrongdoing once they gain power, and commit to holding the miscreants responsible to the greatest extent of the law. Full reckoning will only come once a Democrat with prosecutorial power is in the White House, but the midterms can mark an end to the period of impunity for cover-ups and, we hope, spark a new round of whistleblower revelations that will surface the full extent of this presidency’s countless catastrophes.
The Contrarian is community-supported. Help fund bold journalism and critical lawsuits to stop Trump’s corruption by becoming a paid subscriber. Join the fight now.
