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By Peter Aitken
Politics Weekend Editor
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The Trump administration is facing criticism over how it has discussed the Iran War and promoted it on social media, using video games and movie clips to seemingly celebrate missile strikes.
In an extensive 30-minute interview with NBC News journalist Kristen Welker, President Donald Trump said that, although the United States "totally demolished" Iran's military capabilities, the U.S. could "hit it just a few more times just for fun."
Newsweek reached out to the White House by email outside of normal business hours on Saturday evening for comment.
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Why It Matters
The Trump administration is known for using online memes to promote its aims, and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has previously come under fire for comparing apprehending migrants to catching Pokémon.
However, the administration has faced increasing backlash for how it has celebrated and discussed military strikes on Iran, including a post on Truth Social of a compilation of clips from popular action films, including Top Gun, Gladiator, Braveheart, and Tropic Thunder—the last of which prompted the film's director, Ben Stiller, to request the administration cut the clip from the montage since it did not request permission to do so.
Public opinion in the U.S. remains sharply divided, much as it has been in past debates involving Trump and Iran.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll released the day after the war began found only one in four Americans supports the strikes, and roughly half of those surveyed believe Trump is too quick to resort to military force.
What To Know
Several high-profile individuals have drawn attention to the way the administration has discussed Operation Epic Fury, variously describing the language as "obscene," "sickening," and "dangerous."
Such comments include the president recounting a conversation with a military official and joking that it is "more fun" to sink Iranian warships than to capture them, while Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said during a press briefing that "this was never meant to be a fair fight, and it is not a fair fight: We are punching them while they're down, which is exactly how it should be."
Representative Eugene Vindman, a Virginia Democrat and retired U.S. Army colonel, said the president and defense secretary have taken a "cavalier" attitude to American casualties, calling it "obscene" during an interview with MS Now, formerly MSNBC.
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"This administration, they learn by trial and error," Vindman said. "They have no experience, no knowledge, it's actually painful to watch. The cavalier attitude to American casualties from the president and the secretary—it's obscene," adding Trump's actions "are getting American service members killed."
Cardinal Blase Cupich, the archbishop of Chicago, lashed out at the administration for how it discusses the war, condemning the movie video montage for treating "real suffering...like it's a video game."
"It's sickening," Cupich said in a statement. "Hundreds of people are dead, mothers and fathers, daughters and sons, including scores of children who made the fatal mistake of going to school that day."
Rachel VanLandingham, a retired Air Force judge advocate, told the AFP that "this type of dangerous language is unusual for modern American leadership, and it demonstrates an extremely cavalier attitude toward the death and destruction that war entails."
Meanwhile, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly previously told Newsweek that under Trump's leadership, "America’s heroic warfighters are meeting or surpassing all of their goals under Operation Epic Fury. The legacy media wants us to apologize for highlighting the United States Military’s incredible success, but the White House will continue showcasing the many examples of Iran’s ballistic missiles, production facilities, and dreams of owning a nuclear weapon being destroyed in real time.”
What People Are Saying
Jon Favreau, who directed Iron Man, a clip that kicks off the montage, wrote on X: "Hundreds of people are dead. Little girls are dead. Six Americans are dead. Others are risking their lives. Millions across the Middle East are terrified. It's not a video game. It's not a meme. It's not another chance to troll the libs. It's f***ing war."
Senator Tammy Duckworth, an Illinois Democrat, on X earlier this month: "War is not a f***ing video game. Six Americans are dead and thousands more are at needless risk because of your illegal, unjustified war. And you're calling this a flawless victory."
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said during a press conference on March 4: "I liken Iran's predicament to a football team who scripted the first 20 plays of a game. The team knew what plays to run because their first few drives were scripted. But now that the game has started and the blitz is on, they don't know what plays to call, let alone how to get in the huddle and call those plays."
Update 3/15/26, 9:38 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information.
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