The Ugliness of Political Warfare

Anonymous Partisan Bombs 

This time, the Trump administration, love it or hate it, is countering leaks that hobbled its first four years in the White House.

Remember the flood of ugly partisan leaks during Trump I, when unproven “intelligence” and “current and former” sources fueled the Russia-collusion hoaxes?

The leak of former national security adviser Mike Flynn’s calls to a Russian ambassador? Leaks of Mr. Trump’s private conversations with world leaders and Republican colleagues? Former FBI Director James Comey’s private Trump memos—leaked by Mr. Comey himself?

30,000-Pound Bunker Busters Hit the Mark

Last week, Americans were treated to more of the same, as a dogged adversarial press tripped over itself to be a mouthpiece to biased officials/lawmakers hostile to President Trump. This time, however, things are different, explains Kimberley Strassle in the WSJ.

… this time—and in contrast to the conspiracy theories of the first term—the leakers and their media enablers made the mistake of issuing info from a preliminary report at high risk of later being overtaken by evidence.

• Updated info from the CIA finds that the strikes “severely damaged” Iran’s nuclear program.

• Israel’s Atomic Energy Commission, not looking to fool itself as to Iran’s nuclear capability, assessed that the combined Israeli and U.S. strikes “set back Iran’s ability to develop nuclear weapons by many years.”

• According to Director General Rafael Grossi of the International Atomic Energy Agency: Iran’s centrifuges are “no longer operational,” having been “completely destroyed.”

• According to a detailed assessment from the Institute of Science and International Security: The attack “effectively destroyed” Iran’s program by doing “massive damage” to above- and below-ground facilities.

Intelligence does remain divided, notes KS, over the fate of Iran’s uranium stockpile. It’s possible, according to wo Israeli officials, the highly enriched version is “buried beneath rubble at Isfahan and Fordow.” Other entities suggest it might have been moved before the attacks.

The Trump administration is pushing back with updates and briefings laying out the damage. According to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, military officials, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, and the White House press team (contradicting the DIA report),

(President Trump) pressed his claims of success in 21 posts on Truth Social on Wednesday alone and piled on news outlets. The administration also opened an investigation into the leak and suggested it might limit some classified information-sharing with Congress.

Sure

The media, staggering like a drunken sailor, stammered about the “fog” of intelligence and the precise definition of “obliteration,” continues Ms. Strassel.

CNN, hilariously, continues to refuse to take the loss, and instead ran a piece suggesting the administration’s “hyperemotional” response to “honest questioning” only makes it “look defensive.” Sure.

Designed to cause political damage from the leaks hasn’t been lost on the Trump administration, which moved quickly into high gear.

An American public that believes these decisive strikes were effective will be more willing to trust the administration’s foreign policy, more open to future engagements in other hot spots, more disposed to stand by allies, more supportive of the president’s plans to invest in updating the military.

A public that thinks the raid was useless will further heed the siren call of isolationism, making it … harder to keep the country safe.

It’d be great if the media and its puppeteers similarly realized the high stakes. Until then, treat carefully those anonymous media “bombshells.”