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Trump Melts Down Over Reports That Iran Strikes Didn’t Accomplish Much

Donald Trump isn’t happy with the media accurately covering the aftermath of his strikes on Iran.

Donald Trump yells outdoors.
Suzanne Plunkett/Pool/Getty Images

Multiple outlets have reported that the Trump administration’s claims that they “completely and totally obliterated” Iran’s nuclear facilities were slightly premature, causing the president to lash out on Monday.

“The sites that we hit in Iran were totally destroyed, and everyone knows it. Only the Fake News would say anything different in order to try and demean, as much as possible—And even they say they were ‘pretty well destroyed!’” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Then he got personal, attacking specific networks and even purposefully misgendering CNN’s Anderson Cooper, who is gay. “Working especially hard on this falsehood is Allison Cooper of Fake News CNN, Dumb Brian L. Roberts, Chairman of ‘Con’cast, Jonny Karl of ABC Fake News, and always, the Losers of, again, Concast’s NBC Fake News. It never ends with the sleazebags in the Media, and that’s why their Ratings are at an ALL TIME LOW—ZERO CREDIBILITY!”

No one is denying that the Iranian nuclear sites took substantial damage. But Israeli and U.S. military reports on the bombing contradict Trump’s claim of complete and utter obliteration. Israeli officials told The New York Times that the Fordo nuclear site, buried deep in a mountain, was not completely destroyed and that the Iranians had moved nuclear materials like uranium out of the site before the bombing. A U.S. military official said the same, admitting that not even 12 bunker-busters could level Fordo, even though the site is certainly out of commission for the time being. On Sunday, even Vice President JD Vance admitted Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium is still intact.

Trump is obviously playing strongman here, embellishing Israeli and U.S. strikes that have thus far killed over 400 civilians, damaged infrastructure, and may not even stop the Iranian government from continuing its nuclear program. All this is distracting Americans from his broken promise of ending endless wars and the ongoing domestic issues, like his retaliatory tariffs and his impending controversial spending bill. And when the media deviates from his winning narrative, he stoops to homophobic remarks and name calling. Very presidential.

Two of Biggest U.S. Allies Just Made New Defense Deal—Without Trump

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney unveiled the security and defense partnership.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, EU Council President Antonio Costa, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen stand at podiums
Thierry Monasse/Getty Images

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced a new defense partnership Monday between some of the United States’s biggest allies.

Carney said on X that he’d met with European Council President Antonio Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to “launch a new security and defence partnership.”

The agreement opens the door for Canada into Europe’s $173 billion defense procurement plan, according to The New York Times. The deal blocks signatories from spending more than 35 percent of funds dedicated to any one project on products from non-signatory states—meaning there will be limits on purchasing American-made defense systems, artillery, and other materials.

This agreement comes as Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs threaten to upend global supply chains, potentially threatening domestic weapons manufacturing, and Iran begins to retaliate against the United States over its targeting of the country’s nuclear facilities over the weekend.

“In the face of rising global threats, Canada is building ever-stronger alliances,” Carney wrote. “Today’s historic agreement will build up defence capabilities across Canada and the European Union, protect our people and our values, and create strong opportunities for Canadian defence industries at home.”

After the meeting in Brussels, von der Leyen said that the allies’ new security and defense agreement was “the most comprehensive we’ve ever concluded,” according to the Times.

“As the saying goes, hard times reveal true friends,” she added.

As far as true friends go, Trump is certainly not one, and the hard times she referred to are the direct result of his actions in office. So, it should hardly come as a surprise that Canada has sought other allies as the U.S. pulls away.

Trump previously warned Canada that unless the country joined the United States, he would charge them $61 billion for protection under his new “Golden Dome” space weapons system.

Read more about Trump getting the cold shoulder:

Trump Issues Confusing Veiled Threat to Putin Over Iran

Donald Trump picked a very interesting time to bring up America’s nuclear submarines.

Donald Trump raises his fist while walking outside the White House
Craig Hudson/The Washington Post/Getty Images

Donald Trump just whacked the ball back to Russia with a string of eyebrow-furrowing comments on nuclear arms.

On Sunday, deputy chairman of the Security Council of Russia and former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev wrote on social media that Russia’s “production of nuclear weapons” would continue.

“A number of countries are ready to directly supply Iran with their own nuclear warheads,” he noted.

So Trump took to Truth Social Monday to play out the delicate foreign exchange, asking if Medvedev was “casually throwing around the ‘N word,’” as in, nuclear.

“Did he really say that or, is it just a figment of my imagination? If he did say that, and, if confirmed, please let me know, IMMEDIATELY,” Trump said. “The ‘N word’ should not be treated so casually.”

“I guess that’s why Putin’s ‘THE BOSS,’” he continued.

The U.S. president then opted against de-escalating the rhetoric, choosing instead to bring up America’s nuclear submarine fleet, which he claimed are “20 years advanced over the pack.”

“They are the most powerful and lethal weapons ever built, and just launched the 30 Tomahawks—All 30 hit their mark perfectly,” he wrote.

Without congressional approval, Trump directed airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities Saturday. The attack damaged facilities in Fordo, Natanz, and Isfahan, with damage estimates expected to be “very significant,” according to International Atomic Energy Agency Director Rafael Grossi.

The action sparked backlash from some Republican lawmakers, including Representative Thomas Massie, who argued that war with Iran was not constitutional. Massie also chastized House Speaker Mike Johnson for practically handing over Congress’s sole authority to declare war to the White House, questioning online why the leading Republican lawmaker did not “call us back from vacation to vote on military action if there was a serious threat to our country.”

Massie offered Trump a full-throated endorsement in the 2024 race on the basis that he would prevent “needless wars abroad.”

Russia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Vassily Nebenzia, condemned the American attack on Iran, and said that “accepting the recent U.S. actions would undermine all the progress the international community has made in the field of nuclear non-proliferation,” according to Middle East Monitor.

GOP Lawmaker Nearly Dies Due to Abortion Ban—Then Blames the Left

Representative Kat Cammack says she’s still anti-abortion.

Representative Kat Cammack speaks at CPAC 2021.
Elijah Nouvelage/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Florida’s extreme abortion ban almost killed Republican Representative and House Pro-Life Caucus co-chair Kat Cammack. But instead of using her near-death experience to shed light on her party’s bad policy, she blamed “the left” for “fearmongering” and refused to call her operation an abortion.

Cammack told The Wall Street Journal that in May of last year, when she was five weeks pregnant, doctors found that her child’s embryo grew outside of the uterus where the fallopian tube meets, a life-threatening location. “If this ruptures, it’ll kill you,” a doctor told her, adding that the embryo had no heartbeat. The emergency room doctors and nurses determined that Cammack required a shot of methotrexate to terminate her potentially fatal ectopic pregnancy.  

But Florida’s six-week abortion ban, which had just been enacted, made those medical professionals hesitant to save Cammack’s life because they feared they’d lose their licenses, or even be prosecuted and sent to jail. After hours of arguments and one unsuccessful call to Governor Ron DeSantis’s office, the doctors conceded and gave Cammack the lifesaving care. Months later, Florida lawmakers clarified that doctors could act in cases such as Cammack’s because ectopic pregnancies were not abortions in their eyes. They refused to define an ectopic pregnancy.

Cammack, who is now pregnant again and due in August, is convinced that liberal rhetoric about abortion bans that are both restrictive and ambiguously worded is to blame, rather than the legislation itself. 

“It was absolute fearmongering at its worst,” Cammack told the Journal. “There will be some comments like, ‘Well, thank God we have abortion services,’ even though what I went through wasn’t an abortion.” 

Not every pregnancy complication is black and white, and treating it as such causes medical professionals to live in fear and puts their patients at greater risk of dying. 

Here’s Where Trump Got the Brilliant Idea to Bomb Iran

Donald Trump’s favorite network played an unsettling role in the strike of three of Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Donald Trump speaks into a microphone while Secretary of State Marco Rubio stands behind him
Carlos Barria/Pool/Getty Images

Donald Trump’s decision to drag the United States into a war in the Middle East was all about how it would look on television.

The New York Times reported Sunday that Trump had been effusive about Israel’s sweeping military operation in Iran, targeting the latter country’s ballistic missile and nuclear facilities, military officials, and nuclear scientists.

Ever the entertainer, Trump “asked an ally how the Israeli strikes were ‘playing’ on Friday June 13.” “He said that ‘everyone’ was telling him he needed to get more involved,” the Times reported, but it’s not clear who exactly Trump was talking about.

The next day, Trump’s team reportedly paid close attention to how his supporters were responding to Israel’s military campaign. Meanwhile, Trump kept his eyes glued to Fox News as it aired “wall-to-wall praise” of Israel’s operation and hosted guests urging the president to wade into the conflict.

Several of Trump’s advisers were reportedly lamenting the loss of Tucker Carlson, who’d come out strongly against U.S. involvement in Iran, from his gig on the president’s favorite channel because it meant Trump didn’t hear any opposition, according to the Times.

Last week, CNN’s Brian Stelter reported that Fox News had gone all in on attacking Iran.

“Trump’s favorite TV network has staked out the pro-war position—and it isn’t making as much room for debate,” Stetler wrote. “Guest after guest on Fox has played to Trump’s ego—simultaneously praising the president and pushing for US intervention through his television screen.”

Fox News host Mark Levin, whom Trump recently appointed to his revamped Homeland Security Advisory Council, screamed about a battle of “good versus evil” during one broadcast last week.

Although Trump postured as if he opposed Israel’s strike beforehand, he told reporters it was “excellent” and “very successful,” and heavily implied that he’d been involved in some way. Israeli officials have claimed that Trump had even given the “green light” for a strike beforehand.