{"id":2718,"date":"2026-06-11T21:04:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T21:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wokeantifa.org\/topics\/stop-putting-whatever-trump-says-about-iran-in-the-headlines\/"},"modified":"2026-06-11T21:04:00","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T21:04:00","slug":"stop-putting-whatever-trump-says-about-iran-in-the-headlines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wokeantifa.org\/topics\/stop-putting-whatever-trump-says-about-iran-in-the-headlines\/","title":{"rendered":"Stop putting whatever Trump says about Iran in the headlines"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

Ever since he intemperately attacked Iran over three months ago, Donald Trump\u2019s every prognostication about the war has commanded major news headlines.<\/p>\n

Whether he is declaring victory, threatening annihilation, or insisting that a peace deal is two or three days away — all of which he has done, in succession, many times now — his words are splashed across the top of news pages everywhere.<\/p>\n

But pretty much every time, those words have turned out to be meaningless. So those headlines served to deceive the public rather than inform it.<\/p>\n

The headlines were particularly head-snapping today. In the morning, they were all \u201cTrump says US will hit Iran ‘very hard,’ take control of energy infrastructure<\/a>.\u201d But by early afternoon, they were all \u201cTrump cancels US strikes in Iran and suggests agreement is close<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whether it was another example of \u201cTrump Always Chickens Out,\u201d or another bout of wishful thinking, or just plain brain rot, we don\u2019t yet know.<\/p>\n

But it should be clearer than ever to newsroom leaders that Trump says whatever he feels like saying, with little or no connection to reality or to what comes next.<\/p>\n

So it\u2019s not really news anymore. In fact, it\u2019s bullshit.<\/p>\n

And it doesn\u2019t belong in the top headlines anymore.<\/p>\n

The top headlines should be about what is actually happening, not what he says will happen. You know, headlines about real things, like \u201cAnalysis of Satellite Image and Videos Suggest Precision U.S. Strikes on Iranian Water Facility<\/a>\u201d or \u201cDelhi issues \u2018strong protest\u2019 after US strikes kill three Indian seafarers in Gulf<\/a>.\u201d Those articles, not Trump\u2019s latest Truth Social post, deserve the lead spots on our news home pages and front pages.<\/p>\n

And you know who best understands just how full of bull Trump\u2019s statements are? The reporters who cover him. Occasionally, the truth leaks out of them, like in this not-long-for-this-world paragraph<\/a> in the New York Times\u2019s \u201clive\u201d coverage on Wednesday:<\/p>\n

As Mr. Trump alternates between promising peace and threatening to return to full-scale war, neither is happening. Instead, the situation is as bewildering as ever, the two sides seeming to agree on nothing, prolonging the turmoil in the Middle East and leaving it unclear how or when the war will end.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(The first sentence made it to this article<\/a>, but the rest of the paragraph did not.)<\/p>\n

Most top publications have run at least one news analysis about how meaningless Trump\u2019s words about Iran are. See: \u201cTrump\u2019s statements on Iran increasingly contradict each other<\/a>\u201d(Washington Post, April 29); or \u201cTrump administration sows confusion as it tries to reopen Strait of Hormuz<\/a>\u201d (Associated Press, May 6); or \u201cTrump Threatens Iran and Then Pulls Back, All in the Same Day<\/a>\u201d (May 16).<\/p>\n

But they continue to churn out credulously stenographic daily stories anyway.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s particularly loony about headlining Trump\u2019s statements is that actual reporting — you know, the stuff that real journalism is based on — doesn\u2019t back them up. Most of the time, nobody — or at least nobody credible — can confirm what Trump is saying. Iranian officials often deny it. So the reporters end up just quoting from Trump\u2019s Truth Social posts and then riffing on them.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what happened today between 8:22 a.m. and 1:22 p.m.<\/p>\n

At 8:22, Trump posted<\/a> that \u201cThe United States will be hitting Iran (Whose Navy, Air Force, Radar, Anti Aircraft, and all other forms of Defense, together with most of its offensive capability, are GONE!), VERY HARD TONIGHT.\u201d He also predicted a land invasion of Kharg Island.)<\/p>\n

Then at 1:22 p.m. all bets were off<\/a>: \u201cBased on the fact that discussions with the Islamic Republic of Iran have been brought to the highest level of Iranian leadership and approved, I have, as President of the United States of America, cancelled the scheduled strikes and bombings against Iran this evening\u2026. Time and place of the signing to be announced shortly.\u201d<\/p>\n

This of course was coming from the same guy who posted almost three months ago<\/a> that \u201cIf Iran doesn\u2019t FULLY OPEN, WITHOUT THREAT, the Strait of Hormuz, within 48 HOURS from this exact point in time, the United States of America will hit and obliterate their various POWER PLANTS, STARTING WITH THE BIGGEST ONE FIRST!\u201d<\/p>\n

(That would have been a war crime<\/a>, by the way.)<\/p>\n

More recently, over the Memorial Day weekend, Trump had the entire mainstream news apparatus lunging like Charlie Brown after Lucy\u2019s football<\/a> when he posted a statement\u00a0on Saturday afternoon<\/a> declaring imminent peace, once again. (\u201cFinal aspects and details of the Deal are currently being discussed, and will be announced shortly,\u201d he wrote.) The resulting headlines: \u201cTrump Says Peace Deal Is Near<\/a>\u201d; \u201cTrump says Iran ceasefire deal in final stages, to be \u2018announced shortly<\/a>\u2019\u201d; and so on.<\/p>\n

I say: Enough already. Trump\u2019s statements should be quoted, sure, but with plenty of disclaimers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Reserve the headlines for things we know to be true.<\/p>\n\n

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Also from Press Watch:<\/em><\/p>\n