Analysis: Trump claims the press is demeaning the military. But questioning power is patriotic

Journalists ask questions, vet the answers and report the results to the public. That’s pretty much the job description.

Journalists ask questions, vet the answers and report the results to the public. That’s pretty much the job description. But the Trump administration is claiming that it’s unpatriotic to do so. Several days after the US conducted airstrikes in Iran, as the public awaits a clearer picture of the strikes’ impact, President Trump is attacking CNN for reporting on an early US intel assessment that undercut his claims about Iran’s nuclear enrichment sites being “totally obliterated.” The New York Times is also being targeted by Trump because it matched CNN’s reporting. “They tried to demean the great work our B-2 pilots did,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Wednesday. CNN and The Times have not demeaned any pilots. But the administration is casting “any questioning of the success of an incredibly difficult military operation as fake, as unappreciative, and as disrespectful to servicemembers,” CNN’s Jake Tapper said on “The Lead” Wednesday evening. Tapper cited past examples of government deception and said, “history has taught us that the most pro-servicemember action we can take is to ask questions of our leaders, especially in times of war. That, for journalists, is the height of patriotism.”