A Lot of Americans Don’t Understand Operation Epic Fury, and the Answer Why Is Obvious

If you have followed Operation Epic Fury closely, you know why the United States has been blowing up Iran’s military power, its leadership, and has allied itself with Israel to devastate the Iranian regime. 

Yet, according to several polls, Americans aren’t sure why Trump initiated the operation, and are mostly unaware of how incredibly successful it has been. Aside from the decapitation strikes’ successes, people are led to believe that Iran is doing pretty well out of the war. 

https://t.co/DUqqQVTaUF pic.twitter.com/IKZ6V24iOM

— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) March 12, 2026

There were a couple of striking findings in the poll, but the one that stands out is that Americans are confused about why we are at war in the first place. 

It should be pretty clear. President Trump has spoken at length about it. Secretary of War Hegseth has spoken about it many times. The question of “how long” has yet to be answered, for obvious reasons, but the question of “why?” has been answered unambiguously many times. 

Last week, WaPo’s poll showed Americans opposed “Trump ordering airstrikes against Iran,” 52-39.

This week, they’re about evenly split on the “U.S. military campaign against Iran” — 42% support, 40% oppose.

Why the difference? Possibly because the 2nd question didn’t mention…

— Aaron Blake (@AaronBlake) March 12, 2026

Last week, WaPo’s poll showed Americans opposed “Trump ordering airstrikes against Iran,” 52-39.

This week, they’re about evenly split on the “U.S. military campaign against Iran” — 42% support, 40% oppose.

Why the difference? Possibly because the 2nd question didn’t mention Trump.

The reason why Americans are confused, to the extent that they are, is obvious: the media keeps obfuscating, as do the Democrats. It’s not that Trump hasn’t explained the whats and whys, but rather that the media and Democrats keep tossing out the accusation that he hasn’t. 

The Iran war has killed or injured more than 1,100 children, @Unicef says — and remind me, what has it accomplished other than higher oil prices? https://t.co/fvvluhtEsA

— Nicholas Kristof (@NickKristof) March 12, 2026

And since the media has the biggest megaphone, they are winning the propaganda war. Most of the news coming out about the war is about Iranian missiles and drone strikes, and comparatively little about the progress being made. 

Iran’s armed forces are facing acute supply shortages, rising desertions and deepening friction between the regular army (Artesh) and the Revolutionary Guards, according to informed sources who described a military system under growing strain as the war intensifies.… pic.twitter.com/8vK5XO9V5W

— Iran International English (@IranIntl_En) March 12, 2026

I have been blown away by the sheer quantity and brazenness of the propaganda. It used to be that spin was the preferred tactic of the media, but ever since Trump was first elected, the media has relentlessly focused on hoaxes, and it has stepped up the repetition of Democratic Party talking points to the point that they almost drown out everything else.

Ofc killing Kohmeni was ONE step to regime demise…but nobody thought “one bomb all done!”

These “experts in the region” or “unnamed officials” are cited but this designation means nothing. If you gave a presentation to mid level State folks in 2014 are you “an expert”?

— Reuben Rodriguez (@ReubenR80027912) March 12, 2026

Readers of Hot Air and other alternative media outlets have a much better idea of what is going on, and we are quite clear about our ideological point of view. We don’t make any absurd claims about being “even-handed” and “just the facts;” we also don’t LIE about the facts, as so often happens in Pravda outlets. 

They know what they are doing.

And the responses will be the same as the Gaza playbook too. As in, if you don’t swallow evidence-less, regime death counts then you love genocide or something.

It’s how Islamists fight wars, and Westerners are dumb enough to fall for it. https://t.co/NOuzk0V8Oj

— Bonchie (@bonchieredstate) March 12, 2026

We tell you what we think, and why. Pravda tells you WHAT to think, and throws a steady stream of falsehoods at you. I am more likely to find stories in unapologetically left-wing outlets to be factual, if biased, than in any random CNN story. And outlets like The New York Times often bury critical facts in paragraph 38 rather than lay them out. 

The most famous example of that was its admission, years late, that the Hunter Biden laptop was genuine. It was buried so deep in an unrelated story that about 10 people would have seen it. 

The coverage of the terrorist attack last weekend has been similarly deceptive, of course, but less consequential than the distortions about Operation Epic Fury. 

Does any serious person doubt that the media would be cheerleading the war if Obama were president? The Libya excursion got less negative coverage than Operation Epic Fury, and that left a US Ambassador dead and a failed state with slave markets in its wake. 

As important as Elon Musk’s freeing of X is, we may overstate its impact among voters who are only moderately interested in politics. They get their news in snippets and headlines, not by obsessively researching contrasting claims on X. 

“There are moments when Americans are willing to endure fiscal hardship or accept that the nation will make sacrifices for a greater good. Presidents of the past have made a point of convincing Americans that a war was worth it

“Trump has not even tried” https://t.co/leRVvVvFA0

— Jonathan Lemire (@JonLemire) March 12, 2026

X allows people who want to know the truth to dig into it, look at what is real, consider the contrasting spin, and make informed decisions if they are not confined to a Bluesky-level bubble. I follow lots of people with different points of view because I know the danger of bubbles, but most people just want the bottom line up front without having to spend hours researching everything. 

So Pravda still matters quite a bit. We may cheer when CNN is forced to “correct” something, but the steady stream of propaganda still leaves people with an immensely distorted view of the world. 

The left clearly wants the United States to fail in Iran because they want Trump to fail, and the media is pounding the drums to help them force Trump to stop Operation Epic Fury before it is done. 

The country is so divided right now because there are people who trust the media and get their news from it, and those of us who know they are liars. 

Editor’s note: If we thought our job in pushing back against the Academia/media/Democrat censorship complex was over with the election, think again. This is going to be a long fight. If you want to join the conversation in the comments — and support independent platforms — why not join our VIP Membership program? Choose VIP to support Hot Air and access our premium content, VIP Gold to extend your access to all Townhall Media platforms and participate in this show, or VIP Platinum to get access to even more content and discounts on merchandise. Use the promo code FIGHT to join or to upgrade your existing membership level today, and get 60% off!