Inside The White House Plan To Sell The Iran War Online

President Donald Trump’s hype campaign for the Iran war has demolished decades of presidential decorum around wartime messaging — and is mortifying former defense officials and members of Congress.

The White House is loving it.

The administration’s TikTok-style mash-up videos of missile strikes spliced into movie clips and video games — along with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s attack-style language at Pentagon press conferences — have gobsmacked those with a more traditional view of how a government should sound during a time of war. But this modern media strategy is achieving what the White House appears to prioritize: audience engagement.

“Over a four day period, the videos that we put out had over 3 billion impressions,” said a senior White House official, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly about the administration’s communications strategy. “That blows away anything we’ve ever done in the second term.”

The effort is part of a “both/and” wartime communications strategy that, as is often the case with this White House, cares little about presidential precedent or polite sensibilities. More than a half-dozen videos put out by a small cadre of very online White House communications staffers, tasked with sharing the kind of content that populates their private group chats, have driven the conversation.

But former officials have grimaced at the videos, be they the “Here comes the Boom” edit of NFL defensive players tackling others on offense in brutal fashion (captioned “Touchdown”), or other TikTok-style clips with MLB home runs, Grand Theft Auto, and featuring movies such as “Iron Man,” “Top Gun” and “Gladiator.”

“I don’t think the performance of our men and women in uniform requires embellishment from Hollywood or computer games,” said Joe Votel, a former Central Command chief during the first Trump administration. “They represent the American people quite well on their own."

Some who have worn a uniform and sent troops into battle feel that the glib, gamer-ized packaging minimizes — and shows little respect for — the gravity of war.

“It just seems detached from reality,” said retired Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, a two-star general who commanded U.S. troops in Europe during President Barack Obama’s second term. “Our allies look at this and they wonder, what the hell is going on. It doesn't look like we're serious.”

Since the war began three weeks ago, the president and aides have orchestrated a flurry of messages through different platforms — many, like the videos, tailored to specific audiences.

Trump has pushed freewheeling messages in dozens of ad hoc interviews with reporters who are dialing his personal cell phone and other public appearances. Hegseth, often joined by Joint Chiefs Chair Dan Caine, has echoed the president’s bombast, declaring a series of triumphs even as he declines to describe what an American victory might look like.

The White House says it's a winning message. “Polls show that a lot of young people are actually somewhat supportive of this war and our goal is to deliver content to them,” said the senior White House official, who is involved in the video efforts. “What we're doing is not disrespecting the American troops. To the contrary, we're highlighting all the great work — the heroic work that they've been doing with these videos. We do it in a way that captivates an audience.”

No previous administration ever tried to sell a war by making a video of legendary bowler Pete Weber landing a strike using computer-generated bowling pins to represent Iran’s military — all to a Lynyrd Skynyrd soundtrack. But past administrations didn’t exist in the age of incessant group chats, TikTok and AI.

“We use every tool in our toolbox to ensure there's proper messaging to correct the record, but also give our allies the ability to help sell our message,” the official said. “Like what is ‘war communications’? What the former Bush people say? Well, if you want to talk about war communication under the Bush era — not great. ‘Mission accomplished'? It's just a different time. It's a different audience.”

A second senior White House official who is also closely involved in the video-making effort described it as a collegial, creative endeavor. “We’re over here just grinding away on banger memes, dude,” said the person, also granted anonymity to speak candidly. “There’s an entertainment factor to what we do. But ultimately, it boils down to the fact that no one has ever attempted to communicate with the American public this way before.”

The approach does have parallels to Trump’s political operation during the 2024 campaign. “Their entire strategy is rage bait and getting as many views as they can,” said Lauren Kapp, a Democratic digital strategist and the founder of Luminary Strategies. “They don’t care if the engagement is bad or good. They want these videos to be seen by as many young, impressionable young people as possible.”

Pentagon officials have also taken a bombastic tone, attempting to dunk on MAGA critics, journalists and the Iranian regime in a seeming extension of the White House’s viral communications strategy. Hegseth has said the U.S. would give “no quarter, no mercy for our enemies,” an indication that troops should not spare the lives of their enemies, a potential war crime. Hegseth also referred to rules of engagement as “stupid” and to Iranian leaders as “rats” who are “cowering” underground.

The Pentagon did not respond to a request for comment.

"The Trump administration's approach to discussing the war against Iran is both unusual and unprecedented,” said Tom Ricks, a longtime military correspondent who is now a military historian and author. “With Hegseth at the helm, they are mixing incompetence and hubris. They don't seem to care what the American public thinks, which is a dangerous approach."

There are few signs, beyond engagement numbers, that the administration’s messaging has the situation under control. According to a YouGov poll this week, 56 percent of Americans — and 63 percent of independent voters — disapprove of Trump’s handling of Iran.

The efforts to excite Trump’s base about the war, specifically the young men whose support helped him recapture the White House, have not forestalled some splintering within the MAGA movement over Trump’s decision to start a war with Iran rather than focus on domestic matters.

Joe Rogan, a well-known podcaster who helped Trump reach young men during his campaign, has blasted the Iran war as “nuts” and asserted that a number of his listeners feel “betrayed” by Trump’s focus on military adventurism.

A February Reuters/Ipsos poll found that 33 percent of men ages 18-29 approved of Trump’s performance in the White House — down from his 43 percent mark with the same group last year.

The base-driven messaging strategy, ironically, may actually be reinforcing negative perceptions about the war.

“It is appealing directly to the base, especially to these young, very online, 4chan MAGA people who, just like Trump, treat war like a video game,” said Max Burns, a Democratic strategist and founder of Third Degree Strategies. “You don’t see service members sharing this content.”

Audrey Decker contributed to this report.