When Intelligence Serves the President, Not the Truth
Trump’s Iran Strike and the Danger of Twisting Intelligence
When Donald Trump ordered airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities last week, he wasted no time declaring total victory. He boasted that the targeted sites had been “obliterated” and that Tehran’s nuclear ambitions had been set back “by decades.” But as more intelligence surfaces and satellite images are analyzed, it’s clear those declarations were part of a dangerous propaganda campaign.
High-resolution satellite imagery released by Maxar Technologies shows that the Fordow enrichment site—an underground facility buried within a mountain near Qom—did sustain significant structural damage. Craters dot the surface, tunnels have clearly been impacted, and new construction equipment and personnel have been spotted at the entrance to the northern shaft. A crane appears to be aiding excavation, and scorched access roads indicate follow-on Israeli strikes intended to complicate any future repair or transport efforts. Yet despite the visible scars, independent experts confirm that the core enrichment operations may have survived and that Iran could potentially resume activity within months.
Furthermore, intercepted Iranian communications and U.S. intelligence assessments suggest the reality is far less triumphant than Trump’s bluster. Iran’s nuclear program has been disrupted, not dismantled, and even more concerning, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has confirmed that just before the strikes, Iran may have moved 409 kilograms of near-weapons-grade uranium to a secret site. The IAEA no longer has access to monitor it, and with inspections frozen and oversight suspended, Iran could now fast-track a nuclear breakout, without detection.
But what emerged from the White House was not the kind of sober, accountable reassessment one would expect from a democratic leader facing a volatile and evolving threat. Instead, we witnessed a full-spectrum propaganda campaign—not to evaluate the facts, but to erase them. Intelligence, once the backbone of U.S. national security decision-making, was repurposed into a political loyalty test. CIA Director John Ratcliffe, long regarded as one of Trump’s most obedient appointees, abruptly declared that “new intelligence” confirmed severe damage to Iran’s program—directly contradicting earlier, more measured assessments from the Defense Intelligence Agency.
Meanwhile, Trump’s media machine quickly mobilized. He reposted an anonymous social media account falsely proclaiming “Fordow is gone,” and Fox News host Sean Hannity amplified the lie with a fake video of a 2024 Israeli strike in Syria, falsely presented as footage from Iran—a tactic commonly used by Russia. That video—millions of views and counting—was entirely fabricated, but accuracy didn’t matter.
This disinformation blitz was then echoed almost word-for-word by a tightly choreographed chorus of MAGA propagandists across cable news, podcasts, and social media platforms, all parroting the same talking points. The result was a synthetic narrative—an illusion of consensus designed to drown out truth, delegitimize dissent, and overwhelm all of us with coordinated lies.
And when real journalism challenged the false narrative, the retaliation was swift. Trump threatened to sue The New York Times and CNN over reporting that contradicted his claims, calling the coverage “defamatory.” His lawyers didn’t seek to correct inaccuracies—they sought to suppress inconvenient facts. When CNN’s Natasha Bertrand accurately reported that the initial U.S. intelligence report indicates that Iran could resume enrichment within months, Trump demanded she be fired and smeared her publicly, saying she should be “thrown out like a dog.” These were intimidation tactics, meant to silence journalists and send a message: report reality, and pay the price.
Equally disturbing was Tulsi Gabbard’s sudden, unverified claim—delivered simultaneously with Ratcliffe’s—that Iran’s nuclear infrastructure had been “destroyed” and would take years to rebuild. Her statement conveniently echoed Trump’s narrative and came within hours of his public meltdown over reporting that contradicted his version of events. This was a scripted performance, calibrated to curry favor through blind obedience rather than convey credible intelligence.
What we are witnessing is not just a distortion of facts, but a deliberate and dangerous restructuring of the U.S. intelligence ecosystem to serve the will of one man. It mirrors the Kremlin’s model, where intelligence agencies don’t inform power—they flatter it. Vladimir Putin was told Ukraine would “fall in three days.” That delusion sparked Russia’s full-scale genocidal war—one that still rages as the Kremlin carries out daily terrorist attacks on civilians, abducts Ukrainian children, and wages a campaign of extermination across entire cities. The war, which began with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2014, erupted into a full-scale assault in 2022—driven by sycophants who fed lies to a dictator.
Now, here in the United States, Trump is walking that same path. He plans to gut the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, purging staff by up to 25%, sidelining analysts who won’t conform, and elevating loyalists like John Ratcliffe to fabricate consensus around his narrative. Intelligence is no longer a tool for safeguarding national security and is being weaponized to uphold the myth of Trump’s unquestionable power.
And the consequences reach far beyond our borders. Our allies—who rely on accurate, unpoliticized U.S. intelligence—now face the question: can they trust what Washington says, or are they hearing the latest distortion from Truth Social? American credibility continues unraveling in real time, being sacrificed to shield Trump’s ego and further his agenda.
Meanwhile, Americans continue to be misled. How much of Iran’s nuclear infrastructure was actually destroyed? How quickly can enrichment resume? What happened to the 409 kilograms of highly enriched uranium that vanished before the strike? And if Iran accelerates its nuclear program, will Americans be dragged into another endless war? The truth remains hidden—buried under layers of political theater, manufactured narratives, and strategic denial.
The question is no longer whether Fordow was obliterated. The real question is whether we’re willing to live in a nation where intelligence is distorted, journalists are threatened, and truth is sacrificed to sustain a lie.
Because when truth dies inside the national security apparatus, strategy collapses, deterrence dissolves, and democratic self-governance begins to rot. What remains is propaganda—and when weaponized by a desperate leader, it becomes a threat not only to America but to the entire world.
Thank You Olga... Another Very Good Post... Pray that the Ceasefire Holds... I still don't see the Benefit to the USA of aiding, and abetting Netanyahu's Wars...
Intelligence and the Trump administration is an oxymoron.