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The perception that this war is being won by bombs is no doubt reinforced by Trump\u2019s advisers, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth<\/a>, a former cable-news host who values the power of short-form video perhaps a little too much. \u201cNever has a modern military been so rapidly and historically obliterated, defeated, from day one, with overwhelming firepower,\u201d Hegseth said in the Oval Office on Tuesday as he stood beside Trump. \u201cAnd that\u2019s why we see ourselves as part of this negotiation as well. We negotiate with bombs!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe sounds less like any actual tough guy that I knew in the military, and more like a 13-year-old who just finished watching Conan the Barbarian,<\/em>\u201d Klay says. \u201cIt fits with the seemingly hapless strategy and public messaging.\u201d<\/p>\n The sizzle reels Trump is fed go a long way toward explaining why he\u2019s so furious about media coverage of his war. \u201cThere\u2019s most definitely a feedback loop,\u201d says Eric Bolling, a conservative commentator and longtime ally of the president. \u201cWhat President Trump responds to tends to get amplified to him. When you\u2019re consuming a steady stream of short-form strike footage, it can create a perception of clean, decisive success that doesn\u2019t always reflect the complexity on the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n Indeed, the bombing campaign is only a sliver of the reality. If your understanding of basketball were based entirely on highlight reels of explosive Carmelo Anthony dunks, you might find yourself under the impression that the New York Knicks<\/a> were a force to be reckoned with throughout the 2010s. (I was there; they were not.) What\u2019s more, as experts like Robert Pape have warned<\/a>, there\u2019s little evidence that strikes alone can change the reality on the ground, let alone topple an entrenched regime and deliver freedom to the people it controls. \u201cPeople don\u2019t respond well to being bombed,\u201d Klay points out. \u201cIt\u2019s a fundamentally wicked way of looking at the world and understanding how to exercise power. But also, I think it\u2019s practically wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n “We negotiate with bombs,\u201d Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said from the Oval Office this week.<\/p>\n <\/span>Majid Saeedi\/Getty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n In a statement to NBC News, press secretary Karoline Leavitt pushed back against the idea that Trump was not getting a full picture of the situation in Iran: \u201cAnyone who has been present for conversations with President Trump knows he actively seeks and solicits the opinions of everyone in the room and expects full-throated honesty from all of his top advisers.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump doesn\u2019t strictly consume information through these short-form videos, but it\u2019s unclear whether the broader information ecosystem in which Trump stews gives him a better view of the facts on the ground. One source close to Trump tells me he\u2019s an avid viewer of Mark Levin\u2019s Fox News show, which airs weekly on Sunday nights. The talk radio veteran typically delivers an hour-long sermon on US successes in Iran and the existential threat posed by the country\u2019s fundamentalist regime.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n