During the Department of War’s Thursday update on Operation Epic Fury, Secretary Pete Hegseth likened the legacy media to the Pharisees. Hegseth illustrated this comparison after hearing his pastor’s sermon on Sunday:
“This past Sunday, I was sitting in church with my family. And our minister preached from the Book of Mark, the third chapter. And in the passage, Jesus entered a synagogue and healed a man with a withered hand. The Pharisees came to watch, and as scripture reads, they came to see whether he, Jesus, would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him. You see, the Pharisees, the so-called and self-appointed elites of their time, they were there to witness, to write everything down, to report. But their hearts were hardened. Even though they witnessed a literal miracle it didn’t matter. They were only there to explain away the goodness in pursuit of their agenda. As the passage ends, the Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel against him, how to destroy him.”
Hegseth compared the Pharisees’ criticism of Christ Jesus’ actions to the mainstream media’s criticism of American soldiers as they aim to achieve the goals of Operation Epic Fury.
“I sat there in church and I thought: Our press are just like these Pharisees. Not all of you. Not all of you. But the legacy, Trump-hating press. Your politically-motivated animus for President Trump nearly completely blinds you from the brilliance of our American warriors. The Pharisees scrutinized every good act in order to find a violation. Only looking for the negative.”
Hegseth characterized the media’s hostility as directed solely at President Donald Trump. However, this week has demonstrated that there is also a significant, if not more extreme, animosity aimed at Pete Hegseth in his role as Secretary of War. This criticism persists despite Hegseth and his generals successfully conducting multiple campaigns that have achieved their intended goals and been executed with deadly precision.
He also called the press’s battles to downgrade or belittle Operation Epic Fury’s successes as “incredibly unpatriotic”:
“This same press corps, not this exact same press corps, but at least an older press corps, bent over backwards during the Biden administration to explain away, you explained away the disastrous and disgraceful Afghanistan withdrawal. You called it ‘the greatest airlift in American history.’ It’s almost like you’re cheering only for one side.”
Neglecting to acknowledge the skill, training, and mission focus of our brave servicemen and women, while constantly criticizing their leaders, is neither patriotic nor good journalism. Instead, it intentionally pushes an anti-American and anti-military narrative. Despite this backdrop, Hegseth reached out to those in the mainstream media who could set aside their TDS and HDS (Hegseth Derangement Syndrome) to recognize the positive developments that have taken place and continue to unfold, adding:
The hardened hearts of our press are calibrated only to impugn. I would ask you to open your eyes to the goodness: the historic success of our troops, the courage of this president, and this historic moment for a deal that could end the Iranian nuclear threat. The incredible battlefield victory laid before your eyes. The not one, but TWO incredible rescue missions — miracles, you might say. Or a locked in blockade.
.@SECWAR "To the American media—
I just can’t help but notice the endless stream of garbage—the relentlessly negative coverage that you cannot resist peddling, despite the historic and important success of this effort and the success of our troops.
Sometimes it’s hard to figure… pic.twitter.com/KCyT0u6ViA
— DOW Rapid Response (@DOWResponse) April 16, 2026
He then shifted gears, moving away from the Iran conflict by noting real and anecdotal evidence indicating record numbers of Americans are proudly stepping forward to serve their country in a way never seen during the Woke Biden Military years:
“Or how about historic recruiting numbers? Yesterday, we announced that the Air Force and the Space Force met new, higher goals in FY26, five months in advance of the end of the fiscal year. Five months ahead of time. The Marine Corps and the Army will soon do the same.
“Two, three years ago we couldn’t meet lower recruiting numbers — not even close. Where are the reports on that? Where’s the coverage of the new spirit in the country, the new spirit in the ranks, the surge of Americans wanting to join the greatest military in the world. Nothing from the fake news. We sense a pattern.
“You see, on the battlefield, these are demonstrations of uniquely American capabilities. Strength and resolve, it’s all around you, each and every day. But in the press, you only seek the negative. Earning, each and every day the fake news label.”
The SECWAR then deferred to the American people as a whole, as he has often done, and noted their desire to find truth and goodness in the midst of the war:
But the American people, with goodness in their hearts, see past the Pharisees in our press. They see the goodness. You, watching, you see the goodness. They see the success. They see the reality. And they don’t demand perfection, and perfection is not possible on any battlefield. But they see the incredible feats that our troops accomplish every single day.
.@SECWAR “The hardened hearts of our press are calibrated only to impugn.
I would ask you to open your eyes to the goodness—the historic success of our troops, the courage of this president, and this historic moment for a deal that could end the Iranian nuclear threat.” pic.twitter.com/QYZrWUQfK4
— DOW Rapid Response (@DOWResponse) April 16, 2026
