Jessica Tarlov used her seat at the table on Fox News’ The Five to unload on President Trump’s Operation Epic Fury, the military campaign targeting Iran, and Jesse Watters made sure she didn’t get away with it clean.
Tarlov kicked things off by comparing Iran to a hydra nobody can slay, saying, “If you think that going after a theocracy like this, made up of religious lunatics who you cut off the head and 100 more sprout out, is the same [as Venezuela or simpler targets]… it just makes you look stupid.” Bold words from someone who was about to spend the rest of the segment proving Watters’ point for him.
She piled on from there, griping that the mission’s timeline had shifted from a couple of days to four to five weeks to possibly eight, and announcing, “We are burning through a billion dollars a day.” She also zeroed in on the cost gap between American missiles and enemy drones, complaining, “We’re using $4 million missiles to take out $20,000 drones. That is a problem.” She noted that the issue came up in a Pentagon briefing and was reported by Jennifer Griffin, so at least she had a citation ready. Gold star for effort, Jessica. The Five Iran debate on Fox News
Watters wasn’t buying any of it. When another panelist asked whether the spending was still less than what went out the door in past foreign adventures, Tarlov pivoted fast to the missile-vs.-drone math. Watters cut right to the chase: “You don’t have a problem with the results. You have always a problem about the process. That’s all you have, because the results speak for themselves.” Hard to argue with that, though Tarlov certainly tried.
She wrapped up her case with a line that was apparently meant to be devastating, saying the regime’s replacements “better have health and dental, because no one’s taking that job.” A zinger, sure, but it didn’t exactly punch a hole in the administration’s position. Watters had already made his point: complaining about how something gets done while the scoreboard looks good is a tough sell to anyone paying attention.
The exchange is a pretty clean summary of where the liberal media stands on Trump foreign policy. Good results walk in the door, and the left immediately checks whether the paperwork was filed correctly. Operation Epic Fury continues, the results, by Watters’ own accounting, are speaking for themselves, and Jessica Tarlov will presumably be back next week with fresh process complaints ready to go.
