8 months into the war with Iran, Trump remains ignorant about U.S. fatalities and costs

On the day before the 2026 midterm elections, Donald Trump gave a series of remarks about the war with Iran that conflicted with the facts, according to MS NOW. In a live interview with Sean Hannity and at an event at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, the president said fighting had stopped months ago. The Wall Street Journal reported, however, that U. S. forces struck Iran's Qeshm Island that same Monday, part of a run of limited and covert attacks in recent weeks. It is unclear whether Trump was misleading the public or simply unaware of the operations.

Trump also waved off a congressman's claim that the war had cost $30 billion, calling that figure "peanuts." MS NOW notes that every estimate of the conflict's cost, the administration's own included, is well above that amount. In a podcast interview with Miranda Devine of The New York Post, he put American deaths at 18 and described the war as seven months long, though it began eight months ago. His administration's own count of U. S. fatalities is higher than 18.

Summarized by PolitiKool from MS NOW’s reporting. Read the full story at MS NOW →