President Donald Trump is using the Iran war to stockpile campaign cash, issuing multiple email fundraising appeals during Week 1 of Operation Epic Fury that cast Democrats as weak on national security and directing donations to his political operation.
Requests for contributions began hitting inboxes just a few days after the U.S. military initiated strikes on Iran on February 28. The digital fundraisers, designed to motivate grassroots supporters who make small-dollar donations, were presented as direct messages from Trump and crafted with the same plain-spoken and provocative language the president uses at campaign rallies and in social media posts. At press time, The Dispatch had reviewed more than a half-dozen such money asks sent by Team Trump.
One email charges Iran with trying “to interfere” in the 2020 and 2024 elections “to stop President Trump from winning.” In another, “radical left Democrats” are said to be “complaining bitterly about the very necessary and important attack on Iran,” and are accused of wanting to “weaken our resolve and let Iran rebuild.” The missives also seem intended to blunt blowback from the prominent Trump supporters on the MAGA right who oppose the war. “Iran wanted to bring DEATH TO AMERICA,” read one. “I had no other choice.”
“Strength sells,” a veteran Republican strategist with experience in digital communications told The Dispatch, requesting anonymity to discuss Trump’s Iran war messaging. “People want to be a part of something strong and victorious. The Iran operation, to the extent it stays that way, benefits from that perception.” (Per the RealClearPolitics average, voters broadly oppose the war. But Republicans, including those who identify with the president’s Make America Great Again movement, are supportive.)
Trump tends to discuss the Iran war with a certain bravado his predecessors often eschewed when speaking publicly about military operations they ordered—especially when, as has already happened in this 12-day-old conflict, American casualties were likely. But the president’s use of the Iran war in explicitly political messaging, for partisan advantage and to undercut his opponents, is hardly unprecedented.
When President George W. Bush sought reelection in 2004, his pitch was based on keeping Americans safe in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. That entailed, in part, making his case for the ongoing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
“We will stay on the hunt until justice is served and America is safe from attack,” Bush said, during a July 9, 2004, campaign rally in York, Pennsylvania. “We confronted the dangers of state-sponsored terror and the spread of weapons of mass destruction. We acted against two of the most violent regimes on earth. We have liberated over 50 million people. America is safer because of our actions.”
Still, as the Iran war entered its second week, Trump and his White House have continued to communicate about the Iran war in ways both overtly political and seemingly trivial. Particularly jarring are the highly stylized videos issued by the White House that are short and designed for consumption on social media platforms.
One video splices together clips of violent collisions and tackles from NFL and college football games with what appear to be satellite shots of U.S. military strikes. The song “Thunderstuck” by AC/DC plays in the background. Another video splices together military strikes with scenes from historical dramas and science fiction films about war. Yet another begins with a scene from a video game, cuts to a military strike, then switches back to a video game. The word “wasted” then flashes across the screen.
Those are only three examples. There are others.
Richard Engel, chief foreign correspondent for NBC News, is reporting that former senior U.S. military officials are highly critical of these meme videos. “To say that they are outraged is an understatement,” Engel said. “I had conversations that were peppered with four-letter words—what are these people doing? What are they thinking? Only someone who has never really seen combat could think that it is a joke and put out material like this.”
Some videos are less controversial than others, featuring more mundane scenes of American military hardware in action overlayed with Trump, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, or both, discussing the administration’s national security policy and paying tribute to the armed forces.
However offensive or distasteful to some viewers, Trump isn’t the first president to rely on unorthodox methods of communication to sell a war to voters, explained Shawn J. Parry-Giles, a political scientist at the University of Maryland who studies political rhetoric.
President Woodrow Wilson created the Committee of Public Information, a government propaganda arm, to drum up support for World War I. During World War II, the federal government aired newsreels at movie theaters to promote the conflict against Germany and Japan, and urge Americans to contribute to the effort. Presidents who followed have all, when necessary, looked for novel messaging strategies aimed at winning public support for military action, whether or not the combat in question is referred to as “war” or not.
“While certain segments of the population react negatively to these short videos, presidential administrations have sold wartime efforts in a diversity of ways. How they do so has changed through the years,” Parry-Giles said. “These kinds of ads that feature a fusion of popular culture and sports imagery are off-putting for some, especially Democrats. They are nonetheless getting a lot of views, which is a quick and less expensive way to promote the war, especially for those who get their news from social media.”
The White House did not respond to an email requesting comment.
