In a surprising moving, the Trump administration released a chaotic video compilation on Thursday night, featuring US military operations against Iran interspersed with famous movie scenes, which elicited criticism from both political parties for trivializing the conflict in the Middle East.
Taking to its official X account, the White House shared the video, which combined notable sequences from Hollywood hits such as Gladiator and Top Gun: Maverick with images of military strikes on Iranian sites. “JUSTICE THE AMERICAN WAY,” the caption of the post read. The clip, which has received over 16.5 million views so far, was subsequently promoted by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.
Hegseth himself made a short appearance in the 42-second video montage, which was packed with clips from Transformers, Braveheart, Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, Iron Man, and Star Wars, along with popular video games like Halo and Mortal Kombat — concluding with a voice declaring a “flawless victory.”
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Netizens react to White House’s video
Reacting to the video, one user quipped, “White House trying to get every copy right [sic] strike known to man.”
As several people expressed outrage, disgust, disbelief, and even admiration, former Hercules actor Kevin Sorbo proposed that the taxpayer-funded video creator deserves “a raise.”
“My future children won’t believe me when I tell them The White House posted this,” a third person said.
“Wow! Had no idea you got the rights to use Braveheart and Gladiator content to promote war. It’d be a shame if you didn’t and were sued as a govt and as the Digital Media team individually,” another said.
“Is a 16 year old managing this account?” the fifth user asked, while the sixth person emphasised. “Very creative but I can’t help but notice I voted for peace.”
Liberals criticized the post for trivializing a significant conflict between the United States and Iran as if it were a video game.
Neera Tanden, a former staff secretary in President Joe Biden’s administration, remarked, “The entire Trump Cabinet is made up of people play acting actual leaders and now they do videos confirming it.”
Trump warns Iran
The video comes as Trump on Friday issued a warning in a post on Truth Social that here will be no agreement with Iran unless it is unconditional surrender.
“After that, and the selection of a GREAT & ACCEPTABLE Leader(s), we, and many of our wonderful and very brave allies and partners, will work tirelessly to bring Iran back from the brink of destruction, making it economically bigger, better, and stronger than ever before,” the POTUS said.