In the wake of merciless ground strikes in Iran by the US and Israel, the Trump administration has sought to clarify that its war with Iran is, in fact, not a war. Mike Johnson, Speaker of the House, further clarified that the US is in “a very specific, clear mission and operation” in Iran.
The rebranding of the term “war” has become quite popular in recent years, with such events also called “Conflicts”, “Skirmishes”, “Disagreements”, among others. International commentators described Johnson’s example as clumsy, however, while the Kremlin’s “Special Military Operation” was singled out for originality and being humorously understated.
This surge in rebranding is not just confined to autocracies and pseudo-democracies, but extends to true democracies such as Germany too. There, history books on the Second World War now title the so called “Invasion of Poland” as “the Missed Motorway Exit of 1939”. The books now set the record straight that an unfortunate map error led to a planned picnic, spearheaded by 10 panzer divisions, entering polish territory by accident. The brutal events that followed were simply a terrible misunderstanding.
Commentators have, however, noted some confused messaging emerging from MAGA recently, with a lack of consensus on the naming of the events in Iran at odds with their contempt for political correctness. A significant portion of the MAGA base is deeply opposed to foreign wars, and although many accept their master’s whims unquestioningly, sources within the Trump administration admit further rounds of reeducation are required for others.
Such “hand-wringing” over the feelings of a MAGA minority has drawn derision from the left, with several in the US Senate and Congress branding the Trump administration “woke” and “snowflakes”. Although insiders say the epithets have hurt Trump deeply, the US President has dispelled these rumours with 132 all-caps messages on Truth Social calling for the execution of the Fake News media.
