I recently spoke with a woman in her nineties who grew up on the Lower East Side (I’ll call her Sadie). She told me that times were much better back then; despite having no money, she claimed the community stuck together and everyone helped one another. However, when I asked why so many people from that era became so successful, her response surprised me. Given her idyllic view, I expected her to say their parents deeply valued education. While she agreed education was important, she admitted the real driver of success was a desperate desire to escape the Lower East Side as quickly as possible. Sadie herself was a prime example: as soon as she and her husband married, they moved away and never looked back. The irony is that Sadie didn’t seem to notice the contradiction between the “happy” version of history she wanted to portray and the reality she actually lived.
This tendency toward “happy talk” is not limited to personal nostalgia; it has dangerous parallels in leadership. During the Vietnam War, the administration repeatedly told the public the U.S. was winning and that the enemy was weak. Then came the Tet Offensive in early 1968. Although it was a tactical military failure for the North Vietnamese, it was a massive political success. It exposed the U.S. military’s deception, proving they had been painting a rosy picture that wasn’t based on reality. This credibility gap widened further with the 1971 leak of the Pentagon Papers, which revealed that high-ranking officials had long concluded the war was unwinnable.
As public support ebbed, the Nixon administration began blaming the media for the shift in sentiment. However, Vietnam was the first war with graphic color footage broadcast into living rooms, making it impossible for the government to hide improper conduct or the true cost of the conflict.
Donald Trump’s formative years coincided with his being draft-aged during the Vietnam War. One might think he would have learned from the mistakes of the military and the presidents of that era. Instead, he appears to be repeating them. He has stated that a conflict with Iran was “over in the first hour” and that “we won the war” before it even fully materialized. When confronted with complications—such as Iran’s potential to close the Strait of Hormuz—he initially dismissed the threat, claiming the U.S. Navy would easily escort ships. Now, he has been forced to implicitly admit the U.S. cannot act alone, claiming a coalition is joining the effort—a claim contradicted by several of the countries involved. He further argues that it doesn’t matter because the United States no longer needs the oil that passes through the Strait.
It is difficult to believe the military did not consider the possibility of Iran closing the Strait. I would not be surprised if they had told civilian leadership that the military could not reopen it without a protracted war. Likewise, the administration expected that once senior members of the Iranian government were killed, the regime would fold like Venezuela’s or that the people would rise up. That has not happened. In fact, a National Intelligence Council assessment in February concluded that neither limited airstrikes nor a prolonged military campaign would result in a new government, even if the current leadership were eliminated.
Then there is the bombing of the girls’ school. Trump tried to claim that the United States was not responsible and that Iran bombed its own school, but that narrative has fallen apart. It would have been better to own the mistake and explain that they were targeting a legitimate objective and hit the school in error.
The Secretary of Defense, who prefers to be called the “Secretary of War,” is no better than Trump. Listening to him feels like hearing an army promotional speech; his distorted view of the current situation has no relation to reality. Instead of leveling with the American people, the administration blames the media, claiming they are engaging in “fake news” and misinformation.
There must be an end to the “happy talk.” Leadership needs to level with the American people about the current situation and our actual choices. Happy talk did not work in Vietnam. Because Vietnam was the first war the U.S. lost, there was little expectation during the conflict that the unthinkable could happen. Today, however, we have lived through Iraq and Afghanistan—the latter of which was clearly a defeat. Americans are now rightfully afraid of being stuck in an endless war that ends in failure. Consequently, there is little public faith in the positive pronouncements made by the President and military leaders.
If this administration does not change its approach and continues with its unrealistic, rosy view, we could face another humiliating exit like the one from Vietnam in 1975. Congress may eventually cut off funding for the war as they did then, regardless of Trump’s current hold on his party.