During his latest appearance on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Republican Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana acknowledged the fact that the Iran war is broadly unpopular with the American mainstream. It led the senator to offer the Trump administration some unsolicited advice.
“I support the president in Iran,” Kennedy said. “We all need to do a better job messaging. I may end up with a sombrero on my head by saying this, but we all know the president. He exists loudly. He grows anxious when he has an unexpressed thought. He’s not always disciplined in his messaging. I’m not saying he should stop talking. He’s the president, and I’m not.
“But I would put [Secretary of State Marco] Rubio and [Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Dan] Caine and [CIA Director John] Ratcliffe and [Defense Secretary Pete] Hegseth out there, either in a speech or in a long press conference, to explain what’s going on in Iran. Why we went in, why we’re still there.”
It’s a pitch rooted in a simple idea: The unpopular war would enjoy greater public support if the White House had better “messaging” and spokespeople who could simply “explain what’s going on.”
If this sounds at all familiar, it’s because it has become a go-to stance for Republicans in response to all kinds of challenges. Vice President JD Vance, for example, said earlier this month that the administration should have done a better job on “the communications” of the Epstein scandal.
Earlier this year, the president acknowledged his weak public support on the economy, but he brushed off the polls by saying, “Maybe I have bad public relations people.” Around the same time, as Immigrations and Customs Enforcement faced backlash after two Americans were shot and killed, Trump again argued that ICE and other federal immigration agencies simply had a PR problem.
Even the Republicans’ 2025 domestic policy megabill — the inaptly named One Big Beautiful Bill Act — was given a new name late year as GOP officials confronted evidence that most Americans were thoroughly unimpressed with the far-right legislative package.
Sometimes, however, public attitudes have nothing to do with branding or finding the right people to read the echo talking points to the right audiences. Sometimes, whether politicians like it not, Americans are repulsed by failed policies because they’re failed policies.
The solution is not to focus on messaging; the solution is to change substantive direction.
The war with Iran was an avoidable and legally dubious mistake, which has destabilized a region, undermined U.S. goals, failed to achieve the White House’s own stated objectives and cost Americans far too much.
Kennedy expressed confidence that improved message discipline will somehow persuade the American mainstream to start supporting a war most of the public opposes. I have a better idea: Republicans can listen to Americans and end this tragedy.
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