It was one of those scenes in which political power lays over actual events like a thin sheet, barely able to conceal the truth beneath. In The Hague, where Donald Trump appeared as a guest at the NATO summit, drenched in sweat and full of his usual self-praise, the real explosion came not over Iran, but over the credibility of his own administration: two of his closest allies - Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio - reluctantly admitted on Wednesday that a leaked Pentagon assessment of the Iran operation was indeed real. And that assessment tells a very different story from what the president has been claiming for days. While Donald continued to speak of a “complete and total destruction” of Iran’s nuclear facilities, the classified document states plainly: the damage was limited, structurally contained, and strategically ineffective. Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan - names that in Donald’s speeches sounded like symbols of triumph - in reality, according to the report, many of the targeted facilities remain operational. No collapse, no breakthrough, no historic mission - at best, a calculated signal with limited impact.
But instead of confronting the contradiction, Hegseth and Rubio launched a different offensive - one aimed at those who had made the document public. The defense secretary called it an “attack on national morale,” Rubio spoke of a “sabotage act during an international summit.” And yet - both confirmed the document’s authenticity. The leak was real. The assessment was operationally accurate. Only - and this was their last line of defense - it was incomplete, preliminary, not fit to discredit the president. Donald himself reacted like a man who has perfected the game of truth to the point where he believes reality must conform to him. At his press conference - gesturing wildly, pointing his finger at reporters - he claimed the report was false, though he did not deny its existence. Instead, he said a pilot had personally assured him it was a “perfect bomb drop.” One must, after all, respect the courage and dedication of the American armed forces, not belittle them. Then he raged against the media, against ingratitude, against doubt itself.
And so, in The Hague, it wasn’t just the narrative of a decisive victory that unraveled, but also the veil of a president who no longer distinguishes between assertion and accountability. One who creates a reality that is only valid if it reflects him in glory - and who brands those who contradict it as traitors. What remains is the gap between power and proportion. Between what is said, and what is done. Between a president who surrounds himself with heroes, and a world that has long begun to doubt his stories. The truth, it seems, lies not on the battlefield, but in the footnotes of the reports no one is meant to read. And perhaps, too, in the silence of those who already have.
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