There is reason to believe the president and his team have not just mismanaged an unnecessary war, they have also taken deliberate steps to deceive the public about its progress. MS NOW reported:

Classified U.S. intelligence assessments of Iran’s military capacity revealed a reality at odds with the Trump administration’s public claims that Iran’s missile stockpile has been decimated, showing the regime has regained access to key missile sites and launchers after more than two months of war.

The recent intelligence reports found Iran has restored access to 30 of the 33 missile sites it controls along the Strait of Hormuz, which could be used to target American warships and oil tankers transiting the strategic waterway, a U.S. official with knowledge of the intelligence assessments told MS NOW.

This dovetailed with a related New York Times report that said Iran “still fields about 70 percent of its mobile launchers across the country and has retained roughly 70 percent of its prewar missile stockpile.”....

Two weeks ago, for example, Trump said the Times’ coverage of Iran was “actually seditious, in my opinion.” This week, he kept going, saying via his social media platform that news organizations have committed “virtual TREASON,” adding, “They are aiding and abetting the enemy!”

The argument is tough to follow — the Iranian government is aware of its own military capabilities, whether American news organizations report on its resources or not, so it’s far from clear how Iranian officials are “aided” by the disclosures — though it’s important to emphasize that this is not just an instance of Trump railing against the nation’s free press for the umpteenth time.

On the contrary, the administration is also following through on the rhetoric with meaningful action. The Wall Street Journal reported this week that Trump “privately complained to acting Attorney General Todd Blanche about media leaks in the wake of the Iran war last month, according to administration officials familiar with the matter, prompting an aggressive push at the Justice Department to pursue those investigations.”