What did Donald Trump do today?

He lied about how many American servicemembers he's gotten killed.

A day after putting words of support for the war against Iran in the mouths of fallen American soldiers, Trump is pivoting to a new PR tactic: undercounting the number of dead servicemembers. The Pentagon, which is legally required to promptly and accurately report servicemembers killed in conflict, maintains a website listing the casualties sustained in the Iran campaign. Yesterday, it showed 18 deaths, including the four soldiers lost in Iraq and Jordan over the weekend.  

Clockwise from upper left: Sgt. Angel Rampersad, Sgt. Michael Emmanuel Swinton, Lt. Tyler James Feehan, and Pvt. Isabella Gonzales.

Today, that website showed only 14, with the four most recent deaths erased from the "Army" column and the total.

 

The justification given internally was that because Trump had declared a "ceasefire" back in April, these latest troops killed by Iranian drone and missile fire somehow didn't count. 

There are at least three ways that doesn't add up. First of all, the "ceasefire" never actually resulted in either side ceasing its attacks. Second, Trump unilaterally declared the "ceasefire" over before those four most recent servicemembers were killed. And most obviously of all, troops killed in action by enemy attacks are still casualties, regardless of whether the Trump considered the undeclared war they were fighting in to be paused or not.

It's not just troop deaths that Trump has been caught underselling. In a revival of Vietnam-era disinformation tactics, the Department of Defense kept injuries to dozens of servicemembers sustained in last week's attacks hidden as well. And Trump personally has been a geyser of fake news on the economic impacts of the war, falsely claiming that it doesn't matter if it spurs inflation (it does) or that gas prices have stayed low (they haven't). 
 

Why does this matter?

• A president who hadn't completely botched a war he never should have started wouldn't need to lie about how badly it was going. 

• 18 American servicemembers have lost their lives for this fiasco whether Trump is willing to admit it or not.