White House's use of internet memes to promote Iran war sparks criticism

From video game clips to cartoon characters

to blockbuster movie scenes,

the administration's Iran messaging

has embraced a style that critics say

blurs the line between propaganda and entertainment

and risks reducing a real war to spectacle.

White House correspondent Liz Landers reports.

As the war continues in the skies over Iran,

the Trump administration has opened

an unusual front here at home,

the internet meme battlefield.

Wake up, daddy, son.

A post titled Justice the American Way

that features a montage of movie clips

from films like Iron Man, Gladiator, Top Gun,

and other action movies has been viewed

more than 64 million times on X

since it was posted two weeks ago.

Time to find out.

Couple, couple.

Other videos feature rap songs

and cartoon characters.

The White House has also turned to sports,

sharing videos featuring baseball stars

hitting home runs and football tackles

interspersed with battlefield explosions set to music.

What we're seeing from the White House is,

you know, what you might call a sizzle reel

of weapon strike footage.

So over and over.

Roger Stahl is a professor of communication studies

at the University of Georgia,

specializing in propaganda, war and pop culture.

There are no human beings.

There are no school children to be incinerated.

There's no suggestion that people

are suffering on the other end.

So you get on the one hand, you know, fantasy material

that is framing the weapon strikes

and kind of sanitization of wars

that's being presented through the gun camera.

The videos are amplified across social media

by both official government accounts and Trump supporters.

One of the most controversial posts

opens with imagery from the video game Call of Duty

and then cuts to actual US war footage.

The video was eventually taken down,

but not before it was viewed more than 50 million times.

Christopher Purcell served in the Bush White House

communication shop during the run up to the Iraq war in 2003.

Call of Duty is not real life.

It's a game and war has very, very real consequences.

Not just for our service members,

but for Iranian civilians.

And this gamification of war is really appalling,

especially when you consider the administration's

typical response to mass shootings,

which is to blame violent video games and movies.

The White House defends the strategy

as a modern way to communicate with younger audiences

and highlight military successes.

They told us in a statement in part, quote,

the legacy media wants us to apologize for highlighting

the United States military's incredible success,

but the White House will continue showcasing

the many examples of Iran's ballistic missiles,

production facilities and dreams of owning a nuclear weapon

being destroyed in real time.

And social media videos are only part

of the Trump administration messaging.

We're winning decisively with brutal efficiency,

total air dominance and an unbreakable will

to accomplish the president's objectives on our timeline.

We stay locked down the target.

Because here at the Department of War, that's our job.

In contrast to Secretary Hegseth,

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Cain

offers a more sober tone to our gold star families,

to our wounded warriors and their loved ones.

We will never forget your sacrifice.

The meme videos are an effort to generate public support

for a war that polls say remains unpopular.

Our PBS News and PR Marist poll this month

found that a majority of Americans, 56%,

oppose US military action in Iran.

Do you think part of the intention behind these videos

is to distract the public from what's happening?

This war is presenting all kinds of problems

with shipping lanes and the economy and gas prices

and dead troops and civilians.

And the Trump administration would not

like to talk about any of these.

And so they want to change the topic and distract

as much as possible.

And I think getting the media and the American public

talking about an unconventional messaging campaign

might be the best way to do that.

The messaging strategy is a sharp departure

from past presidents like George W. Bush.

In the lead up to the Iraq war, of course,

the Bush administration spent many, many months

building coalition support, going through the UN.

There was significant discussions with Congress.

All of these things took a lot of time and a lot of effort.

And what we've seen from the Trump administration

is really no warning, no public discussion,

no public debate, no gathering of allies.

As the war drags on, so do ceremonies like this.

In all 13 American service members

have died since the fighting began in Iran

and nearly 200 wounded, according to US Central Command.

For military families, the war isn't just headlines.

It's personal.

Kerry and Jim White, both Army veterans themselves,

know the toll of war firsthand.

Seven of their nine children have served.

Their daughter, Kimmy, was severely injured

in Afghanistan in 2014, requiring full-time care.

Their son, Kampion,

it just graduated from Army Ranger School.

You can't have a clean war.

Wars can get messy fast.

And I think this administration,

I want to think this administration values that,

that we can't have a lengthy war.

There's no question that this going down this path

is a massive consequences for the people, you know,

who participate in it.

Kerry White says she hopes the social media images,

the administration is using, don't dismiss the dangers of war.

Kerry, have you seen any of those videos?

A little bit.

And what would be disturbing to me is,

if it's perceived as a gaming kind of event,

it really comes home when you have loved ones

that are involved.

And, you know, I don't like to see it reduced

to some sort of a gaming strategy type of event,

if that's in fact what's happening,

because it's really real to the families

that are involved like ours.

Her husband, Jim, worries the war's low casualty count

is keeping it out of the public view.

I think in a way, the more dangerous thing

is the fact that we've had so little loss, right?

It's been so easy that it makes you feel like

you can go a little bit further than you probably should.

That's the real risk.