🔍Fact-Checking This Week: What Vance and Cotton Actually Got Wrong About Iran
Media Literacy
Foreign Policy
Constitutional Law
+1 moreOn Sunday , June 22, VP JD Vance and Senator Tom Cotton went on ABC and used every trick in the book to sell you on war with Iran. Here's how to spot the manipulation techniques they used—because once you see the patterns, you'll recognize them every time politicians want your support for something dangerous.
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Why This Matters
They use precise details to sound authoritative:
Vance mentioned "125 aircraft" and "30-hour flights" not because you need those numbers, but because specific details make you think he has inside knowledge and expertise—even when the details are wrong or meaningless
They inflate past victories to justify current wars:
Cotton exaggerated Reagan's 1988 naval action because he wants you to think military force against Iran always works perfectly—conveniently ignoring that the situation today is completely different and more dangerous
They hide behind "classified information" to avoid accountability:
When Vance kept saying "sensitive intelligence," he was training you to stop asking questions and just trust his confident-sounding assertions about mission success
They normalize presidential war powers:
Both officials talked about bombing Iran like it's routine presidential authority, slowly getting you used to the idea that presidents don't need Congress to start wars
They want you to feel like experts are handling everything:
The whole performance was designed to make you think smart, informed people have this under control—so you won't demand real public debate about whether we should be bombing nuclear facilities
This is the propaganda playbook:
These exact same techniques—technical details, historical analogies, confident authority, classified deflections—sold you Iraq, Afghanistan, and every other war that didn't go as promised
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How many centrifuges was Iran operating according to nuclear experts as of 2025?
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What was Operation Praying Mantis a direct response to in 1988?
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Cotton previously stated in 2017 that U.S. policy toward Iran should be what?
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According to multiple sources, approximately how many U.S. troops are currently deployed in the Middle East?
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What rhetorical technique did both Vance and Cotton use when discussing potential Iranian retaliation?
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How many aircraft did Vance claim were involved in the Iran strikes?
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What did Cotton say when asked whether the U.S. should target Iran's Supreme Leader?
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What does this interview reveal about how officials communicate during military crises?
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War powers resolutions like those introduced by Kaine and Massie have what special procedural status?
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The IAEA reported that which Iranian nuclear facilities were confirmed impacted by the strikes?
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Russia, China, and the United States have what level of agreement regarding Iranian nuclear weapons?
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According to nuclear experts, Iran operates approximately how many centrifuges across all facilities?
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What is the most important skill for citizens when evaluating official claims during military crises?
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Media Literacy