The top American commander running the Iran war launched a podcast this week to joke about French fries and free throws — while ordinary Americans foot the bill for a conflict nobody voted for and the administration scrambles for an exit.
Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of U.S. Central Command, debuted "Inside CENTCOM" on YouTube with neon-lit studio banter about his love of fries and his post-retirement hoops ambitions. "I never met a French fry I didn't like, and thus the need to exercise frequently to balance that out," Cooper confessed. "When I retire at some point, I am going to be a professional free throw shooter." The episode dropped one day after voters punished Republicans at the midterms for dragging the country into yet another Middle East quagmire.
The Daily Caller reported the war has already cost each American household $2,000, with the Strait of Hormuz contested and shipping costs set to climb further — meaning grocery bills will keep climbing for working people who never asked for this fight. The New York Post confirmed that Cooper is widely seen as a possible fall guy for the longer-than-expected conflict, with the blame game intensifying inside the White House.
One source close to the White House called Cooper "awful" and a "total neocon." A Pentagon source traced his instincts to his Obama-era service as executive director of the "Joining Forces" program under Michelle Obama and Jill Biden. "This explains why the war in Iran has been prosecuted like Obama would have prosecuted [it]," the source told the Post. "Obama would do these pinprick strikes and Cooper essentially did the same thing early on."
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, who advocated for launching the war and oversaw its conduct, has also lost ground. The Post reported that Trump has "gone negative" on Hegseth after he overpromised a quick victory — the president initially told journalists the war would wrap up in "four weeks or so." Hegseth's spokesman Sean Parnell said Wednesday he intended to remain through the end of Trump's term. If he stays, the Democrat-controlled House is likely to impeach him for conducting the conflict without congressional authorization — the kind of constitutional check the founders intended, even if the motive is partisan.
Hegseth defended himself in a video posted to X: "They attack me, they attack us, because we are effective. It's not going to work. We will not back down."
Meanwhile, the actual diplomacy grinds forward without the brass's help. A U.S. official told the Post that Qatari mediators have brokered at least three meetings on "concrete proposals" regarding Iran's nuclear program in the past week. Trump remained coy: "I would rather not destroy the rest of the country if possible, but maybe I'll have to. You'll know soon enough." Reuters reported Iran returned a copy of one nuclear proposal to the U.S. via Qatari mediators.
The permanent military class podcasts while Americans bleed and pay. The founders didn't vest war powers in generals with YouTube channels and neon lights — they vested them in Congress, which has refused to exercise them. Until that changes, the next war will be planned by the same people who think a podcast studio is what the military needs most.
