The Briefing with Jen Psaki 'AMATEUR HOUR': Trump looks foolish before the world with self-evident poor planning in Iran
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Mar 12, 2026 
Michael McFaul, former U.S. ambassador to Russia and international relations scholar, and Pete Hegseth, former Fox News host now leading the Pentagon's image, are featured. They discuss alleged U.S. responsibility for a strike on a school, Pentagon photo ops versus battlefield planning, how Iran resilience and Hormuz disruptions reshape geopolitics, and who stands to gain from the chaos.
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Pentagon Image Control Hurt Civilian Protections
- Pete Hegseth's Pentagon prioritized image control while dismantling civilian-protection functions during the Iran campaign.
- ProPublica and reporting show the Civilian Protection Center was gutted and its director pushed out, degrading no-strike list maintenance.
Preliminary Report Finds US Likely Hit Iranian School
- Preliminary New York Times findings indicate a U.S. Tomahawk likely struck an Iranian girls' school, killing many children.
- Investigators say outdated targeting data from the Defense Intelligence Agency caused the error during early strikes.
Iran's Regime Won't Collapse After Short Air Campaigns
- Iran's regime is institutional and resilient; brief air campaigns won't topple it.
- Michael McFaul notes the IRGC and ideological machinery mean leadership won't collapse after weeks of strikes.