Conducting a military raid from a makeshift tent while scrolling X for live updates is the new American war norm. Donald Trump’s latest photo dump on Truth Social from the supposed Venezuela situation room will make you wonder if the situation room was a summer camp instead.
If you thought the “Operation Absolute Resolve” couldn’t get any more dystopian, Trump just handed us a blooper reel. In a desperate attempt to look presidential during the kidnapping of Nicolás Maduro, Trump shared a series of behind-the-scenes photos on Truth Social from his Mar-a-Lago headquarters. And nothing could’ve prepared you for it.
The images feature Pete Hegseth looking intense, Marco Rubio looking like he’s practicing his “I’m in charge” face, and Trump glowering at screens. But as always with this bunch, it’s the details they didn’t mean to show that tell the real story. Forget the ultra-secure, multi-billion-dollar Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF) at the White House. Trump’s “Situation Room” appears to be a corner of his Florida resort.
It was probably a DIY project. All we see are discounted black funeral curtains and golden gilded chairs that scream “glorified wedding planner.” Take a long look, and it almost looks like a makeshift kids’ fort. But that’s where the most powerful military in the world was apparently being directed over. And by the look of it, they probably did it with an open hotel WiFi connection.
The sight of high-level national security meetings happening in a space that looks like a high school theater storage room is disappointing. We knew the Trump administration treats protocol like a suggestion, but this is a new low. The real embarrassment, however, is the poorly cropped computer screen in the background.
Trump and team were apparently searching X for updates in the situation room
Sharp-eyed observers noticed a monitor running X in full screen with the search bar reading “Venezuela.” It turns out, Trump and his war council were getting their play-by-play updates from the same trending timeline as the rest of us. One user on X hit the nail on the head, mockingly writing, “Damn, they know just as much as I do, lmao.”
This “two-penny theater” isn’t just embarrassing; it’s a security nightmare. We once saw the gravity of the Situation Room during the Bin Laden raid. Now, we have a bunch of pretenders in a tent scrolling social media for confirmation of their own operation. One user put it all together, writing:
What makes me laugh about this is that (other than a bunch of pretenders in a makeshift kids fort) the (once again) lack of any security. A major OP like this, run from a Presidentially owned resort, instead of the ultra secure Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF) of the White House Situation Room. Instead, these unprofessional idiots conduct themselves in a place with poorly hung sheets whilst browsing Twitter/X for updates. Probably on an open WiFi connection to a local router.
Between the mess of tangled wires and the slouched postures, the whole scene reeks of performance anxiety. Like another user on X said, it is just like Trump after his Butler incident. His “first words were not, ‘am I going to be ok,’ or if anybody else was hurt. It was, ‘how’s it looking on social media?’”
Published: Jan 5, 2026 07:48 am