It would almost be comical how utterly, miserably wrong these figures have been about this war — almost, if not for the fact that it caused the deaths of thousands of innocent people in Iran, killed and injured hundreds of US service members, and plunged the country and possibly the entire world economy into crisis.

You would think it would be a problem that what are meant to be “experts” and informed commentators — who command large audiences, shape the public’s understanding of this war, and in some cases directly advise the White House — clearly have no idea what they’re talking about and just say whatever, to the point of potentially spreading deliberate falsehoods. And yet there is little sign that any of them will face accountability, either in terms of being slapped down by editors and other higher-ups, or in terms of the president deciding not to listen to them anymore.

It almost seems like a broken system, that you can be this unremittingly, stupidly wrong about something as consequential as war and still keep your megaphone. Maybe the scarier possibility is that it is exactly their willingness to dissemble and mislead on this subject that explains why they still have it.