Former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly argued that much of the mainstream media is rooting against the United States in the conflict with Iran, not out of some confidence in Tehran, but out of its typical hostility towards President Trump. O’Reilly added that if someone relied solely on coverage from outlets like ABC News, they would come away believing the United States was losing the war and that the president's decision to launch Operation Epic Fury was on the verge of breaking him.
Bill O’Reilly says the quiet part out loud about the media’s coverage of the Iran conflict:
— Overton (@overton_news) March 5, 2026
“They want America to lose.”
O’REILLY: “Right now the press id doing everything it can to root for Iran.”
“The press is actually rooting for Iran.”
CUOMO: “When you say Iran, you mean… pic.twitter.com/DQctH0SMKO
"Right now, the press is doing everything it can to root for Iran," O'Reilly told Chris Cuomo on News Nation. "The press is actually rooting for Iran."
I watch ABC. They want America to lose. So World News Tonight on ABC, and I worked for ABC, so did you, did 15 minutes last night, did eight segments, every segment negative. And I mean really negative. Every segment. Not one positive word. Not one word on how bad the Mullahs were.
"I just watched World News tonight. And after watching it, I want to surrender," he added. "We should surrender to Iran. Watching ABC News, we lost. That's how crazy it is. They want Trump broken."
"I don't think anybody's betting against the US military or the IDF," Cuomo said.
"No, but their sentiment is they want Trump broken," O'Reilly said. "And if Iran can break him, that's what the media wants to see."
That, however, is unlikely to happen. The media won’t break Trump; they’ve spent years trying. What they could weaken instead is Republican support heading into the midterms, which is why a clear victory following Operation Epic Fury matters so much.
In the meantime, much of the mainstream media has helped push Democrats into a position that often sounds closer to defending the Iranian regime than backing the American president, an extraordinary political shift. If the operation ends in a decisive victory and reshapes the Middle East for the better, it could leave Democrats struggling to explain their opposition and deal a serious blow to their credibility.