‘Incessant Gaslighting’: White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt Slammed After Claiming Trump Invented Military Doctrine That Dates Back to Ancient Rome and George Washington
In what may be the most audacious rewrite of history since the invention of alternative facts, the Trump White House now wants you to believe that “peace through strength” — a centuries-old military doctrine dating back to ancient Rome and George Washington — was cooked up by none other than President Donald Trump.
Appearing on “Fox & Friends” this week, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt took her trademark praise for Trump into a new stratosphere of sycophancy. Asked by host Brian Kilmeade about Trump’s decision to bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities over the weekend — against the advice of MAGA darlings Steve Bannon and Marjorie Taylor Greene — Leavitt responded by handing Trump the keys to a concept older than the United States itself.
“Nobody knows what it means to accomplish peace through strength better than President Trump,” Leavitt declared. “He is the one who came up with that motto and that foreign policy doctrine and he successfully implemented it in his first term.”
Take a moment to recover from that.
Not only did Trump not invent “peace through strength,” he is at the tail end of a long parade of leaders who invoked it — starting with Roman Emperor Hadrian in the 2nd century. Hadrian’s “peace through strength, or failing that, peace through threat” guided Rome at its peak, enforced with fortified borders, military readiness, and even a massive wall. Sound familiar?
From Hadrian, the doctrine jumped centuries and continents to land in the speeches of George Washington. In 1793, Washington urged that “if we desire to secure peace… it must be known that we are at all times ready for war.” Alexander Hamilton echoed the sentiment in “Federalist No. 24.” The principle kept marching forward into the 20th century, finding its most iconic American messenger in President Ronald Reagan.
Reagan practically branded the phrase in his 1980 campaign and presidency, even embedding it into military iconography. It adorns the U.S.S. Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier and anchors an entire wing of the Reagan Presidential Library.
In 1986, Reagan said: “We know that peace is the condition under which mankind was meant to flourish… George Washington’s words may seem hard and cold today, but history has proven him right again and again.”
Reagan’s “Peace Through Strength” was more than a soundbite. It underpinned military expansion, the Strategic Defense Initiative, and U.S. strategy against the Soviet Union.
But now, Republicans are going around saying Trump invented it.
Critics say that’s not just historically illiterate, but cosmically absurd, and called Leavitt out personally to say as much.
“Peace through strength is working great. Ceasefire didn’t even last 2 hours. Yet all you corrupt press secretaries only care about bragging and propaganda. It’s all a game to you guys. Worst Press Sec ever!” a verified user wrote on Leavitt’s thread.
“Dear Karoline, I have been so inspired by your straightforwardness and clarity, but, with all due respect, we can no longer trust Trump. Every decision he is currently making is not serving America,” another person said on a separate post by Leavitt, which included a video of her telling the press corps to “trust in Trump.”
Others posted cartoon memes of Trump angrily clamoring for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Despite the preposterousness of the notion that Trump coined “Peace Through Strength”, it hasn’t stopped Republicans from polishing Trump’s image until it shines like a golden idol. The White House put out a statement Sunday reviving the slogan, backed by a dizzying 135 quotes from GOP lawmakers slobbering over Trump’s “bold, decisive action” against Iran’s nuclear program.
The quotes read like a telethon where every caller wants to outdo the last in gushing loyalty.
“President Trump made the right call,” beamed Speaker Mike Johnson.
“I trust President Trump!” barked Sen. Jim Banks.
“@realDonaldTrump knows peace can only be achieved through strength,” tweeted Sen. Marsha Blackburn, adding the requisite “victory” emoji.
Sen. Tim Scott also chimed in: “Decisive American leadership. Americans and the world can thank President Trump for his courage to lead.”
We won’t force you to slog through the other 132 posts from the bootlicking contest on Capitol Hill.
Previously, the White House even trotted out a March 4 statement headlined “President Trump is Leading with Peace Through Strength,” complete with a laundry list of his international moves: hostage negotiations, sanctions, drone strikes, missile shield planning, and vaguely defined “maximum pressure.”
In MAGA world, these are not foreign policy actions—they’re mythmaking material.
In Trump’s version of history, Ronald Reagan is just a warm-up act, George Washington is a footnote, and Hadrian was just practicing for the main event: Trump’s second term in office.
Critics said the whole episode reeked of fealty masquerading as foreign policy. Republicans didn’t just applaud Trump’s strike on Iran — they worked overtime, throwing bouquets at the president, though it remains unclear what repercussions might be felt as a result.
“Peace through strength” is how empires baptize domination. Real peace is not declared — it is built, sustained, and shared,” wrote one verified user.
Others told Leavitt to stop the “incessant gaslighting.”
“You have zero understanding of geopolitics Karoline,” critics echoed.