Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) praised Iranian propaganda, saying it was unlike anything she’d seen from an adversarial power.
Speaking at the 2026 Politico Security Summit, Slotkin criticized President Donald Trump’s handling of the war with Iran, particularly the negotiations to bring it to an end. Entertaining the hypothetical of how she would handle negotiations as president, Slotkin said she “wouldn’t be negotiating it over Twitter.” She then abruptly shifted to praising Iran’s use of X and the internet.
“By the way, the Iranians are putting out propaganda like I have never seen from an adversarial nation,” Slotkin said.
The propaganda, she argued, “shows an incredible understanding of our culture.”
The Democratic senator was likely referring to the posting of artificially generated Lego videos, often accompanied by custom hip-hop or rap songs, from pro-Tehran accounts. The videos often focus on the Epstein files, claim the United States is beholden to Israel, and mock Trump and various members of his government.
Slotkin’s statement makes her among the most senior members of the U.S. government to praise the strategy of Iranian propaganda.
Aside from her praise of Iranian propaganda, Slotkin also portrayed Tehran as in a favorable position vis-a-vis its war with the U.S. She downplayed U.S. pressure on Tehran, such as the naval blockade, suggesting that Iran was getting its oil out through alternative methods and had a higher pain threshold than Washington.
The Washington Examiner has reached out to Slotkin for more details about her claim that Iran is evading the U.S. blockade.
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Her comments are likely to draw further anger from Trump and her critics. She is already the target of the Trump administration’s ire over her featuring in a video posted last year among five other Democratic lawmakers, instructing soldiers not to follow illegal orders. The Trump administration has cast the video as a wink-and-nod call for insubordination and labeled the group the “Seditious Six.”
Slotkin also spoke about the negative attention she’s received over the sedition allegations, saying she kept a lower profile in the immediate aftermath, as her lawyers suggested. She claimed her elderly father was swatted and harassed over the criticism.