Signal chat: Trump team fumbles … Democrats overreact
One of the services of my Chicago consulting business was “crisis management.” Essentially, it means when something occurs that brings sudden scandal and public scorn on an individual or organization. It is often a sex scandal. Occasionally, some industrial accident. In could involve embezzlement, medical malpractice, criminal activities – and the list goes on. The common symptom is a sudden public uproar.
Over several decades, my firm had been called in to consult in such situations. I had a standard action plan. In fact, I wrote corporate white papers and lectured on the subject. I think that gives me sufficient creds to address what happened on the infamous Signal chat and how it was handled.
Top officials – including Vice President Vance and Defense Secretary Hegseth — were engaged in last minute discussions about imminent attacks on major Houthi sites in Yemen. The attacks commenced shortly after the chat. By all measures, the military operation was very successful in terms of the mission.
BUT … one of the people on the chat — although not a participant – was Atlantic Magazine Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg. Following the military attacks, Goldberg penned an article headlined “Top Trump Officials Included the Atlantic Editor in Group Chat About Plans to Bomb Yemen”.
His inclusion in the chat was obviously a HUGE mistake. No reporter should have been on the chat – and especially not Goldberg, who has been one of the most ardent anti-Trump journalists in America (and there are a lot of them). Over the years, he has been a consistent purveyor of false political narratives. You know the Russian conspiracy … the Hunter Biden laptop … and the fit-as-a-fiddle- Joe Biden.
The Administration Response – and Unearned Error
When managing a crisis, the initial response is the most critical. President Trump had the right response – mostly. He admitted to the error … said they would look into it. That should have been the statement until further information was available and more comments could be made. Trump’s only error was deflecting from the issue by gratuitously attacking Goldberg. Yes, Trump and Goldberg are not pals, but that was not the issue. Goldberg did nothing untoward to get the information. The deflection was not only not necessary, it was counterproductive.
In testifying before Congress, those who were on the chat claimed it was no big deal – and that nothing said was secret. Technically, that could be true. Secret and Top Secret are official designations. (You will recall in the “documents case” that secrets and top secrets were marked as such). There are innumerable conversations – even about sensitive matters – that take place in private but are not necessarily official secrets. It is also noteworthy that the plan for the attack had already been shared with Israel.
BUT … whether the chat was an official secret or not, it is obvious that the chat was dealing with minimally “sensitive” information that never should have gone to a reporter.
While Hegseth provided the most “sensitive” information, he had no way of knowing that Goldberg was in the chat. Hegseth was not responsible for Goldberg being on the chat. He was not added from his account. Hegseth’s and others’ mistake was focusing on the reporter and the success of the mission while minimizing the scope of the blunder.
Goldberg was added under the account of National Security Advisor Mike Waltz. It is yet unknown if he had personally added Goldberg or was it a staff blunder – or even a malicious act?
Democrat Reaction.
Whatever happened, the Trump administration mishandled the response – and that gave Democrats an opportunity to react. As can be expected, they overreacted. They took what was most certainly an embarrassing blunder and spun it into an intelligence catastrophe of the first magnitude.
MSNBC’s uber left-winger (as if he is an exception), Chirs Hayes, declared that it was the “worst, most embarrassing and most dangerous” security leak in American history. Not even close. That is just another political fantasy narrative to be sent around the left-wing media echo chamber.
The left-wing media mavens have been carrying the same story – with the same hyperbolic spin – for days. They ridiculously compare it to Watergate. They are calling for most of the intelligence team to resign.
Conversely, they never seemed bothered – or found a need for accountability — when 14 American service personnel were killed– and many more severely injured – during the grossly mishandled retreat in Afghanistan. Or, when a pro-American family was blown away in Afghanistan by a drone due to an intelligence blunder.
In 1971, when Daniel Elsberg leaked the “Pentagon Papers”- laying out detailed Vietnam war plans and assessments, he escaped accountability and was made a hero in left-wing circles.
Democrats were not up in arms when Chelsea Manning, formerly known as Bradley Manning, leaked highly classified documents to Wikileaks in 2011, during the Obama administration. Manning’s disclosures included the Iraq War Logs, Afghan War Diary, and U.S. diplomatic cables, which revealed details about military operations and government activities.
Democrats were not so exercised when Edward Snowden released truly confidential information in 2013 – again, during the Obama administration. The documents included sources and methods and forced the shutting down of several intelligence operations.
All the failures above were either tragic intelligence failures — resulting in deaths of individuals — or malicious leaks that were intended to undermine American intelligence and do harm in America’s standing in the world. And they did.
It should be kept in mind that the Single chat lead was an unintended mistake. There were no untoward results. The mission went off as planned with great success. It was a teachable moment that will result in policy changes to avoid a future mishap.
Once again, Democrats are spinning the blunder into an international crisis. Their hyperbolic narratives are political hogwash being advanced by obsessive Trump haters for political purposes. They are doing more harm to American intelligence and security than the Goldberg fiasco itself. Nothing new in that.
So, there ‘tis.
Larry, Sorry to see that your dementia is progressing so rapidly, I have heard that medical procedures can result in people losing their cognitive ability quickly, sorry to see that has happened to you (though your logic was frequently a bit twisted in the past anyway..) You totally missed the point (but then neither you nor the President have ever been too concerned protecting the Nation’s Classified information). It was definitely a screw-up to include a writer from the Atlantic on a chat between government officials (if anyone outside of Trump’s circle, say in the military had done that, they would almost certainly be court-martialed), but the real screwup, that should have caused heads to roll was having this chat on Signal in the first place. Having this type of conversation (classified) on such a communication device (cellphone using an encryption app) is illegal and specifically prohibited. It essentially shows the laziness of the people in this administration who can’t be bothered to do the right thing. But all these members of the cabinet (and the VP) did it anyway-nobody on the chat said “maybe we shouldn’t be having this conversation on a cell phone that can be intercepted.” Somehow, your tome above forgot to mention that fact. But you did manage to discuss the issue of Hunter’s Laptop-that would be the same one that central to the Republican-led House’s investigation from the prior two years which uncovered nothing of significance during their witch hunt (by the way, witch hunts occur when the hunters uncover nothing during their investigation-none of the Trump investigations meet that criteria….) And then of course you mention Edward Snowden-I have to wonder what planet you were living on during that investigation? Because, almost immediately after his leak, the Obama justice department filed charges against him, causing him to flee to Vladland, where he is currently a naturalized citizen (although, I see on an X post calls for Trump to pardon him, so I guess some on the right consider him a hero). Of course Trump said “”this matter is no problem and I have complete confidence in Hegseth”, and instead berates the Atlantic writer (this being the same guy who believes it is fine to keep SCI docs in the bathroom, rather than a SCIF as is intended, so who is surprised?)-Trump had the wrong response to this matter, in contrast to the words you penned above, despite the fact that the mission was successful-the bottom line is this could have been a ‘heads up’ to our adversaries, and we are lucky that the word didn’t get to them to inflict harm on our guys….
Mike F …. Sorry to disappoint. Running on all cylinders at top performance. But based on you childish insults and and apparent TDS, you may want to get some professional help. You need to protect whatever grey matter you have left..
I think Larry may be running on all cylinders but may need to check his gap…. Also, get hip, EV’s have no cylinders…..
But you playing psychiatrist is priceless after all your whining about people assuming what’s going on inside that noggin of yours.
Frank Danger … Me playing psychiatrist? You need to brush up on your reading skills I suggested Mike F may need to seek medical help based on his rather childish insults and baseless ad hominin attacks. The man seems unhinged. and .. he is the one who wrongly diagnosed me with rapidly progressing dementia. You guys cannot win the debate, so you attack the person. You guys like to vent and invent. Enjoy.
Obviously not running on all cylinders, but you never have for that matter. I only call it like I see it, and you are more senile than you were a year or so ago, based on these observations of the Signal Chat. And, as per usual, you had no response to my actual criticism of your words, only that your feelings got hurt when I pointed out the truth of your mental capacity. ‘You are obviously clueless regarding classification issues (which you have shown in your past comments regarding the many classified documents found in trump’s bathroom). I suspect you would be singing a different tune if the roles were reversed and the players were democrats however….
You were a fixer just like Michael Cohen? And successful? Is the company sold or closed? Just fooling. My father was a fixer for a time until he worked to “fix” a strike; he completed his task as promised and quit the next day. Weird guy that way.
Obviously, a famous “fix” is fess up, acknowledge wrongdoing, apologize sincerely, take swift and transparent action, and implement systemic reforms to prevent recurrence, focusing on rebuilding trust and demonstrating accountability. OR tell the truth, investigate the outage, report, fix, measure success and move on. Somehow, with all his expertise in dealmaking, Trump does not go there and Horist covers for him blaming Democrats and weaseling around the truth. Spin.
I suggest you listen to Arlo Guthrie’s Presidential Rag, especially since you were there. The point of this very pointed song is: “Nobody elected your family. And we didn’t elect your friends. No one voted for your advisors. And nobody wants amends. You’re the one we voted for, so you must take the blame. For handing out authority to men who were insane.” Sage words from another time, same story.
“President Trump had the right response – mostly.” Wimpy weasel words for the buck not copped here. Trump blasted the journalist who was freaking invited to the call. He blasted mainstream media and especially The Atlantic. He said only error in two months (has he talked to Musk or the innocents on death row at the Trump Gulag Resort in El Salvadore.) No, Larry, this is a big deal made bigger by a clusterfuck of response and Congressional testimony. His people perjured themselves in front of Congress. You say it’s OK because they had a great day of bombing. Did you account for our asset on the ground doing the spotting that they made pretty clear was there? Are they having a great day? Did you account for all the other unsecured signal calls or other communications these bumblefucks had? Did you account for their complete lack of security-101 and privileged communications training? Didn’t you learn anything from the Hillary emails? You claim he admitted the error: which one, speaking on signal while over Asia or in Moscow, or anywhere, inviting a journalist, using personal cell phones, or just using signal for this type of call?
Some other questions: was Hegseth drunk again? He promised not to drink. Why didn’t any of the other 17, beyond the journalist, speak up? Why did they all call the journalist a liar and many other nasty names while saying it never happened that way, when it did? Was the guy in Moscow in a Secret Service “secure tent.” What country was Gabbard in, or over, in Asia and why didn’t she know what country she was in? Is Gabbard still on hair-color altering drugs?
But the big one, from Arlo again: “You didn’t know about that one, then what else don’t you know?”
And Trump is not asking either question.
You claim the big mistake was inviting the journalist. Are you fucking kidding? That’s the problem, a journalist overheard them?
You say: “, it is obvious that the chat was dealing with minimally “sensitive” information.” Really? Minimally sensitive to give the guys who are shooting down your top technology stealth drones info on your attack, ahead of the attack, even specifying some of the weapons is minimally sensitive? Wow, how upset were you with Hillary’s email again?
And Hegseth, the commander of our defense, is not off the hook because he didn’t know the journalist was there as he spewed this stew on unsecured channels to people in nations hostile to us? Who actively scan us for info all the time. And you are following up on the potential malicious act of adding the journalist? How could it be malicious based on your summary of the call contents? Perhaps hypocrisy on your behalf as this journalist now faces death threats and worse from the Maga army.
Then your litany of “what about” “but not worse than” examples. Wanna bet how many investigations on those nothing burgers? Ellsberg was charged with crimes carrying 117 years. Did someone talk in an unsecure location to cause the Abbey Gate attack? How many reviews and investigations? Manning was investigated, convicted, and spent 7 years in prison. How many investigations into Snowden and what happens if he leaves Russia? And what are Republicans doing to equal those investigative actions on the very cases you what-about here. Where’s the investigation? Do we need a special prosecutor?
To date, there is no investigation as Trump attempts to sweep it under the carpet which the author seems OK with. No need to investigate, eh Larry. But how about Hunter —– do we keep looking there?
I agree not a big deal in that they got away with it. A big deal because they did it and thank God they got away with it. Investigate how often do they do this and do they violate security in other fashions. Investigate how often each of the 18 use personal cell phones and what they did on them. Retrain all. Fire Walz for doing it. Fire Hegseth for not knowing. Reprimand the rest for not speaking up then, or now. Explain how you fixed the problem that caused this and sending the journalist to your new resort in El Salvadore is not a good fix, and move on.
If you can’t see this is a big deal. If you can’t see that they announced the fact they had an asset on the ground there, then what else can’t you see? And how much more of this are they doing? To who? Where? This was a weak attempt of “what-about,” “look what dems got away with,” and other spin tactics. You can, and have, done better. Use your own advice on how to deal with scandal. Use your own methods you deployed for Hillary’s emails, Hunter’s laptop, and all the other investigations you have been doing for the past four years. You investigated Joe Biden for nothing, use that technique. Because sweeping in under the rug will not get rid of the stink.
So true Frank. The only thing you didn’t mention was hegseth should be fired too. He (like trump) does not understand classification, or how to protect it. I believe this information (at the time of discussion) should have been classified ‘Top Secret’. The official government definition of top secret is that release of this information would cause ‘exceptionally grave damage to the National security’. Now I am a bit of a people person (it is obvious that Larry’s and those of his ilk in the administration are not), but my thinking that if this information had made it into Houthi hands prior to the mission, they would have likely been able to shoot down one or more of our aircraft, which would have been ‘exceptionally grave’. So, despite what the idiots in the current regime say-the communication was classified and they broke the law discussing this matter on a cell phone. So there tis-calling out Larry’s bullshit…
Nope, I led with Hegseth gone, as well as balls to the Walz.
FYI: I could care less about “top secret.” If any normal human looks at the chat, it’s pretty obvious that you don’t share with a journalist, you don’t use personal phones, you don’t use signal, you don’t take the chat in Moscow without a secure tent or better and you don’t do it flying over Asia, especially if you are too fucking stupid to even know what country you are flying over. Talking about is it classified or not is a red herring attempting to delay, diffuse, and misdirect.
Like weren’t these people trained how to act on day one of entering whatever government building they entered? What’s fucking wrong with Trump Administration on-boarding training? Why the massive failure there? I mean personal cell phones; people all over the place should be fired. Even more should be fired if the chat participants were told its OK to use personal phones..
Fact is Larry said it: look at all the “whatabouts” and follow suit with similar investigations. What are Republicans scarred of? They got off for Russia gate. They care less about felon gateS. Sexual abuse and defamation is OK. Fuck, Hegseth is a drunk and he got DOD. Seems they have a lot to hide here.
Larry, there you go again trying out your old obfuscation trick. You bring up supposed and alleged past acts of Democrats and lay those on justice’s scale and assume the scale will tip in your favor. That’s an argument that would not fly in an adjudicated classic debate.
From Trump’s Press Secretary’s propagandist telling to Trump’s dismissal of wrong doing and each participant fail memory of what was said, the whole thing was a screwup of huge proportions. The buck of responsibility stops in the Oval on The President’s desk. Trump chose deflection and lies over acceptance and apology.
Do the ends justify the means even with the top echelon sworn leaders of our nation? These all included the VP and the various Secretaries of ….. who are the President’s own appointees. And, if this was all above board and sanctioned, why did the President initially deny awareness of those providing?
It’s a large black eye for the President and your Republican Party. Something that your ” what about” list in no way makes less than what History will record as a huge blunder in Trump’s leadership ability added to a long list of his personal and administrative failures from Trump 1.0 and in Trump 2.0 to date.
As it happened, apparently the operation was termed a success by Trump standards and the wrongs committed on Signal were said to be of no consequence. Therefore, where there’s no fine there’s no foul.
If this represents your standard for the actions of those in Trump’s cabinet of decision makers and councilors, then your tool for measure does not approach the high bar the people expect the Executive Administration to live by.
Trump says his achievements are unprecedented. On that point he is partially correct. His meaning assumes it’s the superlative while in truth of fact it’s the opposite meaning. Unprecedented and unparalleled in the history of this country’s Executives has been, is, and that yet to be are This President’s breaches of the laws of the land and, not the least of these, his open violation of the U.S. Constitution. Trump shows no real respect for the founding document of this nation’s laws and its government. The words and spirit contained in it, seemingly, are foreign and literally unknown to Trump.
Had he just an inkling of and some degree of perception regarding the Constitution’s basic precepts. He just might have appeared somewhat literate and informed about what Amendments apply in specific circumstances and which ones he is taking out of context and spinning for his own purposes. Then, again, there are the several Amendments which he ignores entirely.
Attempting an appeal for an additional term after this his second legal term as President. The law is clear on that subject. This challenge to the word and spirit of and in the law speaks volumes about his mind and attitude toward the law’s prescriptions. When it’s said the law applies to everyone, Trump seems to believe the law does not apply to him. When SCOTUS in their erroneous and short sighted politically numbed finding gave Trump immunity in certain cases and for a specific time. Trump misconstrued that decision’s limits and believes the court gave general immunity while he is President. With that mindset are his EO documents intended. Trump brags about being given a mandate. While he is operating from the wrong perception that POTUS has wide ranging executive powers and limitless authority. The two most lethally dangerous perceptions that a U.S. President can have. In this thinking Trump has Musk’s backing with his Billions.
The country is in for a bumpy and tumultuous era that will not end when Trump eventually is gone not from just government but out of politics in this country.
Although Trump was not the author and creator of the spirit and heart of what divided our nation’s people like we are today. Trump came at just a time as this to stir division that was in place and had long been dormant. He was and is the igniting influence that set people against people, separating families, friends, colleagues, communities, church congregations and neighborhoods that formerly held block picnics.
Political differences at one time were known but not a deal breaker for a relationship. Who communities could agree to disagree amicably. If Trump had not come on the political scene and bullied his way into national politics and the Republican nomination. The truth is, another wealthy braggart would have seized the moment and manipulated the raw opportunity just like Trump has done.
A people who are dissatisfied with leadership at the top, restless, and divided by personal ideologies are like lambs waiting for anyone with or without moral underpinnings who speaks in tones that appeal to their thinking. Trump is an opportunist who received direction from some associates who saw in Trump political potential. In Trump these men saw potential and mentored him to join the Republican Party and there he could create waves that drew others to his politics. We see in Trump 1.0 a work in progress. His frustration and anger with the 2020 election result brought the old nature in him that called for taking revenge on any and all who opposed him at any point in his life period. The vengeful spirit in his guts drove him on through Biden’s four years in office. By 2023 Trump had worked himself and whomever he could conscript into service, into a vengeful furor unequalled in political campaigns for the Presidency since JFK vs RM Nixon in 1960.
Every EO Trump peppers the country with from tje Oval is founded on how want to seek revenge. His targets are individuals, institutions, governmental agencies (IRS), Democratic Party, Democrat persons, and all in media or Hollywood who he believes are the opposition. Collateral damages, in Trump’s view, are unavoidable in the particular war he’s engaged in.
Trump, if he reasons at all, needs his term extended at least another four years. Legal realities could come crashing down on him when as an ordinary citizen his immunity is gone.
Politics is ruse and a means to an end for Trump. His life from his youth and throughout his 78 years Trump has been engaged in one or another of a confidence scheme engineered to gain wealth and with it power. Power over individuals with money to separate them from their money.
Trump’s modus for all operations has been OPM other people’s money. Whether or not he meant to make good on a loan and pay interest was not sure.
He has made a career out of fabricated stories, untruths, and out right lies. Why millions of voters trust him with their vote of confidence knowing he shouldn’t be trusted with anything is confounding for those who see through Trump to who he really is.
Justice would declares who participated in that “chat” except the journalist, should be investigated, charged like any other official who communicated war plans on an unofficial application and found in violation. The usual consequence is firing. Trump should have said, You’re Fired.
Lock them up!