This week the nation was alerted to what may be one of the most serious breaches of national security in modern times. The most senior members of the United States government, including the Vice-President, JD Vance, the Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, the Director of the CIA John Ratcliffe, the Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, the National Security Advisor, Mike Waltz, and others, were caught discussing military attack planning on a commercial chat program.
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Under ordinary circumstance, this would be the story of the year. And many news organizations treated it as such. However, a conspicuous standout among those that didn’t was, of course, Fox News. The network that was forced to pay a settlement of more than 3/4 of a billion dollars because they repeatedly lied to support Donald Trump’s wholly unsupported allegations of election fraud, has not learned any lessons from that humiliating display of dishonesty and political propaganda. To the contrary, they continue to back a president who seeks to muzzle the free press.
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Consequently, it should surprise no one that Fox New is fulfilling its mission as Trump’s Ministry of Propaganda with regard to what is becoming known as “SignalGate,” after the messaging app on which the Trump staffers were leaking classified information.
For the most part, Fox News and other MAGA media has soft-pedalled the story, ignoring the glaring national security disclosures and the gross violation of law. Instead, they focused their “reporting” on the detail of how a journalist – The Atlantic’s editor, Jeffrey Goldberg – was included in the chat, and on insulting Goldberg. While allowing a reporter into such a sensitive discussion is a serious breach of protocol, the bigger problem is that all of them where having that discussion on a commercial chat program in the first place.
Some of the worst offenders were among the usual suspects on Fox News. They included…
Jesse Watters, who called it “a wee bit of a security breach”: “Did you ever try to start a group text? You’re adding people and you accidentally add the wrong person? All of a sudden your Aunt Mary knows all your raunchy plans for the bachelor party? Well, that kind of happened today with the Trump administration. […] Well, national security advisor Mike Waltz accidentally added a reporter to the group text and not a good reporter. Jeffrey Goldberg from The Atlantic, one of the biggest hoax artists around.”
Here is how Watters explains The Atlantic story to his viewers pic.twitter.com/UbBfcrFxPF
— Acyn (@Acyn) March 25, 2025
Yeah, who hasn’t inadvertently added reporters to a top secret chat on military planning? It’s just like letting your Aunt Mary in on bachelor party plans. Also, Watters lashes out blindly at the widely respected reporter, Goldberg, who handled this story with the high degree of integrity that he’s known for. And then there was…
Sean Hannity, who dismisses it as “phony outrage…that nobody will care about.”: “They are obsessed with an accidentally leaked text, a chain from Trump cabinet officials who are debating the merits of military strikes in Yemen. So the very people that covered up their president’s severe cognitive decline, lied about wide open borders – both of which are clear and present dangers to our country – now want you to believe that they actually give a damn and care about national security.”
Hannity describes The Atlantic story as a smear that nobody will care about pic.twitter.com/seUGXaq7L3
— Acyn (@Acyn) March 25, 2025
Notice that all Hannity has is his tired smears of President Biden that have nothing to do with this. And he thinks that potentially exposing military secrets to America’s enemies is nothing to be concerned about, and that Americans won’t care about it. Because if Hannity doesn’t care, no one else will? And there was…
Will Cain, who at least concedes that this breach “is incredibly concerning,” but goes on to say that: “If you look at the actual content of what was reported, if you look how they discuss potential strikes on Houthis in Yemen, what you will see is…a very collaborative, open, honest, team-based attempt to come to the right decision. After years of secrecy and incompetence, if you read the content of these messages, I think you’ll come away proud that these are the leaders making these decisions in America.
Fox host Will Cain's take away from The Atlantic scoop is that Americans should be "proud" these are our leaders
"It is insight into the thought process and dialog of our nat'l leaders … I think you will come away proud these are the leaders making these decisions in America" pic.twitter.com/uzJh9hbEeC
— Lis Power (@LisPower1) March 24, 2025
Of course. We should all be proud that these “leaders” unnecessarily risked national security, and the lives of American soldiers, and intelligence sources and methods, on a chat app that they all knew was not secure. This reaches peak absurdity with Cain bragging about “what you will see,” when we should not be seeing any of this. And then there was…
Donald Trump, who typically doesn’t know anything: “I don’t know anything about it. I’m not a big fan of The Atlantic. To me it’s a magazine that’s going out of business. I think it’s not much of a magazine. But I know nothing about it. […] You’re telling me about it for the first time.”
Trump on his cabinet members using Signal to text war plans to a reporter: "I don't know anything about it. I'm not a big fan of The Atlantic. To be it's a magazine that's going out of business. But I know nothing about it. You're saying that they had what?" pic.twitter.com/cBl0g40tsm
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 24, 2025
If Trump is telling the truth (doubtful), he is in effect admitting that he is an ignorant boob who is out of the loop. What’s more, he’s implying that his team are keeping secrets from him. These chats took place a couple of weeks ago. The participants all knew what they were up to, and likely knew when Goldberg removed himself from the group. So why didn’t any of them tell him about it? More likely Trump knew and is lying in order to set up the eventual scapegoat.
This is what you get when you fill your Cabinet with utterly unqualified asskissers who were inevitably going to screw up. Did anyone expect better behavior from the likes of Pete Hegseth, who is himself a refugee from Fox News with no relevant experience to run an institution like the Pentagon? And they have only just begun. Trump has only been in office for two months. What will the next 46 months look like, if he makes it that far?
For now, we will have to put up with his incompetence that is manifesting itself in the most nauseating way. His only response to this scandal on his failing Twitter ripoff, Truth Social, was to post a pitifully dumb joke about it (via his co-president, Elon Musk) that didn’t even bother to deny the truth of The Atlantic’s reporting, only offering his addled opinion that no one reads The Atlantic…
Here is Trump's only response on Truth Social to The Atlantic exposé that JD Vance, Pete Hegseth, Mike Waltz, Tulsi Gabbard, and others, revealed war plans on a commercial chat program.He makes a joke about it. And not that it isn't true, but that no one reads The Atlantic.
— News Corpse (@newscorpse.bsky.social) 2025-03-25T09:10:07.740Z
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