Trump team's Signal fiasco is embarrassing. But not as bad as Biden's blunders. | Opinion
The Signal story isn't as devastating as some would like it to be. But neither should it be ignored, especially inside the Trump administration.
I can see Democrats in the wake of the Signal national security group chat fiasco, heard from here to Yemen, smugly folding their arms and snickering about incompetence and imbecility in the Trump administration.
It's a tempting, even understandable, reaction. A sloppy mistake regarding important national security issues is disappointing,
Republicans must do better. National security issues must be handled with utmost care. But the story seems sensationalized and shows once again Democrats' and the news media's partisan disdain for President Donald Trump and his team.
Journalist was fly on the wall during national security chat
Atlantic magazine editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg revealed Monday that he had been mistakenly added to a group chat that included Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, national security adviser Mike Waltz and national intelligence director Tulsi Gabbard. The top Trump administration officials discussed in the chat what Goldberg described as war plans.
"U.S. national-security leaders included me in a group chat about upcoming military strikes in Yemen," a headline reads over Goldberg's piece. "I didn’t think it could be real. Then the bombs started falling."
Goldberg, a vocal critic of the Trump administration, says he read messages that included information about weapons packages, targets and timing two hours before U.S. forces carried out the attack in Yemen.
A few observations on the framing of this story: Based on chat messages included in Goldberg's story, it appears likely that the actual planning for the air strikes already had been completed before the editor was added to the chat group. The chat, which included Vice President JD Vance, was a request for a green light on launching the attack.
Having that discussion with a journalist in the group was still a serious mistake, but not quite as damning as drafting "war plans" in a group chat.
The air strikes launched on March 15, but Goldberg's story was published nine days later, a day before an already scheduled Senate Intelligence Committee hearing. On Tuesday, during the hearing, Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., grilled Gabbard about whether she participated in the Signal group chat. And Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., called for Waltz and Hegseth to resign.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe told the senators that Biden administrations officials had used Signal for group communications before Trump took office and insisted that classified information was not disclosed in the chat. Both points, if true, mitigate the seriousness of the Trump advisers' error.
It is also important to note that the air strikes were successful. The administration targeted Houthi rebels, based in Yemen and supported by Iran, because of their attacks on ships in the Red Sea.
Democrats' outrage centers on what might have happened because of the leak, not what actually happened.
Republicans should learn from this mess, not deflect
Yet, Republicans should resist the temptation to deflect blame for the mistakes that were made. Of course, it was wrong and careless to add Goldberg to the chat. The administration needs to thoroughly examine how it happened and take steps to ensure that nothing like it happens again.
But let's keep things in perspective. The Signal story is not close to being as important or as disastrous as the Biden administration's botched and deadly withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. I wish more of the politicians and journalists melting down Tuesday because of a group chat were equally as enraged when American soldiers and Afghan civilians were killed because of the previous administration's incompetence.
On Tuesday, Trump said he is standing by Waltz, who reportedly is the official who added Goldberg to the chat. "Michael Waltz has learned a lesson, and he’s a good man," Trump told NBC News.
I was surprised to hear the president take such a measured stance but also have to wonder about the lesson the national security adviser might have learned.
The Signal story isn't as devastating as some would like it to be. But neither should it be ignored, especially inside the Trump administration.
It's a good time for Team Trump to tighten up the ship.
Nicole Russell is a columnist at Paste BN and a mother of four who lives in Texas. Contact her at nrussell@gannett.com and follow her on X, formerly Twitter: @russell_nm. Sign up for her weekly newsletter, The Right Track, here.