Signal from the noise

A quick reflection on a group text among the world's most dangerous clowns

My three 20-something daughters and my wife maintain a group text chat that my daughters have helpfully and hilariously named “MOM IS IN THIS CHAT.” They do this to keep it straight from another group chat among the sisterhood that mom is decidedly not in. This group name has undoubtedly prevented some minor family embarrassments and lightweight scandal. Sharp young ladies, those daughters of mine.

Today we learned that the chaps at the top of the Trump administration's national security apparatus—including JD Vance (VP), Pete Hegseth (Sec of Defense), Marco Rubio (Sec of State), and John Ratcliffe (Director of the CIA)—are not so sharp. They used a group chat on a commercial messaging app, Signal, to coordinate and later celebrate a sensitive and deadly military operation in Yemen. And here’s the bonkers part: they somehow inadvertently included Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of the Atlantic, Donald Trump's least favorite news and culture magazine, in the group.

They should have named it THE EDITOR OF THE ATLANTIC IS IN THIS CHAT. They should have consulted my daughters.

You have to read Goldberg’s story. Check it out here: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/03/trump-administration-accidentally-texted-me-its-war-plans/682151/. You can easily find a gift link. The title alone is worth the subscription: The Trump Administration Accidentally Texted Me Its War Plans.

One word: Bonkers

It's just a bonkers story. Goldberg, understandably, didn’t think the messages and the participants could possibly be real—until the top-secret military operation that it was discussing actually happened, just as the text thread declared it would. Celebratory and congratulatory messages followed, complete with emojis of fist bumps and American flags.

Of course a group thread among administration officials about a classified operation on an unapproved app with a rando in the group who happened to be one of the nation’s most prominent journalists is a giant violation of national security protocols and, yes, various federal laws. I’m hardly equipped to enumerate the legal and national security issues; others will do so well, I’m sure.

I’m eager to to see what Trump and the participants do about this. In the version of America that existed for most of my life until just a few years ago, this incident would lead to investigations; apologies; swift, decisive, bipartisan condemnation; and quite likely resignations and firings. I know that pointing out hypocrisy hasn’t been a remotely fruitful way of understanding or countering the madness of the Trumpocene, but I have to say it: imagine if during the Obama administration, Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had accidentally included a prominent journalist in a text thread discussing a military operation. The fallout would end careers.

But that America is gone. It feels hazy and quaint, like a one-room schoolhouse. This is America in the Trump era, the America that MAGA loves: hard, cruel, sneering, nakedly transactional, and wildly, maddeningly principle-less. So I suspect the Trumpists’ response will not be swift; it will not be decisive; it will not condemn. Donald Trump himself will undoubtedly use the incident to criticize Goldberg, the journalist, whom Trump loathes. Elon Musk may find a way to make an unfunny memey joke about it, possibly involving a stupid hat. Hegseth and Vance will blame wokeness. As for the Trump voters? I suspect not a single rank-and-file, Trump-flag-on-his-F250 MAGA cultist voter will change his thinking about their beloved Sir Trump. Why would they? They may agree the text chain was a bit sloppy, but they will enjoy a vicarious glee of manly conservative men—warriors!—texting about the wimpiness of Europe and the falling of bombs.

An unnamed character

Though Goldberg never mentions her in this Atlantic article, Hillary Clinton is an unnamed character in this group chat story. You can’t read this story without remembering the way the Trump campaign, right-wing media, and red-hatted rally crowds hammered Clinton for questionable email security practices throughout the 2016 campaign. But MAGA’s non-response to this group-chat story confirms that their "Lock her up" slogan back in 2016 was never rooted in any noble principle regarding national security or treatment of classified material. It was just something thrilling and cruel to chant at rallies and stoke their red rage before the Lee Greenwood kicked in.

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James Bretherton, London. Inscribed: A Militia Meeting. H W Bunbury delin. J. Bretherton f. Publish'd as the Act directs 2nd Jan 1793. By J. Bretherton No 134 New Bond Street.