Let’s just be clear from the outset: Whatever happened between the Trump administration’s Pentagon and The Atlantic Editor in Chief Jeffrey Goldberg, it wasn’t good.
Goldberg, as the politically plugged-in no doubt know by now, is the author of a new piece published Monday titled “The Trump Administration Accidentally Texted Me Its War Plans.”
In case you need me to explain it to you — and, I mean, the story is kinda in the title on this one — but, TL;DR: National security advisor Mike Waltz connected with Goldberg on popular encrypted messaging app Signal, then invited him (almost certainly by accident, probably confusing his initials with Jamieson Greer, the U.S. trade chief) to a group chat where Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Vice President J.D. Vance, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, deputy White House chief of staff Stephen Miller, and others discussed plans for bombing the Houthi rebels in Yemen.
So, yeah, unless Goldberg is wildly mistaken on the particulars here, someone currently employed in the Trump administration is probably going to be in the private sector in an awful hurry, and perhaps more than one person. But, for those of you who were following this, there’s kind of a silver lining in this cloud — one that Fox News’ Will Cain pointed out, to much consternation from the left: Yeah, nobody should have been granted this look, but the look actually shows a functioning, communicating White House.
“I think there are two takeaways from this story as what we know today. One, it is incredibly concerning that sensitive information would be sent with a journalist included in the thread,” Cain said on his Fox News show.
“We can speculate, and there is reasonable, fair expectation that somebody like Jeffrey Goldberg was accidentally included under his initials, J.G., when who was meant to be included, was the trade chief Jamieson Greer. But if it was accidental — and we’ll wait to see if this was accidental — it is incredibly concerning that this information would be shared over the Signal app with a journalist included.”
The “wait to see if this was accidental” part likely involves whether or not this was a “planned leak” — a theory which Cain wasn’t the only one floating and wasn’t even the most enthusiastic promoter of:
Re: the Signal chat and The Atlantic article.
The minute I read the chat my very first thought was that Goldberg was specifically and deliberately included so that he would leak what he saw to the public. The idea was to let Europe know just how unhappy American leadership is… pic.twitter.com/Ex2aQOhXS2
— Cynical Publius (@CynicalPublius) March 24, 2025
Did the working relationships we saw in those texts look strong and unified?
This theory is unlikely, in my estimation — and if this was actually what happened, let us just say that it backfired quite spectacularly, inasmuch as the message isn’t what people are talking about — but it’s out there. But, for Cain, “the bigger takeaway for me is it’s an insight, a transparent insight into the thought process and dialogue of our national leaders.”
“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 dialogue between Vice President J.D. Vance, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, Stephen Miller, Tulsi Gabbard, and many more in a very collaborative, open, honest, team-based attempt to come to the right decision,” Cain said.
“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.”
. @willcain on The Atlantic’s Editor saying top Trump officials texted him war plans on Signal.
“If you read the content of these messages I think you will come away, proud that these are the leaders making these decisions in America” https://t.co/osUcfYzfAG pic.twitter.com/J4oBozF5y9
— The Will Cain Show (@WillCainShow_) March 24, 2025
Again, read the messages above. All things considered, this isn’t a bad takeaway. Yes, it’s not great that Jeffrey Goldberg was let in on the pow-wow — and again, if you were looking to hire a former national security advisor at the lowest possible salary you could possibly get one for, you’re probably going to have the opportunity to bid on Mike Waltz at his market bottom in the very near term — but at least this isn’t Anita Dunn, Ron Klain, and Andrew Bates conspiring to keep America from figuring out their president, Joe Biden, was a senescent mess unfit for office by stonewalling and keeping everyone (including those in the administration) out of the loop until a debate proved, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the emperor had no cognizance.
But don’t tell this to the libs, who are having the usual field day with this one.
First, Mediaite, which, if it weren’t for double standards, wouldn’t have any standards at all: “Fox’s Will Cain Delivers Wild Spin on Leaked War Plans: ‘I Think You’ll Come Away Proud.’”
As for why this is “wild” spin, author Michael Luciano doesn’t let us in on that; we’re just supposed to take it as prima facie wildness, I suppose, since the rest of it is pretty much just the video clip and the straight facts about the story.
Spin, yeah, I’m willing to buy — but he said it’s bad that a journalist was let into a war-planning group chat, then noted that what we’re informed about by Goldberg is actually pretty functional. If this is the big scandal of the Trump administration so far (and Politico is busy calling it “Signalgate,” so I guess it must be), I think Trump’ll take it — after a few firings, I assume.
And then there’s the facile attack-dog NPCs over at Media Matters for America, which 1) apparently still exists, and 2) can still be reliably counted upon to come away with the wrong take, apparently: “Fox News’ Will Cain praises Trump officials for Signal chat where Yemen strike plans were accidentally leaked to a reporter.”
“Praise” is not even a close synonym of “perspective,” which is what Cain is providing here. His message can be summed up neatly in six words: Good, no; administration-ending, also no. This isn’t difficult to decipher unless you’re actively unwilling to decipher it.
Unfortunately, the MMFA harlequins will hardly be alone in shouting how sky-fallingly awful this is for the next few days without enumerating exactly why it’s Literally the Worst Thing Ever to Happen in Washington™ — before, of course, moving onto the next Literally the Worst Thing Ever to Happen in Washington™ in about four or five news cycles’ time. Which isn’t to say it’s not bad, of course.
Still beats the president who might not have known he was, though.
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