Good morning,
Perhaps like you, I've just about stopped laughing after the past two days of Signalgate, but after the schadenfreude, I'm left with a horrible feeling on two issues: this could end badly for US journalism and this is the tip of a security iceberg for the US and its allies.
Surely, heads will have to roll after this scandal. One seems likely to be Michael Waltz (the Trump security chief who caused the blunder). But it's not beyond imagination that Trump will also go after the journalist involved, Jeffrey Goldberg. Could he be accused of a crime because he didn't exit the Signal group when he realised he was in it by mistake?
I'm sure the Maga mob would love to put someone like him in prison and would lap up whatever bogus charges he might face, amplified by the X and Fox propaganda megaphones. It would have a powerful chilling effect on US investigative journalism and Trump-critical journalism in general, with all the harm done to American democracy this would entail.
And the iceberg? What Signalgate exposed is the unprofessionalism, arrogance, and stupidity of Trump's security chiefs. No doubt, they'll change communications protocols to see that it doesn't happen again. But that won't change the personalities involved and that means they'll find new ways to screw up in future.
Looking at US defence chief Pete Hegseth, Waltz, and Trump himself, it makes you wonder: what kinds of secrets would they be dumb enough to expose in a face-to-face conversation with a smart foreign leader who knows how to manipulate people? What would they brag about at barbecues or golf games with their friends, who are also likely targets of foreign espionage?
My only hope is that the next leak gives away something so disgusting about themselves that even Maga won't be able to swallow them any more.
– Andrew Rettman, foreign affairs editor
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