Trump gaslights America: First it was glitch, now it’s a hoax | Opinion
Can we all please admit that mistakenly including a journalist on a private, top-secret, online chat about an upcoming attack on a foreign nation was more than a minor glitch?
And that the responses from the White House were a shameful attempt to downplay a serious breach?
Let us start with President Donald Trump who initially told a reporter that he knew nothing about The Atlantic article, which published a detailed account of the mix-up that allowed the magazine’s editor-in-chief to be privy to what should have been be a secure conversation.
But of course, the president had to go on to shoot the messenger.
“I’m not a big fan of The Atlantic,” he said. “To me, it’s a magazine that’s going out of business. I think it’s not much of a magazine.”
Out of business?
I would wager that The Atlantic has picked up more than a handful of subscribers following what may be the scoop of the century, which is saying something since we still have 75 years to go.
If anything, Trump should have thanked Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg for not immediately sharing news of the impending attack on Yemeni Houthis before it happened.
Instead, he continued to insult him while treating the entire incident as less than a nothingburger.
It’s all a hoax
In the days that followed, responses from the White House became even weirder.
Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt posted this on X: “This entire story was another hoax written by a Trump-hater who is well-known for his sensationalist spin.”
The Trump administration also bragged that The Atlantic had “conceded” that the Signal chatters did not discuss “war plans.”
The evidence was all in the headlines.
Goldberg’s initial story carried this headline: “The Trump Administration Accidentally Texted Me Its War Plans.”
A follow-up piece had this head: “Here Are the Attack Plans That Trump’s Advisers Shared on Signal.”
See the switcheroo The Atlantic pulled? Of course you do!
There’s a world of difference between “war” and “attack.”
The only glitch?
That’s even more of a reach than Trump’s initial attempt to gaslight the American people by characterizing this as some minor oversight.
Here’s how he described a security breach of epic proportions to NBC News: “The only glitch in two months, and it turned out not to be a serious one.”
The only glitch?
Perhaps he is unaware of what’s happening at the Social Security Administration, where the website is crashing and callers are being left on hold for hours.
Or he missed the news about the inadvertent firing of employees critical to the safety of our nuclear arsenal.
And he doesn’t appear to be tracking how many times his executive orders have been overturned by judges. But then why should he, since he chooses to ignore them anyway?
Stand by your man
Naturally, the president stood up for his national security adviser, whose job appears to remain secure.
“Michael Waltz has learned a lesson, and he’s a good man,” the president said in the NBC interview.
He also claimed that Waltz was not to blame: “It was one of Michael’s people on the phone. A staffer had his number on there,” the president said, apparently referring to Goldberg’s phone number.
Walz, however, has come clean.
“A staffer wasn’t responsible,” he told Laura Ingraham in a Fox News interview. “I take full responsibility. I built the group.”
He doesn’t know how Goldberg’s number wound up on the list of invitees.
“I don’t text him, he wasn’t on my phone and we’re going to figure out how this happened,” he said.
Luckily, the White House has assigned all its best people to unravel the mystery. Elon Musk and his DOGE team have been asked to serve on the investigative team.
Don’t be surprised if this crack squad finds some way to spin this whole mess. They might even take a page from Fox News host Will Cain, who had the brass to actually commend all those involved (except Goldberg, of course).
After acknowledging that the incident was “incredibly concerning,” Cain went on to marvel at the “very collaborative, open, honest, team-based” conversation that went on in the texts.
“... 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,” he said.
It might be a little tough to read those texts since they are sorta top secret, though Goldberg now has included all of the screenshots from the chat in back-to-back articles.
They are behind a paywall, however, which means you may have to subscribe to The Atlantic to read it.
If that’s the case, you’d better hurry and sign up.
I hear it’s a garbage magazine that’s about to go out of business.
This story was originally published March 25, 2025 at 3:18 PM with the headline "Trump gaslights America: First it was glitch, now it’s a hoax | Opinion."
