If the Trump administration’s national security team had been trying to humiliate itself on the world stage, they couldn’t have done it better than this.
In a failure so catastrophic it barely needs commentary, senior Trump officials — including Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Senior Policy Adviser Stephen Miller — accidentally invited The Atlantic's editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg to a private Signal group chat where they were actively discussing military strikes on Iranian-backed Houthi targets in Yemen.
They didn’t just brief a journalist on a military operation — they did it with the arrogance of men who believed they were the smartest people in the room.
THE PARADE OF INCOMPETENCE
The Signal group chat included:
Vice President JD Vance, muttering vague concerns that revealed how far out of his depth he was.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, tossing out empty slogans while fixating on NATO freeloaders like he was still hosting Fox & Friends.
Senior Policy Adviser Stephen Miller, pivoting from war planning to amateur extortion tactics mid-crisis.
National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, whose contribution was to accidentally invite a journalist into the war room.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, who might as well have been cardboard cutouts for all they contributed.
Jeffrey Goldberg, the journalist who quietly observed this parade of stupidity unfold in real-time.