It's amateur hour at the Pentagon.

[babylonsister]

https://www.facebook.com/peter.slevin.75

Peter Slevin

It’s amateur hour at the Pentagon. Everyone knew it would be, with a comically unqualified Fox News personality in charge. But Pete Hegseth’s decision to ignore operations security and share battlefield plans on a commercial texting app, putting U.S. flyers at risk, is a doozy.

Because the well-thumbed Trumpian playbook then called for lying to the American public about what happened, that’s exactly what he did. He denied that he revealed “war plans” and he disparaged the editor of The Atlantic as a “deceitful…so-called journalist.”

The Trump administration's domestic battle plans, as always, are clear. Claim falsely that journalists got it wrong. Pretend that you’re the victim of a smear. Count on the MAGA base and the G.O.P. chorus in Congress to play along. Celebrate the misdirection and wait for the circus caravan to move on.

Harry Truman’s “The Buck Stops Here” sign, the one he kept on his Oval Office desk? That’s for suckers.

A couple of facts are worth noting, however.

First, the secretary of defense, the vice president, the national security advisor and others texted detailed attack plans on a commercial app. Second, Jeffrey Goldberg, The Atlantic editor inadvertently added to the group, followed along, at first skeptical, then incredulous. After the U.S. attack on the Houthis, he wrote a careful story about what he read.

Then the Trump administration launched its attack on Goldberg. “Another hoax by a Trump-hater,” said Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary. Hegseth tweeted, “We will continue to do our job, while the media does what it does best: peddle hoaxes.”

That word: hoax. If it sounds familiar, it might be because Trump loves to talk about the “Russia hoax,” otherwise known to him as “Russia, Russia, Russia.”

snip//

Russian interference in the 2016 election wasn’t a hoax. As Dan Coats, director of national intelligence put it: “Russia conducted an unprecedented influence campaign to interfere in the U.S. electoral and political process.”

The Signal episode wasn't a hoax either. Goldberg wrote what he saw. As some of the most influential people in the country concoct false narratives, again and again, to pursue and preserve power, let's remember to separate fact from fiction and support the truth-tellers.

[Lonestarblue]

1. The entire Musk/Trump administration is nothing but amateur hour.

Including weak-willed Marco Rubio, who has turned out to be spineless and clueless.

[Shermann]

2. But but they didn't text classified information!!!1111

This is a pretty lame excuse. Information generally becomes classified as part of a document control system. This information in question made an end run around that process and went straight from concept to Signal. This is a procedural argument which is a bit dubious due to the circular nature and hardly vindicating. They are smart enough to realize this but are merely manufacturing a talking point for Fox News here.

[robbob]

6. As tRump did with the stolen Merde-a-Largo documents:

It isn’t classified if they SAY it isn’t classified. Regardless of the nature of the documents/conversations they are talking about. Just wave the magic pResidential wand and “poof”! Suddenly it’s not classified.

[Kid Berwyn]

3. Putin's Puppet, America's Gorbachev

[Evolve Dammit]

4. All they need to say is witch hunt, fake news or hoax. This country is easily duped. Present company excluded of course

[Bernardo de La Paz]

5. tRump working with different bucks than Truman

Truman bucks were responsibility, accountability. It was of course in reference to subordinates down the chain "bucking" problems up the chain.

tRump bucks are money that stop in his pocket.

[MLWR]

7. Harry Truman's motto/slogan was "the buck stops here."

Donald Trump's motto/slogan is "I take no responsibility."

[Harker]

9. +33. The buck never stops. n/t

[surfered]

8. They've been using Signal for months, even after warnings by DOD and FBI that their phones could be hacked.

This means Russia and China know what was in their phones

[Botany]

11. And that miscreant who took his phone with.

... him to Russia and took part in the "high school level" group chat on signal in a Russian
building in MOSCOW allowed the Russians to
get into his phone, see all his contacts, and most likely look into the phones that were connected to the group chat. The Sec.of Defense is now compromised as is the White House Chief of Staff, Marco Rubio, and others.

I have a family member who did stuff in top level secured environments in the states and you would never carry your phone with you in those areas.

[GiqueCee]

10. I saw an honest Republican once...

... trying to mount a unicorn. No, not to ride it, but... well, you know...
The unicorn wasn't havin' it. Kicked him in the... well, you know...