Amateur Hour

Bro culture invades national security. You can guess the results.

Let’s take a quick look at sober (keyword, that) reactions to Signalgate:

•Georgia Democratic Senator, Jon Ossoff, had the most obvious assessment: “My first reaction... was 'what absolute clowns.' Total amateur hour, reckless, dangerous…. [T]his is what happens when you have basically Fox News personalities cosplaying as government officials.”

•Foreign policy pro, Timothy Snyder, posted: “These guys inherited one of the most functional state apparatus in the history of the world and they are inhabiting it like a crack house.”

• Matt Castelli, a former CIA officer didn’t pull any punches when he said: “This is more than ‘loose lips sink ships’, this is a criminally negligent breach of classified information and war planning involving VP, SecDef, Director of the CIA, National Security Advisor—all putting troops at risk. America is not safe.”

•Before we all knew the truth, Senator Jack Reed (D-RI), Ranking Member of the Armed Services Committee, said: "If true, this story represents one of the most egregious failures of operational security and common sense I have ever seen. The carelessness shown by President Trump's cabinet is stunning and dangerous.”

• Retired Air Force brigadier general, Don Bacon, (R-NE), is also a member of the Armed Services Committee. He told Axios that “sending this info over non-secure networks” was “unconscionable…Russia and China are surely monitoring his unclassified phone.”

As an added IED in this burgeoning minefield, we also got first-person confirmation that both SECDEF Hegseth and VP Vance really do hate Europe, calling nations there “freeloaders.” The comments veritably stank of condescension, which is ironic considering their own lack of skills and experience in international affairs.

From Politico, via Heather Cox Richardson, we learn that their biggest concern was “how to make Europe pay for it.” Vice President JD Vance said he hated “bailing Europe out again” to which Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth replied, “I fully share your loathing.” The messages point to a growing transatlantic schism: European powers are “rethinking their dependence on American weapons systems,” The Washington Post noted, while calls are growing to strengthen Europe’s nuclear deterrent, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The National Security Advisor, Michael Waltz, added Goldberg to the chain, but it was Hegseth who revealed targets, weapons, and tactics in the hours before the raid. As conservative commentator, David French, a former JAG officer wrote, “If Hegseth had any honor, he would resign.” No worries—he has no honor.

I’ve been talking to gobsmacked active duty military personnel who all noted the hypocrisy of “different spanks for different ranks.” Each and every one noting that if they did this, they’d be court martialed and drummed out of the service. French added the obvious: “When leaders break the rules that they impose on soldiers, they break the bond of trust between soldiers and commanders.”

And speaking of a bunch of CYA’ing officials, everyone on the call denies any classified information was revealed. Of course Goldberg had the goods and they knew it. They spent the first few days just whistling past the graveyard, hoping he wouldn’t release details. The Administration and Fox News called him names and impugned his credibility, but he has three Pulitzer Prizes; since its inception in 1986, Fox News has won exactly none. They’ve helped shift the focus to Goldberg, and suggested he should be arrested for treason. That’s what any Fourth Grader would do, right?

As Conservative stalwart, Bill Kristol, said: “The scandal will also be in how they brush it aside.”

They may hate Europe and wish to abandon Ukraine, but most of us disagree. Gallup Polls put it this way, “U.S. Support for Ukraine Aid Hits New High, Gallup Polls show Americans’ want the Trump administration to do more, not less to support Ukraine.”

Four-time bestselling Trump book author, Michael Wolff, posted that overwhelming the country with shock and awe is a feature, not a bug. Conflict, he said, is the point. He calls it unsustainable, because if they keep it up, and he thinks they will, it will collapse in on itself.

I won’t be surprised if National Security Advisor, Mike Waltz, is gone by the time you read this. Our Secretary of Defense is unqualified and inexperienced. It may take a little time because this is an administration that doesn’t admit to being wrong, and always tries to turn the tables on people who point out their wrongdoing, but in the long run it’s hard to imagine that Pete Hegseth survives this unforced error.

Or, as Greg Sargent of The New Republic put it, "In Signalgate, Trumpworld is demonstrating exactly what's wrong with authoritarian populism: Refusal to admit error, walling out of constructive criticism, the cult-like defense of the leader at all costs."

Amateurs at the wheel. Not a great look for the United States.

©2025 Jon Sinton