Well, Well, Well, Here's How Conservatives Are Reacting To The Secret War Plan Group Chat
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In case you missed it, on Monday, The Atlantic reported that Jeffrey Goldberg, the magazine's editor-in-chief, was mistakenly added to a Signal group chat where former Fox & Friends Weekend host, now Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, discussed sensitive war plans.
"The Trump Administration Accidentally Texted Me Its War Plans" would probably be a bombshell of a headline if it were another administration (after all, Hegseth previously criticized Hillary Clinton incessantly for using a private server while secretary of state). Yet, it remains to be seen what will be done about this "extraordinary breach of American national security intelligence," as the New York Times called it.
1. "Incompetent to say the least."
— Stockjock1, Conservative
2. "Damn, you'd think with the billions and billions spent on defense, the USA would have its very secure messaging system only available on government phones or something."
— Possible-Tangelo9344, Conservative
3. "FFS…I mean, seriously, they were using SIGNAL to communicate real-time military planning and actions. And even if that was okay, which it certainly is not, they accidentally added a freaking REPORTER from The Atlantic to the text group, and NO-ONE noticed…unacceptable on every imaginable level."
— RickyPickyRick, "Goldwater" Conservative
4. "I read the article. A clusterfuck. A fucking cclusterfuck"
— Starlifter4, Conservative
5. "Good Lord. 🤦🏾♂️"
— PimplePopper6969, Catholic Conservative
6. "This is peak incompetence on so many levels. First of all they are violating all kinds of Operations Security (OPSEC) by doing this on Signal. [Waltz] is so incompetent that he added strangers to the mix and didn't realize it. Hegseth is also very incompetent in telling the others their information about US strike packages, sequencing, and tactics. Such information shouldn't be shared anywhere!"
"There's no need for Tulsi or [Waltz] to know the exact strategy that we use. Second, this is a violation of government records. As they worked for US government and they are on government phone, their records should be kept, not deleted after X days. This is so incompetent! Anyone doing this in the military would get booted immediately."
— OrdoXenos, "Pro-life" Conservative
7. "A couple of quotes from Hegseth in 2016 regarding Hillary's unapproved classified server: 'The people we rely on to do dangerous and difficult things for us rely on one thing from us: That we will not reveal their identity, that we will not be reckless with the dangerous thing they are doing for us. That's the national security implications of a private server that's unsecured.'"
And, "'How damaging is it to your ability to recruit or build allies with others when they are worried that our leaders may be exposing them because of their gross negligence or their recklessness in handling information?'"
— earl_lemongrab, "Reagan" Conservative
8. "This one is just bad. No amount of imagination can conjure up a defense for this. Button that shit up."
— Single-Stop6768, "Americanism" Conservative
9. "Why is Signal on government phones?"
— uponone, "Second Amendment" Conservative
"Rules don't apply to some, apparently. This is what happens."
— zleog50, Constitutionalist Republican
11. "Verify the veracity of this story. If it is found that Waltz did indeed add a journalist, he should be fired and it should be investigated whether this was an instance of providing plausible deniability to the journalist by adding him 'by mistake.' If found that Hegseth shared classified information on an unapproved platform, he should be fired. The bottom line is that if any rank-and-file member of the armed forces did this, they would be instantaneously persona non grata. There should be no difference in treatment if the allegations are proven to be true."
— vertigonex, "Second Amendment" Conservative
12. "Everyone of them should have their clearance pulled, arrested, charged and sent to Gitmo."
— JJMcGIII, Orthodox Constitutionalist
13. "🤦♂️ every fucking day, there's something new. Just stick to the fucking platform and stay focused. Don't [hire] unqualified idiots to the most important positions on the planet. Don't focus on idiotic, fruitless side quests instead of focusing on prominent campaign promises. I still have faith that things will work out in the end, but I am so so frustrated."
— PaddyMayonaise, "Manifest Destiny" Conservative
14. "Pretty bad look, tbh. They aren't wrong, but it's still bad to be discussing that shit on Signal and not a more secure method of communication that I have to imagine is available to the Vice President and the Secretary of Defense."
— -DizzyPanda-, Conservative
"What do you mean they aren't wrong? Not only is it illegal to transmit classified information through A) unapproved means and B) to someone without proper clearance and a need to know that information...It is in fact a crime to fail to REPORT that this has happened if you are even remotely aware of it. At the very least, anyone else would have their device seized and it would be investigated by the FBI to contain and sanitize the classified spill. Yeah, it's a bad look, alright."
— Madetoprint, Constitutional Conservative
15. And finally, "I don't know what is worse: that this happened in a communication the Secretary of Defense was directly party to (even though Hegseth was not the one who actually added the reporter) or that they are using freaking Signal to communicate. I suspect this is just a symptom of the larger character of unprofessionalism that seems to perpetually dog this administration. There needs to be a real investigation into what other matters are being handled so flippantly."
"[Waltz] should be fired, and if Hegseth can't adequately get ahead of this, he needs to go too. When the DoD is involved, there is no room for 'three strikes.' It might have been an accident, but accidents imply negligence. These are exactly the type of weaknesses our enemies will wait for and exploit."
— Coastie456, Minarchist
Welp, I personally don't want to hear from the "BuT HeR EmAiLs" folks again. When top security officials feel comfortable using an unsecured platform to carry out war actions, I agree with Pete Buttigieg: "These people cannot keep America safe."
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