03/27/2025
THE TRUTH about SIGNAL TEXTING SCANDAL
I send a daily Op-Ed style report covering the Trump administration via my afternoon newsletter (DML Report). I suggest you sign up for free (link in comments). Here's the report from yesterday. I hope you share it.
THE MEDIAâS SELECTIVE POUNCING
The Yemen Text Scandal: A Study in Selective Outrage:
The media will not let go of the Trump administrationâs text messaging blunderâa leaked Signal chat exposing plans for Yemen strikesâhas ignited a firestorm. Top officials, including National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, and Vice President J.D. Vance, inadvertently added The Atlanticâs far-left reporter, Jeffrey Goldberg to a discussion detailing military coordinates, strike timings, and economic concerns like oil prices. Democrats are apoplectic, demanding resignations and congressional probes, warning that U.S. service membersâ lives were endangered â calling the administration âirresponsible.â President Trump shrugs it off, saying, âIt couldnât have been very effective, because the attack was very effective.â Meanwhile, the media amplifies the scandal with nonstop, over-the-top headlines. The outrage is everywhere â but itâs also glaringly selective. Compare this to Bidenâs four years, where exuding stupidity was a daily routine â or the Obama era, where scandals of equal or greater magnitude were met with muted coverage or outright excuses from the same voices now clutching their pearls.
Letâs rewind to Obamaâs Operation Fast and Furious:
It was a debacle that should haunt the Obama administrationâs legacy. From 2009 to 2011, the Bureau of Alcohol, To***co, Fi****ms and Explosives (ATF), under Attorney General Eric Holder, ran a âgunwalkingâ scheme, allowing thousands of fi****ms to flow into the hands of Mexican drug cartels. The goal? Track the weapons to dismantle trafficking networks. The result? A catastrophic failure. Hundreds of guns vanished, only to resurface at crime scenes, including the 2010 murder of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry. When Congress demanded answers, Holder stonewalled, refusing to release documents. In 2012, he became the first sitting Attorney General held in contempt of Congressâa bipartisan rebuke, with 17 Democrats joining Republicans. Yet, the consequences were nil. Holder kept his job, and the Justice Department shielded him. The media? Largely complicit. Outlets like The New York Times framed it as a partisan squabble, downplaying the lethal falloutâover 300 Mexican deaths tied to those gunsâand the administrationâs refusal to come clean.
Contrast that with todayâs Yemen text fiasco. Yes, itâs a serious lapseâWaltzâs âFinal go on Yemen strikesâcoordinates lockedâ and Vanceâs âOil prices could spike if this dragsâ were never meant for public eyes. But the mission succeeded: Houthi targets were hit, and no American lives were lost. Democrats like Senator Ron Wyden cry for resignations, insisting this endangered troops. The media, from CNN to The Guardian, fuels the narrative, dissecting every message and speculating on hypothetical disasters. Yet where was this fervor when Obamaâs scandals left real bodies in their wake? The double standard is staggering.
Benghazi: Another Obama-era stain:
On September 11, 2012, terrorists attacked the U.S. consulate in Libya, killing Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans. The administrationâs response was a masterclass in evasion. Initial claims bogusly pinned it on a spontaneous protest over a YouTube video centered around Islam âa story peddled by then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and UN Ambassador Susan Riceâdespite evidence of a planned assault. Requests for added security had been ignored by the Obama administration, and during the 13-hour siege, no meaningful rescue was mounted. Congressional hearings revealed a fog of incompetence and deceit, yet the media soft-pedaled it. The Washington Post and others fixated on Republican âoverreach,â not the administrationâs failures. No resignations followed. Clinton sailed into her 2016 campaign unscathed, while the families of the fallen got platitudes, not accountability.
Bidenâs Afghanistan withdrawal:
Bidenâs Afghanistan withdrawal was a nightmare that overshadows the Yemen text scandal in both scale and consequence. In August 2021, the chaotic pullout left 13 U.S. service members dead in a Kabul airport bombing, billions in equipment abandoned, and countless allies stranded. The administrationâs handling was beyond sloppyâmarked by ignored warnings and a frantic evacuation where desperate Afghans clung to a U.S. military planeâs wing during takeoff, only to fall to their deaths, all captured on video for the world to witness. Yet the media barely lingered on Bidenâs blunder, swiftly shifting focus. Democrats issued no sustained calls for resignations; headlines faded fast. Contrast that with today: a sloppy text thread with zero casualties dominates the news, pundits and lawmakers conjuring phantom soldier deaths that never happened.
Bidenâs border crisis:
It was a slow-motion catastrophe. His administrationâs open-border policies have flooded the U.S. with unchecked migrants, fueling a surge in fentanyl poisoning and drug overdoses that have killed hundreds of thousands of Americans. Gang members and illegals have r***d, beaten, and murdered citizensâLaken Rileyâs 2024 killing by an illegal immigrant is just one tragic exampleâwhile stealing jobs and straining communities. Where was the mediaâs outrage? Rileyâs death barely registered; victimsâ stories are buried. Democrats and the press fret over hypothetical lives lost in Yemen, yet ignore the real carnage at home.
The Yemen strikes:
Despite the Trumpâs text messaging mistake, in Yemen, only terrorists died. Waltzâs âB-2s airborne, ETA 0300 Zuluâ and Hegsethâs âHouthi response containedâ bore fruitâno American blood was spilled. Yet Democrats and the media clutch at hypotheticals, decrying a âbrazen violationâ of security. Where was this vigilance when Fast and Furious armed cartels, or when Benghaziâs pleas went unheard? Where was the outrage when Bidenâs retreat turned Kabul into a graveyard? Where are the headlines stating Bidenâs open borders killed nearly half-a-million Americans via drugs and murders? The answer lies in politics, not principle. Obama and Biden, darlings of the progressive establishment, got passes. Trump, the perennial outsider, gets no such grace.
PATHETIC NARRATIVES
The mediaâs role here is telling. During Obamaâs tenure, scandals were framed as bureaucratic hiccups or Republican witch hunts. Fast and Furious coverage faded as Holder dug in; Benghazi became a partisan football, not a national reckoning. Today, the Yemen texts are a âcatastrophic leak,â a âhistoric mishandling,â with every outlet from Reuters to CNN keeping it alive. This isnât about safeguarding troopsâitâs about narrative control. The same press that buried Bidenâs and Obamaâs messes now amplifies Trumpâs every stumble, real or imagined. Consider these past lapses they shrugged off:
- Clintonâs Private Emails: Obamaâs Secretary of State mishandled classified info on a private server; media called it a GOP obsession.
- Bidenâs Classified Docs: Found unsecured at home in 2023, yet coverage waned despite the hypocrisy.
- Hunterâs WhatsApp: A 2017 message hinting at Joeâs involvement got a collective yawn from mainstream outlets.
Accountability matters:
Waltzâs error was a major mistake that should not have happened, and a price should be paidâtermination wouldnât be unjust if Trump went there, though he wonât. But the sanctimonious pile-on reeks of hypocrisy. When Holder defied Congress, no one marched him out. When Benghazi burned and 4 American men died, no heads rolled. When Kabul fell, the outrage was fleeting. Now, a successful strike with a sloppy backstory becomes a capital crime. The lesson? Scandal isnât judged by its tollâitâs judged by whoâs in the crosshairs. Trumpâs team deserves scrutiny, but the selective amnesia of Democrats and their media allies exposes a deeper truth: in Washington, outrage is a weapon, wielded only when it suits the wielders.
Letâs move on already.
