Whilst AI is making science fiction redundant, with the Trump administration’s daily shenanigans, no one’s interested in a political drama series on TV anymore. Reality is far more thrilling. Last week, as the US launched attacks on the Houthi rebels in Yemen, a chat group involving effectively the most powerful people in Trump’s administration, set up to coordinate the attacks saw an inadvertent addition of the editor in chief of the American magazine – The Atlantic.
“The White House said the messages inadvertently sent to Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of the Atlantic magazine, and recounted by him at length in a story published on March 24th, appear to be genuine. Many in Washington expressed dismay at the lax operational security of President Donald Trump’s national-security team, as they exchanged classified information over Signal, an encrypted messaging app available to the public, while seemingly unaware they had added a journalist to their chat.
…Mr Goldberg was added to a discussion group called “Houthi PC small group”, ostensibly created to co-ordinate upcoming action against the Iranian-backed Houthi militia in Yemen. The 18 members appeared to include J.D. Vance, the vice-president; Marco Rubio, the secretary of state; Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence; John Ratcliffe, the CIA director; Mr Hegseth [secretary of defense] and more.
You can read about Goldberg’s piece on his ringside view of the attack’s plans here.
But this piece in The Economist is about what the private messages between some of the most powerful people in Trump’s administration say about its views on its long standing ally – Europe. The American Vice President , JD Vance has been the most vocal so far and he is consistent in the ‘leaked’ chat as well:
“In the Signal group Mr Vance expressed misgivings about the impending operation, noting that Europeans were far more dependent than America was on trade through the Suez Canal. Admitting to a rare disagreement with Mr Trump, he added: “I am not sure the president is aware how inconsistent this is with his message on Europe right now.” Although Mr Trump had apparently approved the strikes, he argued for a delay.
Mr Hegseth seemed sympathetic, noting the “need to stay focused on: 1) Biden failed & 2) Iran funded” if military action took place. He added that waiting carried two risks: “1) this leaks, and we look indecisive; 2) Israel takes an action first—or Gaza cease fire falls apart—and we don’t get to start this on our own terms.” Mr Waltz responded by noting the limitations of European navies, and suggesting that allies will be made to pay the bill.
Mr Vance said, “I just hate bailing Europe out again”, to which the defence secretary replied: “VP: I fully share your loathing of European free-loading. It’s PATHETIC. But Mike is correct, we are the only ones on the planet (on our side of the ledger) who can do this. Nobody else even close. Question is timing. I feel like now is as good a time as any, given POTUS directive to reopen shipping lanes. I think we should go; but POTUS still retains 24 hours of decision space.”
Then “S M”—presumably Stephen Miller, Mr Trump’s deputy chief of staff—closed the discussion by saying Mr Trump had given the green light. But, S M added, they had to make clear to Egypt and Europe what the administration expected to receive for taking action. “If the US successfully restores freedom of navigation at great cost there needs to be some further economic gain extracted in return.”
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