
Roundup
Several things have happened since last week, starting with Trump withdrawing his nomination of Elise Stefanik for UN Ambassador fearing they may lose control of Congress due to upcoming special elections. Trump has also threatened more tariffs slated to begin today on what he’s dubbing “Liberation Day.”
JD and Usha Vance visited an American military base in Greenland, where he gave a speech threatening Denmark as Trump continues pushing the idea of annexing the former.
This past week judges have dealt Trump more legal losses, but this hasn’t stopped his administration from disappearing people, as happened to Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish international student at Tufts University who was detained by ICE. Her crime was supporting Palestine, which Trump equated to supporting terrorists and terminated her student visa.
In related news, university professors in the USA are fleeing the country due to concerns about Trump and creeping Fascism.
But the thing that has most of the legacy media’s attention this week was Signal Gate.
Signal Gate
Several members of the Trump Administration were caught discussing war plans in a group chat on the unsecured messaging platform Signal using their personal phones, when Mike Waltz accidentally added The Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeff Goldberg on March 11. Goldberg then left the chat and broke the story in The Atlantic on March 24.
Timeline via Wikipedia
March 11, 2025:
Goldberg received a connection request from someone named Michael Waltz.
March 13:
Goldberg is added to a private Signal group chat of 18 people, labeled “Houthi PC small group”. Officials allegedly shared sensitive operational details regarding the planned military strikes in Yemen.
March 14:
Discussion in the group turned to prospective military action against Houthi targets.
March 15, 11:44am (EDT):
The Hegseth-associated account shared what Goldberg described as detailed operational information regarding imminent strikes.
March 15, 1:55pm (EDT):
Goldberg verified through social media reports that explosions were occurring in Sanaa, Yemen’s capital.
March 16:
Goldberg left the chat.
March 24:
Goldberg published an article accounting the group chat in The Atlantic, revealing the security breach.
March 26:
A government watchdog group, American Oversight, filed suit in the DC District Court against White House officials, alleging that they failed to abide by the Federal Records Act and the Administrative Procedure Act.
This raises serious questions not only about national security, but the competency of every Trump official involved. It’s also the height of hypocrisy as for years Trump and the GOP railed against Hilary Clinton for using a private server for official public communications while Secretary of State.
Calls for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s resignation have rolled in from democrats and some republicans, but as of this writing Hegseth shows no signs of leaving his post.
Good News
In a bit of a good news, democrats picked up a seat in the Pennsylvania senate in a district that went for Trump by 15%, won control of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, and came close to winning the two seats in Florida’s special elections Tuesday.
And Elon Musk claimed his last day in the Trump administration will be May 31. Which is funny because Trump has repeatedly said he is and isn’t a cabinet member, whichever suits him best.
Regardless, the damage Musk and DOGE have inflicted on our government won’t be so easily fixed, if at all. Especially if democrats continue voting for Trump’s agenda like they did on the last Continuing Resolution.
Which brings me to my next topic.
Cory Booker’s Shiny spine
Beginning Monday March 31, at 7:00 pm EST, Senator Cory Booker took the Senate floor to protest the Trump administration’s recent actions and the GOP’s cowardice for not holding town halls for their constituents. He’s vowed to hold the floor until he passes out or is dragged out.
Ultimately Booker held the senate floor for over 25 hours, breaking the previous record of 24 hours and 18 minutes held by Storm Thurmond.
More of this please.
While it’s still too early to tell if Booker’s actions will spur other democrats to get off their ass and do something of substance, it’s a move in the right direction. Enough of sternly worded letters and tweets (looking at you Schumer and Jeffries). We need real leadership not whatever brand of diet republican bullshit the DNC has been giving us.
We need more dems willing to put their bodies on the line for us and show some spine when it comes to Trump and his MAGA agenda, and the corporation-owned dems in the House and Senate. So, House and Senate dems, rise up and be leaders, or fail to meet the challenge before you and it’s game over for our democracy.
I leave you with this quote from The American President:
“People want leadership, Mr. President. And in the absence of genuine leadership, they will listen to anyone who steps up to the microphone. They want leadership. They’re so thirsty for it they’ll crawl through the desert toward a mirage, and when they discover there’s no water, they’ll drink the sand.”