U.S. national-security leaders included me in a group chat about upcoming military strikes in Yemen. I didn’t think it could be real. Then the bombs started falling.
So instead of quietly sitting on his accidental inclusion into the hot mailing list and waiting for a truly big one to come down the pipe, he spills the beans - and no doubt got ejected from the mailing list faster than you can say “Is this administration a data security disaster or what?!” - to write an article about how he got a two-hour advance notice of the US military bombing lousy targets in lousy Yemen.
This is the most likely answer. Yes it would have been good to have inside access to the fascist War plan. Although we already know most of it just by virtue of them being fascists. But the fascists would have 100% come after him his family the company he works for etc etc etc once they realized their mistake. Charging him with Espionage and all sorts of other things. Making them disappear. Instead he gets to look like the good guy being responsible while pointing out the well known incompetence of fascists. Hurting them the one place that actually hurts, their image.
Being a journalist is about taking huge risks to expose things like corrupt governments. Man got the golden ticket and threw it away once he verified it was real
Okay and? He has a direct line into the administrations secret signal group. This is tremendous thing dropped into his lap
It’s like if bob woodward met with deep throat once, reported there was nonsense going on in the Nixon administration, but then told him to fuck off becuase it was too risky to continue. That’s insane and his bravery led to Nixons corruption being exposed
Or like Snowden going to greenwald and co and them reporting that “some guy told us about government corruption but we sent him on his way” instead of coordinating his transport to Hong Kong and Russia and passing of the document cache because it was “too risky”
Modern journalists being cowards is a huge part of the reason we have trump. He should be ashamed he threw away such a tremendous opportunity. You better believe they’re going to improve their opsec now.
I’m not sure how to put this, but… Fascists are always really, really, really bad at everything. Like sure, they can sometimes make the trains run on time out of sheer terror on the part of the rail staff, but actual, legitimate competence? That’s anathema to these people, especially the bloated sack of festering anuses at the top. Leaks - deeply, incomprehensibly stupid leaks like this one - will continue.
Like sure, they can sometimes make the trains run on time out of sheer terror on the part of the rail staff,
Even that is a myth. The trains were actually running on time due to reforms by his predecessor. Mussolini actually fucked up the train system and they stopped running on time. People still credited him with that shit for some reason.
A spine isn’t necessary for that, just greed and self-interest. Leaks will happen whenever the slimy weasels Trump surrounds himself with think they’ll benefit from them or are too incompetent to prevent them.
The problem is that a fascist regime will always be in a state of damage control, and that control will become more and more violent to the population.
This is nothing on the order of watergate, prism, etc and you and I both know this admin has that level of corruption going on
Sit on this bombshell, which is ultimately that the admin uses a non approved communication modality that hides their tracks (shocker, they’re afraid of being on record). You still have evidence of that by sitting on this. Wait until they drop some real shit and leak that. But that would probably end with you needing to leave the country
I guarantee you they are too stupid to realize as long as he didn’t type anything.
Have you seen boomers and gen x operate anything on a smartphone? If it doesn’t ‘just work’ then all bets are off. It’s as bad as gen z only understanding smartphone UIs.
He removed himself from the group, as he should have, once he realized it was real and not a PsyOp.
FTA:
"The Signal chat group, I concluded, was almost certainly real. Having come to this realization, one that seemed nearly impossible only hours before, I removed myself from the Signal group, understanding that this would trigger an automatic notification to the group’s creator, “Michael Waltz,” that I had left. No one in the chat had seemed to notice that I was there. And I received no subsequent questions about why I left—or, more to the point, who I was.
Earlier today, I emailed Waltz and sent him a message on his Signal account. I also wrote to Pete Hegseth, John Ratcliffe, Tulsi Gabbard, and other officials. In an email, I outlined some of my questions: Is the “Houthi PC small group” a genuine Signal thread? Did they know that I was included in this group? Was I (on the off chance) included on purpose? If not, who did they think I was? Did anyone realize who I was when I was added, or when I removed myself from the group? Do senior Trump-administration officials use Signal regularly for sensitive discussions? Do the officials believe that the use of such a channel could endanger American personnel?"
So instead of quietly sitting on his accidental inclusion into the hot mailing list and waiting for a truly big one to come down the pipe, he spills the beans - and no doubt got ejected from the mailing list faster than you can say “Is this administration a data security disaster or what?!” - to write an article about how he got a two-hour advance notice of the US military bombing lousy targets in lousy Yemen.
Not smart…
Maybe he was afraid that if he kept lurking they’d eventually charge him with espionage.
This is the most likely answer. Yes it would have been good to have inside access to the fascist War plan. Although we already know most of it just by virtue of them being fascists. But the fascists would have 100% come after him his family the company he works for etc etc etc once they realized their mistake. Charging him with Espionage and all sorts of other things. Making them disappear. Instead he gets to look like the good guy being responsible while pointing out the well known incompetence of fascists. Hurting them the one place that actually hurts, their image.
Being a journalist is about taking huge risks to expose things like corrupt governments. Man got the golden ticket and threw it away once he verified it was real
He’s not just a journalist, he’s the editor-in-chief of the Atlantic. He’d be risking the whole publication, not just himself.
Okay and? He has a direct line into the administrations secret signal group. This is tremendous thing dropped into his lap
It’s like if bob woodward met with deep throat once, reported there was nonsense going on in the Nixon administration, but then told him to fuck off becuase it was too risky to continue. That’s insane and his bravery led to Nixons corruption being exposed
Or like Snowden going to greenwald and co and them reporting that “some guy told us about government corruption but we sent him on his way” instead of coordinating his transport to Hong Kong and Russia and passing of the document cache because it was “too risky”
Modern journalists being cowards is a huge part of the reason we have trump. He should be ashamed he threw away such a tremendous opportunity. You better believe they’re going to improve their opsec now.
I really don’t think they will.
I’m not sure how to put this, but… Fascists are always really, really, really bad at everything. Like sure, they can sometimes make the trains run on time out of sheer terror on the part of the rail staff, but actual, legitimate competence? That’s anathema to these people, especially the bloated sack of festering anuses at the top. Leaks - deeply, incomprehensibly stupid leaks like this one - will continue.
Even that is a myth. The trains were actually running on time due to reforms by his predecessor. Mussolini actually fucked up the train system and they stopped running on time. People still credited him with that shit for some reason.
Yeah maybe. But maybe not. I’d rather not bank on a potential when the actuality was literally manifested, but what’s done is done
Maybe the only way this happens again is if someone from within the administration develops a spine and leaks info
A spine isn’t necessary for that, just greed and self-interest. Leaks will happen whenever the slimy weasels Trump surrounds himself with think they’ll benefit from them or are too incompetent to prevent them.
The problem is that a fascist regime will always be in a state of damage control, and that control will become more and more violent to the population.
I feel like he got enough for it to be a huge bombshell report.
This is nothing on the order of watergate, prism, etc and you and I both know this admin has that level of corruption going on
Sit on this bombshell, which is ultimately that the admin uses a non approved communication modality that hides their tracks (shocker, they’re afraid of being on record). You still have evidence of that by sitting on this. Wait until they drop some real shit and leak that. But that would probably end with you needing to leave the country
I guarantee you they are too stupid to realize as long as he didn’t type anything.
Have you seen boomers and gen x operate anything on a smartphone? If it doesn’t ‘just work’ then all bets are off. It’s as bad as gen z only understanding smartphone UIs.
LOL, dunking on Gen X, the generation who made the fucking smartphones in the first place. Get a grip.
I can tell you didn’t read the article, since he left on his own once national secrets were being spilled.
He removed himself from the group, as he should have, once he realized it was real and not a PsyOp.
FTA:
"The Signal chat group, I concluded, was almost certainly real. Having come to this realization, one that seemed nearly impossible only hours before, I removed myself from the Signal group, understanding that this would trigger an automatic notification to the group’s creator, “Michael Waltz,” that I had left. No one in the chat had seemed to notice that I was there. And I received no subsequent questions about why I left—or, more to the point, who I was.
Earlier today, I emailed Waltz and sent him a message on his Signal account. I also wrote to Pete Hegseth, John Ratcliffe, Tulsi Gabbard, and other officials. In an email, I outlined some of my questions: Is the “Houthi PC small group” a genuine Signal thread? Did they know that I was included in this group? Was I (on the off chance) included on purpose? If not, who did they think I was? Did anyone realize who I was when I was added, or when I removed myself from the group? Do senior Trump-administration officials use Signal regularly for sensitive discussions? Do the officials believe that the use of such a channel could endanger American personnel?"
Why? It’s not like they hide their agenda. Just read Project 2025