You don’t even need to read it, folks. Hillary Rodham Clinton, a two-time presidential loser, had some thoughts on the Signal story. To recap, National Security Adviser Michael Waltz discussed anti-Houthi operations on Signal, an encrypted, government-approved messenger app, which accidentally added The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg who exaggerated its contents, alleging classified war plans were discussed. That’s a lie. Goldberg is a known anti-Trump fabulist. Was it an unforced error? Sure, and the consequences were days of annoying distractions and hysterics from the liberal media.
Hillary Clinton decided to weigh in, not on just the Signal story, but how the Trump administration is going—lady, no one cares. Even if you struck chords with Democrats, they don’t want you around. They certainly don’t want the Bidens around either. Also, you’re the last person who should be delivering lectures on supposed disclosures of sensitive information, Ms. Clinton. This latest op-ed is painfully transparent in its intentions (via NYT):
It’s not the hypocrisy that bothers me; it’s the stupidity. We’re all shocked — shocked! — that President Trump and his team don’t actually care about protecting classified information or federal record retention laws. But we knew that already. What’s much worse is that top Trump administration officials put our troops in jeopardy by sharing military plans on a commercial messaging app and unwittingly invited a journalist into the chat. That’s dangerous. And it’s just dumb.
This is the latest in a string of self-inflicted wounds by the new administration that are squandering America’s strength and threatening our national security. Firing hundreds of federal workers charged with protecting our nation’s nuclear weapons is also dumb. So is shutting down efforts to fight pandemics just as a deadly Ebola outbreak is spreading in Africa. It makes no sense to purge talented generals, diplomats and spies at a time when rivals like China and Russia are trying to expand their global reach.
In a dangerous and complex world, it’s not enough to be strong. You must also be smart. As secretary of state during the Obama administration, I argued for smart power, integrating the hard power of our military with the soft power of our diplomacy, development assistance, economic might and cultural influence. None of those tools can do the job alone. Together, they make America a superpower. The Trump approach is dumb power. Instead of a strong America using all our strengths to lead the world and confront our adversaries, Mr. Trump’s America will be increasingly blind and blundering, feeble and friendless.
Let’s start with the military, because that’s what he claims to care about. Don’t let the swagger fool you. Mr. Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (of group chat fame) are apparently more focused on performative fights over wokeness than preparing for real fights with America’s adversaries…