As news broke recently about top defense and intelligence officials leaking plans for an attack on the Houthis in Yemen, over the messaging app Signal, one could only wonder how the Trump Administration would react. Predictably, any semblance of accountability was avoided by luminaries such as Pete Hegseth, Tulsi Gabbard and Mike Waltz. Also predictably, no one outside of congressional Democrats seemed particularly interested in seeking accountability from the administration. This, I believe, is the underestimated danger of the second Trump administration, there is no accountability, there are no guardrails, there is clearly no plan, and Americans are going to suffer because of it.
In a normal world, somebody gets fired for a mistake like this. If, for example, an R&D employee shared a proprietary design with a reporter, you can be certain they would be packing their desk, and probably facing a lawsuit, immediately. It seems that Trump will not be pulling his patented “You’re Fired!” over this latest gaffe, as the administration has decided to forego any kind of accountability. Waltz himself has said no classified information was shared (when it demonstrably was, by Hegseth), and the permanently enraged Karoline Leavitt, helpfully added that it was a sensationalist hoax (which, again, it demonstrably isn’t). So, to sum up the Trump administration’s position, they bear no responsibility for inviting a reporter to a group chat about an attack on Yemen. And furthermore, they maintain nothing classified was shared, despite the author publishing the entire thread as confirmation of that fact, and the real-world evidence, that the attacks happened exactly as they were laid out on Signal.
One has to feel that, even during the first Trump administration, someone would have been made to fall on their proverbial sword over a mistake like this. After all, Trump rode into office in 2016, at least in part, to cries of “Lock Her Up”, and while I won’t rehash all the particulars about that, it certainly seemed important to MAGA at the time. Now, when the shoe is on the other foot, it’s the old “nothing to see here, move along” line. The minimum standard would be a broad governmental investigation, including Congress, the FBI, CIA, CISA and others. If this happens in 2017 and not 2025, Hegseth is probably shown the door, to placate the McConnell wing of the Republican party and to save face. This time around congressional Republicans have been bullied into submission and not one person in the administration cares about saving face, therefore there are scant calls for any type of accountability.
What I’m getting at in a broader sense is that, if this doesn’t feel normal, it’s because it isn’t. For that matter, neither is DOGE, or dismantling the Department of Education, or the whiplash of Tariffs, or picking fights with our closest allies, or siding with Russia over Ukraine. None of this is normal, and it should not be normalized, ever. Part of the conversation on Signal was JD Vance and Pete Hegseth openly mocking our European allies and hoping to use this attack to extract monetary concessions from them. That’s right, the United States military is now being used as a weird protection racket to benefit Trump. If that wasn’t scary enough for anyone with even a vague understanding of traditional alliances or national defense, does it concern anyone that Steve Witkoff was participating in this chain while in Russia? That seems to be a fairly relevant, and overlooked revelation, given Russia’s friendly relationship with Iran, who supports the Houthis.
The question in all of this that begs to be answered, is how do we avoid normalizing this? How do we hold Trump and his sycophants accountable? Well, fortunately, the watchdog group American Oversight has already filed a lawsuit alleging the actions in Signalgate violate the Federal Record Act. Those lawsuits have been assigned to none other than Chief Judge James Boasberg, who you may know from his ongoing sparring with the Trump administration over the use of Alien Enemies Act to conduct deportations. Boasberg, a Bush appointee, appears to believe in the rule of law, and is therefore a grave threat to MAGA. So much so, that recently Speaker of the House Mike Johnson has floated the idea of getting rid of some federal courts unfavorable to Trump.
It’s clear that the courts are willing, at least to an extent, to push back on Trump’s disregard for laws that don’t benefit him. But, and this is a huge but, the courts must maintain their independence and integrity. The Supreme Court must protect judges like Boasberg from facing impeachment for an unfavorable ruling, and fortunately Chief Justice Roberts seemed to affirm this recently. Indeed, the Supreme Court should be doing everything in its power, as the highest court in the land, to maintain the independence of the judiciary. Given the capitulation of congress thus far, the courts may prove to be the only institutional check on Trump’s greedy power grab.
Our hope, however, doesn’t just have to be placed in the hands of the courts, we are seeing the beginnings of the Democratic response to the first months of Trump 2.0. The enthusiasm for the Bernie Sanders/AOC “Stop Oligarchy” Tour is encouraging, and building on that excitement is absolutely necessary. From the grass roots level, right on up to national campaigns, Democrats need to engage with voters, to point out specifically how they are being harmed by the chaos of the second Trump administration. We need to demonstrate to voters how we can provide a different and better vision for the future. Then, the hope is that voters who are more engaged, better informed, and who believe in our vision for the future, will create a movement reminiscent of 2008, or even (gulp) MAGA, in terms of broad appeal and excitement, that will, in turn, hold Republicans accountable at the ballot box.
Democrats may be in an old fashioned fight right now, but we’re not out of it. If we all start by getting engaged at the local level, and let that excitement percolate, we can build a national platform that this country can whole heartedly embrace. Building that kind of momentum starts at home though, and it can start small. For instance, any one of us can call the congressional switchboard at (202)224-3121 and ask to speak with Russell Fry’s office, inquiring what, if anything, he’s done for the people of his district. As Signalgate shows us, Republicans fear accountability, maybe it’s time we confront them with it.
