I have often criticized the Republican Party and the overall right-wing movement over its messaging. Over the past decades, the party has often struggled to employ effective messaging strategies to win support.
But now, it appears this has changed, and “Signalgate” is a perfect example illustrating the shift.
You have probably already seen the fallout from the revelation that high-profile Trump administration officials accidentally invited The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg to a private chat on the Signal messaging platform.
Goldberg published a piece on Monday describing the incident, noting that several individuals, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Vice President JD Vance, State Secretary Marco Rubio, and others, discussed plans to carry out an airstrike against the Houthi rebels in Yemen.
The story sent the usual shockwaves through the airwaves and interwebs. As you might have already guessed, there was much handwringing and pearl-clutching coming from the left. Sen. Michael Bennett (D-CO) slammed the administration for the supposed “sloppiness, incompetence, and disrespect for our intelligence agencies” during a Tuesday Senate hearing.
Rep. Chris Deluzio (D-PA) said the incident was “an outrageous national security breach” and that “heads should roll.”
“We can’t chalk this up to a simple mistake – people should be fired for this,” said Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-CA).
Democratic leaders such as House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and others called for an investigation into the matter. Rep. Pat Ryan (D-NY) insisted that House Republicans should hold a hearing, vowing to do it himself if they don’t.
Only one word for this: FUBAR.
— Pat Ryan 🇺🇸 (@PatRyanUC) March 24, 2025
If House Republicans won’t hold a hearing on how this happened IMMEDIATELY, I’ll do it my damn self. pic.twitter.com/uGihDr5xZa
Unfortunately, Democrats are going to be quite disappointed. Trump told NBC News that he stands by National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, whose staffer mistakenly sent the Signal chat invite to Goldberg.
That brings me to the Republicans’ handling of the matter.
The administration’s messaging was mostly on point. It started by ‘fessing up, so to speak. “At this time, the message thread that was reported appears to be authentic, and we are reviewing how an inadvertent number was added to the chain,” said National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes.
Great move. Lying about this would have transformed an inconvenient screw-up into a total disaster.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) noted that the administration “acknowledged it was a mistake” and expressed confidence that they will “tighten up and make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) told Axios that “I’ve accidentally sent the wrong person a text. We all have,” but admitted that “The unconscionable action was sending this info over non-secure networks.”
The administration was even more controlled in its counterattack on Goldberg, who sought to use the SNAFU to smear the president. In a post on X, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt brought up Goldberg’s penchant for sensationalism and affirmed that “No ‘war plans’ were discussed” on the chat.
Jeffrey Goldberg is well-known for his sensationalist spin. Here are the facts about his latest story:
— Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) March 25, 2025
1. No “war plans” were discussed.
2. No classified material was sent to the thread.
3. The White House Counsel’s Office has provided guidance on a number of different…
National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe utterly destroyed the narrative Democrats sought to promote about the matter while testifying before the Senate. Gabbard noted that no classified information was shared in the group. Ratcliffe explained that using the Signal app was normal and had occurred during and before the Biden administration’s term.
To put it simply, this issue is not turning out how Democrats would have wanted. They salivated at the thought of weaponizing the mistake at a time when their relevance is at an all-time low.
But it didn’t happen because Republicans have handled this issue with an uncharacteristic level of efficacy.
If the administration and its allies continue holding the line, and nothing else comes up, it is highly likely that the nation will move on from this debacle as the newest outrage replaces Signalgate as the issue du jour.