Donald Trump is asleep at the wheel
Yesterday it was revealed that Donald Trump’s Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth accidentally texted secret US war contingency plans to a reporter at The Atlantic, in a way that would have compromised a US military mission in Yemen if the reporter hadn’t used discretion. So what is Trump doing about it?
Nothing, of course. Any competent President would be taking immediate action, initiating a review of internal communications policy at the least, and perhaps even forcing Hegseth’s resignation. Of course any competent President would never have nominated Hegseth to begin with. Instead Trump is doing what he’s always doing these days, which is nothing.
The night before the Hegseth story broke, which is right around the time The Atlantic was probably asking Trump if he wanted to provide comment for inclusion in the story, Trump was busy ranting on social media about George Clooney and “Maggot Hagerman.” This is where Trump’s focus was, even as his failing administration was facing a massive national security scandal.
When Trump spoke with the media yesterday and was inevitably asked about the scandal, he said “I don’t know anything about it.” So either he’s lying, or his people aren’t bothering to brief him about things anymore, or his people briefed him and he couldn’t retain the information. Any of those scenarios is fully disqualifying for someone purporting to be President of the United States.
The media will be talking about this scandal all week and probably for the next month. And because Trump is showing zero command of the situation, this massive Pete Hegseth scandal will now become a massive Donald Trump scandal. Of all the horrible things that Trump is doing, gross incompetence is the one that will doom his presidency the fastest. And this is as incompetent as it gets.
