Why Did Waltz Have Goldberg's Number? -- Digby [View all]

[erronis]

https://digbysblog.net/2025/03/26/why-did-walz-have-goldbergs-number/

Mike Waltz looked like he was about to cry in both of his public appearances yesterday, first at the ambassadors meeting where Trump threw the ball to him to explain himself and later on Laura Ingraham. He was dancing as fast as he could to both cover up his massive error and suck up to the boss at the same time. I’m not sure he succeeded.

According to Politico, Trump was not as ok with all this as he pretended. And it’s not because of the classified information. neither was it is unsecured phones. He’s done even worse himself and is probably doing it as we speak. No, he was mad that his nemesis Jeffrey Goldberg was on the chat. And we know who invited him:

Trump was mad — and suspicious — that Waltz had Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg’s number saved in his phone in the first place, according to three people familiar with the situation, who were granted anonymity to discuss private conversations. A fourth person said the president was also particularly perturbed by the embarrassing nature of the episode.

People in know said that just because they smoothed it over it doesn’t mean it’s the end of it:

A second person familiar with the matter said Trump spoke with Waltz multiple times about the Atlantic story on Monday, while a third person said the White House counsel had been looking into it at one point.

…[S]ome people close to the White House argued the incident is likely to leave a lasting mark. Pushing Waltz out now could disturb the relative harmony this administration has seen. “If you let scalps fall off right now — that could set a bad precedent,” another person familiar with the incident said.

That leaves Waltz in a precarious position with the “America First” contingent of the administration and outside allies who would be all too happy to see him removed from office, suspicious of his neoconservative underpinnings.

“The president trusts his team a lot more than he did during his first term. But he is still someone who doesn’t easily forget about mistakes, so just because he’s not getting rid of Waltz or one of the others today, doesn’t mean a day won’t come when a person will sort of run out of rope,” a person close to the White House said.

You know Trump is still wondering how this happened. Goldberg is his most hated enemy journalist because of the “suckers and losers” report (which was true…) The only thing saving Waltz is that Trump doesn’t seem to have a grasp of how Signal works. If he did he would know that it is preposterous that someone else put this reporter on the chat.

According to this, the long knives are out for Waltz anyway for ideological reasons. Let the back-stabbing begin.

Corrected misspelling carried forward from DIgby. Thanks, SheltieLover and Ocelot II!