A Molehill Becomes A Mountain

Trump's Lying Second-Rate Security Team

“This is…a classic Washington story. More anthill than molehill.”

—Joe Klein 3/25/25

Well, that was yesterday. I was premature. It could have been an anthill—if only the Trump Administration had told the truth. But if Fearless Leader lies through his teeth as easy as breathing, why shouldn’t his minions? Over at Bulwark, Jonathan V. Last surveys the atrocities:

“Nobody was texting war plans. And that’s all I have to say about that,” said Pete Hegseth.

“There was no classified material that was shared in that Signal group,” said DNI Tulsi Gabbard.

“My communications, to be clear, in the Signal message group were entirely permissible and lawful and did not include classified information,” said CIA director John Ratcliffe.

“It wasn’t classified information,” said Donald Trump.

And thus, an anthill becomes a mountain. What was I thinking? First, it was very much ex post facto. The raid had taken place, successfully. No Americans were hurt; plenty of Houthis were, apparently. What was I thinking? Well, 10 years ago Hillary Clinton was drawn and quartered for putting “secret” documents on her private server. It was stupid. But none of them proved significant. In fact, many of the documents were travel schedules for the Secretary that only should have been secret before the fact; they were meaningless—they became public—after the trips had been taken, but the “secret” imprimatur had remained because, well, no one cared anymore and there were more important things to worry about. And yet, Republican Washington went bonkers, as is their wont when Democrats kick a stray pebble. (Imagine what Jim Jordan would be screeching today, if a Democrat had pulled a Hegseth.) A presidential election was coming, which was a good part of it. And Hillary, the wicked witch of Foggy Bottom, was involved….and she’d been a shifty target ever since Whitewater (a non-scandal that consumed Washington for years, for those too young to recall). And it just sounded so dire: secret documents will do that. The “scandal” in the end helped doom Clinton’s candidacy, thanks to the mismanagement of FBI Director James Comey and Clinton’s own inveterate stubbornness. That was an anthill that became a mountain. I’d seen many such—I’d been the target of one, when I wrote an anonymous novel called Primary Colors, which also contained no secrets (much to Maureen Dowd’s dismay). The heat expended on such events was always infuriating, especially when there was so much important stuff to write about. (“You want me to write about welfare reform?” Dowd, a grand writer and clever critic, scoffed. Yes, I replied.)

And so I was sensitive—and perhaps unduly tolerant—to the mistake apparently made by Michael Waltz, the National Security Advisor. He had included Jeff Goldberg, somehow, inadvertently, on the call. I have had dealings with Waltz in the past and I know him to be a hawkish—to a fault, sometimes—but honorable man. And he behaved that way today. He took responsibility. He said it was his fault. He acted in the spirit of what his old Republican colleague—and fellow veteran—Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska suggested:

“The White House is in denial that this was not classified or sensitive data,” Bacon, a former Air Force brigadier general and member of the House Armed Services Committee, said this morning. “They should just own up to it and preserve credibility.”

But Gabbard lied. And Hegseth lied. And Trump was clueless about a matter of national security. And they called Atlantic Editor Jeff Goldberg a liar and a lot of other nasty things—I mean, despicable things—so Goldberg reacted by making public what I’d praised him for keeping secret yesterday. He released Hegseth’s war plans. Not a great idea, but understandable under the circumstances and, as I said, very much ex post facto.

Which leaves us here:

Waltz is in trouble, no matter what Trump says. He had Jeff’s number in his phone. That’s a hanging offense. Trump hates Goldberg because he accurately quoted an aide to Trump—it turned out to be Chief of Staff John Kelly—who was disgusted that the then-and-now President had said American soldiers were “suckers” and “losers.”

The other thing is this: People like Hegseth and Gabbard and Vice President J.D. Vance have exposed themselves as suckers and losers and liars, and terrified little minionettes who are desperate to “keep ahead” of Trump by being more vehement even than he. In this case, dumping on our European allies. They have no place in the serious rooms where life and death decisions are made. But then, neither does Trump.

And so, a body of evidence is growing: the Trump Administration is a sewer of chicanery, retribution and incompetence. Too many of his functionaries are show ponies, selected for their looks and TV appeal, rather than their expertise in an area—national security—that is more serious than any other.

I suspect this will cost Trump nothing politically. But it adds to the picture…and if and when the economy slumps or DOGE mistakenly chainsaws an essential service that costs lives, or Trump stumbles down one too many staircases and babbles incoherently about sharks, it will be remembered, part of a larger disgraceful and terrifying picture.