News and commentary for understanding and coping with the years ahead...
What "Signalgate" means
“Signalgate” has morphed from one scandal — the insane inclusion of one of the nation’s top journalists in one of the world’s most elite and secret group chats into what I think is best thought of as five distinct but overlapping scandals, as well as providing some fascinating political insight into who has power and how decisions get made in Trump II.
In my last edition of this newsletter, I flagged what I considered a highly significant – but downplayed by U.S. media – element of top Trump apparatchiks' insane Signal group discussion of the regime's attack in Yemen. That was the manifestly illegal use of commercial software to flout a law requiring that such communications be saved.
The commentary above, by a journalist and historian you should be following, counts that lawbreaking as just one of five scandals embedded in their acts and words. It's the best summary of the affair that I've seen, in part because it is an open-and-shut case of malfeasance in every possible way.
Needless to say, it sparked a nonstop stream deceit from the Trump people as they tried to deny the blatant truth and then – with the help of their fanboi media operatives at Fox "News" and elsewhere, minimized the gravity of the multiple scandals. Put the Trump regime in a room with truth and you risk a matter-antimatter explosion.
In almost every breaking news situation, countless people turn to what is almost always the best source of background on the topic: Wikipedia. The global community of editors and contributors creates an article that pulls together pretty much everything that has been reported publicly about the event, person, situation, or whatever. News organizations can't (and rarely try) to compete. The most you're likely to see in a traditional publication is a small box or "sidebar" purporting to put the event or whatever in context.
In this case, here's the (not) remarkably thorough Wikipedia article on what has come to be called Signalgate. The title/headline is under review and may change, and to understand the thinking behind that you can check out the article's Talk page, where (as almost always at Wikipedia) you will find a good-faith and deep conversation about what is in the article and why it's there.
Yes, there is a small catch: You can't be sure that the article, at any given moment, is fully accurate. So you shouldn't rely on it as a primary source, but rather should check the references at the bottom, linked to from the article. But as a place to get context – such an important need in our news environment, yet one that most journalism organizations don't care to provide – nothing rivals Wikipedia.
This post at MIT Tech Review is an easy to understand explainer about what Signal is, how it works, and why it's great for regular folks who want to have private conversations (and, again, why government employees absolutely should not use it in the course of their work).
I could also point you to the Wikipedia article on Signal, which is also deep and thorough. But in this case I thought the briefer explanation, in non-techie language and boiled down to the essentials, was more suitable for this newsletter.
We have turned away from Lincoln’s better angels. We have abandoned the moral arc that has, despite our many failures, generally bent toward justice. The world is afraid of us now—not with the complicated respect of a moral superpower, but with the simple fear reserved for bullies and tyrants. Some of my conservative friends say that’s good. Good that people are afraid. That fear makes them feel strong. I just don’t know what kind of morals people have, that they seek to be feared. That’s not manly. That’s not something to be proud of. It’s crude. It’s barbarism.
This short essay is a plea to all of us. It asks us to examine ourselves in the context of the Trump regime's flagrantly illegal – and massively immoral – kidnapping and removal of human beings to an El Salvador prison infamous for its human rights abuses.
Are we going to just sit still, moreover, as students are snatched off the streets of cities by our metastasizing secret police – that is what ICE is becoming, whether anyone wants to admit it or not – and, without a shred of due process, shipped off to a deep-south gulag and then offshore.
Recognize what's happening. Protest however you can. Call your representatives. Don't remain silent, hoping you'll never be on the list. Someday, you may well be.
Though it’s still early days, the ranks of The Defiance are being filled by a different kind of social stratum, especially federal workers who are disproportionately veterans, working-class, younger and people of color who are feeling the front-lash of the DOGE chainsaw. I spent a good chunk of the last week or so interviewing some of the emerging leaders among federal workers who are out protesting their own firings as well as the disruptions to their workplaces and missions. These included people from the Office of Personnel Management, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the EPA, the National Institutes of Health, as well as various unions representing these workers, and they just sound different than progressive organizers of 2017-2020 “centering” the “intersectionality” of all their movements.
If you read and watch "mainstream media" you wouldn't know much, if anything, about the spreading protest and organizing movement to counter the Trump regime's lawless rush to dictatorship. Which is why I point to this commentary (here's an alternative link if you can't abide Substack), to show you that something big is afoot – and that we all need to support it.
This AP article is just the latest reminder that the most corrupt president in American history – second place in this category isn't even close to the top spot – is going to sell us out routinely in the next four years. Journalism will note the most egregious cases, such as this one.
But no one is keeping systematic track of the overall corruption, at least some of which is plainly designed to put money in the pockets of Trump, his family, his apparatchiks, and his business partners. No one is aggregating it all in a way that can help people visualize the totality of this sleaze.
I've said this before but I think it bears repeating: The press notes (some of) the corruption brush fires, but it never, ever shows us that the entire forest is ablaze. This strikes me as a great opportunity for enterprising journalists, but hey, what do I know? I only spent 25 years in the business.
How I put this together
This newsletter is a compendium of the reporting and commentary that best explains the America's political, economic, and social conditions – and, most important, how we can find a way back from the dark days ahead. You will rarely find anything here from the New York Times or Washington Post or any of the other Big Journalism companies that failed us so completely during the 2024 elections and are now sucking up – even more than usual – to Donald Trump, his cult, and corporate oligarchs. My focus will be on smaller, more honorable outlets (and individuals). I hope you'll support them with your attention and your money. For more details, please read my About page.
Please send your suggestions
I spend a lot of time looking for essential coverage, and hope you'll help me by letting me know about the good stuff you find. Let me know.
Subscribe
Was this forwarded to you? If you would like to have your own free subscription, please click here.
Contributors to Wikimedia projects
Jack Cushman
Mike Brock
Micah L. Sifry
MATT OTT
