It’s No Secret They’re Fools—Dangerous Fools

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth prepares to give a television interview outside the White House on March 21. Mark Schiefelbein/AP

By now you may be tired of Signalgate. The obvious point was made early: The people in charge of the country are buffoons and liars. It’s hard to believe that not one of the government officials in this chat group piped up and said, “Hey guys, maybe it’s best not to discuss the specifics of a pending military attack here.” And then all of Trump’s top national security people and almost all congressional Republicans had to adopt the Dear Leader’s stance of never admitting wrongdoing and never apologizing. They spewed a stream of absurdities, such as claiming, as Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard did, no classified information appeared in the chat, or insisting, as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth did, that there was nothing untoward about the chat. National security adviser Mike Waltz, the numbskull who added journalist Jeffrey Goldberg to the chat, suggested he was the victim of some nefarious plot.

Their brazen dishonesty has been all-too evident. Here are a few other thoughts.

Signalgate highlights the frightening reality that Trump has placed into key positions people who have no business holding these jobs. Hegseth was an ultra-right Fox commentator who has never run a major organization or a national security agency. Gabbard was manifestly unqualified for her job. It should have been a no-brainer not to share military plans this way. But this is what happens when you put novices in charge. (The fact that no one on the chat suggested this was an inappropriate channel of communication for discussing top-secret info raises the possibility that such flouting of rules and common sense is not uncommon.) What this brouhaha demonstrates above all is that Trump is running a cronyarchy in which devotion to the cult leader is more important than experience, intelligence, and judgment. And that’s no secret.

Got anything to say about this item—or anything else? Email me at ourland.corn@gmail.com.

It’s been a rough stretch. I’m taking a day off. Yes, one day off. So I’ll see you in a week or so. Meanwhile, let’s pick a date for our next Our Land Zoom shindig: April 15 at 8 p.m. ET.

As most of you know, these gatherings—where subscribers and I hash out the big (and small) questions of the day—are only open to premium subscribers, those noble souls who kick in a few bucks a month to keep this newsletter alive. These sessions are great sources for camaraderie (and perhaps emotional support) during these tough days. If you’re not yet a premium Our Lander, there’s plenty of time to sign up—you can do so here—and then you can join us.

Here's the drill: On the day of the get-together, all premium subscribers will get an email with a Zoom link. Click on it at the appointed hour, and our highly trained bouncers (who previously served as a security detail for a dental floss tycoon) will let you into the room. See you there. BYOB.

Last week, I was in Los Angeles. While visiting friends and attending meetings, it was impossible not to discuss the horrific fires that destroyed swaths of the city and adjacent areas. I hung out with people who had lost their houses and possessions, some who literally were forced to run for their lives as the flames descended upon their homes. I was staying with pals who live in a steep valley in Brentwood bordered by a ridge that caught on fire. This was one spot where LA firefighters had to hold the line. Years ago, a developer had cut down a large section of trees in the valley to make way for the construction of more residences—but he had done so without the appropriate permits. The project was blocked by angry neighbors. Yet the fallen trees remained, forming a potential tinderbox. Had the flames reached this spot, the inferno would have grown in intensity, likely jumped the 405 freeway, and headed inland toward the UCLA campus and consumed a much greater portion of the city. A catastrophe 10 times greater might have occurred. But the LAFD succeeded in preventing this. It could have been worse.

As climate change leads to more extreme weather events, we can hope that LA’s approach to rebuilding—and our overall approach to development—is guided by a recognition that some spots may no longer be safe and appropriate for human dwellings. And we ought to realize that people with money to burn who may not mind investing in grand but vulnerable houses in beautiful locales ought not to get the final say. By building in certain areas, they could exacerbate future disasters. But such community-minded rationality may not rule the day, especially when the White House is home to a bunko artist who refuses to recognize the planet is warming due to human activity and the EPA is now being run by a Trump lackey who recently proclaimed his job is to “lower the cost of buying a car, heating a home, and running a business,” not to protect the environment or public health.

While I was in Los Angeles, a friend of a friend, who lost her trailer home in Malibu, offered to take me on a tour of the devastated Pacific Palisades and her own town. Access to these areas is limited to people who live—or lived—there, as well as others who have reason to be in these neighborhoods, including the workers, many of them immigrants, who are cleaning up the debris, removing toxic waste, and beginning reconstruction. (The EPA—yay, the federal government—has already completed the first stage of decontamination of  most of the properties in the Pacific Palisades). On Sunset Boulevard and other major arteries and along the Pacific Coast Highway, National Guard troops and police officers staff checkpoints. If you don’t have a pass, you are turned away. It feels a bit like a war zone.

It's a cliché to say that the photos and videos of the devastation do not convey a full sense of the destruction. Over two months have passed since the fires, but these scenes remain harrowing and hard to absorb. Entire neighborhoods annihilated. Schools, churches, businesses burned to the ground. Carcasses of vehicles overturned by the hurricane-level winds. I thought of Gaza and other places devastated by human-caused catastrophes. But beyond that it was difficult, while standing among the rubble, to do much more than absorb the magnitude of the wreckage and hope something will be learned from this.

As I said, photos do not do this justice, but…

A home in a neighborhood adjacent to Will Rogers State Historic Park, where every house for blocks looked like this:

The United Methodist Church in Pacific Palisades:

A trailer park in Malibu:

The remains of a Malibu beach house along a stretch where all the houses were destroyed:

I was reading my favorite newspaper when I came across a passage in an article on Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s early days at the Department of Health and Human Services that made me want to bang my head on the kitchen table:

But Kennedy allies were thrilled when the C.D.C. added a mention of vitamin A in its measles advisory on its website. Del Bigtree, Mr. Kennedy’s former communications director, lauded the move on a recent podcast. “My God,” he said, “do you see what a small step for mankind we just made?”

Identifying Bigtree merely as Kennedy’s “former communications director” is like referring to Alex Jones as “the former host of a podcast.” He is better characterized as a leading anti-vaxxer and promoter of assorted conspiracy theories. I recently wrote about a confrontation I had with Bigtree at a Senate confirmation hearing for Kennedy and described him thusly:

A former daytime television producer, Bigtree is the founder the nation’s second-best-funded anti-vaccine organization (after the group RFK Jr. led before running for president) and hosts what NBC News has called “an anti-vaccine and conspiracism internet show.” He has long claimed that the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine causes autism—it doesn’t—and that the government, in league with Big Pharma, has covered up this supposed scandal. He was a spokesperson for Kennedy’s failed 2024 presidential campaign, earning a hefty salary and consulting fee. He has also been an election denier. On January 6, 2021, he spoke at a “MAGA Freedom Rally DC,” a block from the Capitol, and declared election machines did not work. He has reportedly continued to advise Kennedy.

I pointed out that in December 2020, he called the Covid vaccine "one of the most dangerous experiments in world history” and predicted it would lead to so many deaths that “the world is about to eradicate itself." He also suggested the Covid pandemic was orchestrated and part of a larger diabolical plot, “some sort of communist takeover of the world, where we're going to watch our borders destroyed and all of this is about controlling our lives.” Later in the pandemic, Bigtree compared public health measures to counter Covid to the Holocaust.

I’m not saying that the Times should have included all this context about Bigtree in a piece that quoted him once. But given that the newspaper cited him hailing Kennedy, it ought to have better informed its readers about the source of this praise.

As you’re probably aware, Signalgate spawned a ton of idiotic remarks from the Trump crowd and its defenders, who generally claimed it was no big deal. It was too hard for the judges to keep track of all the dumb responses. But this exchange during a congressional hearing prompted giggles among them:

Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.): Do you know whether Pete Hegseth had been drinking before he leaked classified information?

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard: I don’t have any knowledge of Secretary Hegseth’s personal habits.

CIA director John Ratcliffe: That’s an offensive line of questioning. The answer is no.

Ratcliffe was wrong. There was nothing offensive about this. Hegseth’s past drinking problem was much discussed during the confirmation process, and he publicly vowed to remain a teetotaler should he become defense secretary. Given the incredible lapse of judgment that he demonstrated by sharing attack plans via a Signal chat, this was a reasonable query. What explains this brazen abandonment of responsibility? Perhaps it was just stupidity—not a good look for the secretary of defense, who is—don’t forget—sixth in the line of presidential succession. By the way, how did Ratcliffe know whether or not Hegseth had been imbibing?

The judges groaned when they saw this social media post from USA Today: “The Trump administration's Signal group chat leak may be the world's most relatable fail. Who hasn't added a stranger to a text thread or group chat?”

Really? Yes, who among us has not set up a top-secret chat using a commercial communications app and added a journalist to the group? This was a rather glib reaction that characterized this serious matter as an everyday oops.

The judges felt much sympathy when they watched Katherine Maher, the CEO of NPR, testify before a House committee led by Republicans looking to demolish public broadcasting. A pack of them pounced on her for years ago calling Trump a racist and fascist in social media posts. Bent on defending NPR, Maher quasi-apologized: “I regret those tweets, I wouldn't tweet them against today. They represented a time when I was reflecting on something that the president had said rather than who he is."

This was slicing the baloney very thin. Maher was suggesting that though Trump had made comments that could be characterized as racist and fascist, he ought not be called a racist or fascist. Of course, she was (partially) bending the knee to protect her broadcasting operation from the Trump-GOP assault. The judges just wished she had just stopped after saying she regretted the remarks. Her explanation made little sense.

Earlier this month, Rep. Richard Hudson (R-N.C.), the head of the National Republican Congressional Campaign, advised House Republicans not to hold in-person town halls because these events were drawing too many voters outraged with the Trump-Musk crusade to advance oligarchy. Yet in a recent interview, House Speaker Mike Johnson declared voters across the country were ecstatic about the new Trump administration:

All over the country, I’m going to all the states. And everywhere we go, there’s euphoria. I mean people are excited. From your average voter to moms and dads who are now feeling freedom again…There is a real sense of excitement, patriotism. People just have a sense of relief. And it’s a fun thing to go out and talk about it.

Euphoria? A fun thing? Is that why House Republicans are acting as if town halls are radioactive waste pits? And with all this euphoria, why were Republicans so afraid of losing a special election to replace Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), Trump’s pick to be UN ambassador that the White House withdrew her nomination on Thursday? Johnson is delusional or lying. In either case, this dumb whopper wins the week. That must be very exciting for him.

These days, it doesn’t take much for a Democrat to stand out as a fighter against the Trump-Musk onslaught. Still, not enough Dems are rushing to the barricades. Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) showed how easy it can be to present a simple message of opposition. He posted, “The Trump admin playbook: gut civil service to crush public education, derail lifesaving research, pollute our air and water, and make it harder for veterans, working families, and small businesses to access the programs they rely on—all to pay for a tax break for billionaires.”

Why is it so hard for other Democrats to convey this?

Meanwhile, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) keep demonstrating there is a growing demand for this message. As she noted: “Tucson, Arizona today. Original projected attendance was 3,000 people. 23,000 showed up.”

Don’t tell Speaker Johnson.

Most of the readers who responded to the recent issue in which I noted that that the Democrats—including Barack Obama—were falling short in forging an opposition to the Trump-Musk blitzkrieg agreed with me. Kate McMurry did not. She wrote a long missive to explain why and shared a cogent and well-articulated argument. So this week’s Mailbag will be devoted to this one letter, which I edited for length:

What exactly do you expect from a coalition party like the Democrats—one with no clear-cut leader via a president in the White House, and no lockstep unity among its 45 Senators and 213 Representatives? The head of the DNC has never had absolute power over the party’s messaging or direction. And yet, even you—representing what’s supposed to be the left-leaning press—insist on treating Democratic leadership as if it’s one unified bloc you can browbeat into becoming a perfectly efficient opposition party, fully capable of taking down a wannabe dictator.

Even if that magical transformation were possible, what precise levers do you believe our system of government provides that Democrats can automatically reach for to save us from fascism? The entire world is watching in horror as Trump and Musk—Putin’s favorite wholly-owned subsidiaries—goose-step us closer to authoritarianism in real time.

Democracy depends on the consent of the governed. And roughly half of the electorate has been systematically brainwashed over generations into believing that a pseudo-Christian, theocratic dictatorship is the only proper form of American governance. These Republican voters have been conditioned into absolute obedience to their political masters. And even as some grumble about losing government benefits they desperately rely on, they will never hold Trump accountable for the damage his rule is causing in their lives. He is their god, and no amount of suffering will shake their faith.

Because they see Democrats as demons—not worthy opponents but existential enemies—the most we can hope for is that some of them stay home on election day. They will never vote for a Democrat. That’s why I get so sick of the mainstream media trotting out the tired phrase that “Democrats need to win back the working class.”  

Meanwhile, Democratic state attorneys general across the country are doing the hard, unglamorous work of challenging Trump’s unconstitutional and often outright illegal actions—and they are winning in court. But as you well know, court decisions are enforced by the executive branch. And who currently controls the federal executive branch? The very person losing all these lawsuits.

Politics is propaganda. And fear and hatred are far more effective motivators at the ballot box than love and hope. That’s what makes your focus today—Barack Obama—so extraordinary. He was one of the rare Democrats able to inspire millions with optimism. But we don’t have another Obama right now. And even if we did, this moment is far more dire than 2008.

So when you demand that Democratic leaders somehow stop Trump in his tracks, you’re missing the nature of the party itself. The Democratic Party is a coalition made up of idealists—people like you and me—and it includes an enormous number of single-issue voters. That makes it extremely difficult to maintain unity, turnout, or message discipline. If a particular voter doesn’t see their issue prioritized exactly as they believe it should be, they often respond not by doubling down on engagement, but by disengaging entirely.

Voltaire put it best: “The best is the enemy of the good.” Too many Democratic voters demand perfection—and in doing so, they prevent progress. Until more of us can accept that politics is not about purity but survival, we will keep losing battles we can’t afford to lose.

Believe me, I am no purist. These days, I would gladly settle for “good” and not sacrifice it for “best.” I also recognize the Dems are in a tough position and hold few cards (at least, institutionally). Still, within the limited options, most of them are not rising to the moment. Critiquing the Republicans, as Kate notes, won’t change the minds of MAGA. But it’s possible that pressure applied to Democrats might yield a fiercer opposition. One can always hope for change.

“It’s spring! A new season. Rebirth. Look at the flowers. A hopeful time.”
“It may be hard to be hopeful these days, Moxie.”
“But it’s spring. A new season. Rebirth. Look at the flowers. A hopeful time.”
“I get your point.”