So, Sunday we learned—in a lengthy screed on his inaptly named social media platform—that the Kleptocrat is extremely unhappy with a portrait of him that Colorado has hanging in the state capitol gallery. Evidently many imaginary people are angry about how (no doubt coming to him with tears in their big-man eyes to complain) awful it is. And he wants the (Democratic) governor to take it down because it offends his artistic sensibilities!
Not sure why this has only now come to the
attention of the man with the nuclear codes; according to a story
in Time, the portrait has been
in situ since 2019, and was donated by Republicans. (I’m not posting it in my
blog, but if you want to see it, here
it is.)
Also—you’d think he would have bigger
things on his mind than a portrait in a state that didn’t vote for him.
But you’d be wrong.
And then yesterday, we learned that before
the United States struck several Houthi targets in Yemen earlier this month,
national security officials not only initiated the plans over Signal, an encrypted
but still not secure chat platform, but included Jeffrey Goldberg, Editor-in-Chief
of The Atlantic, in their discussion.
Those involved in the chat included
Michael Waltz, national security adviser (who initiated it); VP J.D. Vance;
Director of Central Intelligence John Ratcliffe; Pete Hegseth, Secretary of
Defense; White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles; discount Goebbels Stephen
Miller; and Tulsi Gabbard, Director of National Intelligence.
In Goldberg’s
account, when he was first
invited to the group chat, he considered the possibility that it was some kind
of influence operation; both foreign and domestic actors have interests in
catching journalists in compromising situations. So he just stood by and
observed. Throughout his account, he refers to each participant with their name
in quotation marks, because their purported identity could not be confirmed.
“Vance” appeared to be the only member
reluctant to start bombing; his concern seems to have revolved around getting “messaging”
in place. Americans don’t know Houthis from a hole in the ground, so we’d need
to be spun on why our forces are doing it. Also—as “Miller” chimed in, really,
the Houthi threat to international shipping in the Suez region affects Europeans
more than the US, so if we’re going to pull their chestnuts out of the fire,
what do we get from it? We need that quid for that quo.
(Not his precise words, but we all know
that the Kleptocrat is transactional and he has to get some vig off of
everything.)
Goldberg finally believed what he was
seeing on 15 March, when at 1145 EDT Waltz announced that the attacks would
commence in two hours. And then, on the dot, they happened. He removed himself
from the chat, which would have generated a notification to Waltz, but no one
reached out to ask him why he left or, indeed, who he was.
Yesterday he sent emails to several of the
participants asking for comments. He got a couple of fluffers from a Vance
spokes and someone repping the National Security Council. Read the article—it will
raise the hair on the back of your neck.
Not only were the highest NATSEC officials
in the country (including the vice president) plotting military operations over
an unclassified platform (evidently the government has bespoke systems for this
purpose—well, they did before Elno and his DOGiEs appeared on the scene), but
they also (presumably inadvertently) included a reporter on their group chat. High
schoolers planning a TP party could do better at security.
How do we know that Waltz didn’t include SVR (Russian foreign security) agents on that Signal group?
Aside from Ratcliffe and Gabbard, I mean.
Naturally, Klepto replied to a question yesterday afternoon about the massive security breach, went all Sergeant Schultz. Really: "I know nothing about it."
This is why we can’t have nice things.
Like that presidential portrait.
©2025 Bas Bleu
