As a teenage girl, I’m no stranger to group chats. Whether personal or for work, everyone’s been in one. As Peer Catalysts, we have to have them for our classes. After we make them, our mentors check that they’re secure. So imagine my surprise when I found out that our country’s leaders don’t know how to create a secure group chat. And even worse, they lied about it to the American public.
I wish I could say I was shocked. But frankly, I’m not. The Atlantic’s Editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, released an article titled: “The Trump Administration Accidentally Texted Me Its War Plans.” This article should’ve been met with the realization that our country is being run by a bunch of idiots. It wasn’t. In fact, many Americans are just listening to what the administration is telling them. However, this should be a lesson that this administration should not be trusted.
President Donald Trump’s underqualified and boot-licking team spent the day after the article was published denying that it was true. The president is not incapable of lying, and in turn, neither is anyone who works for him. President Trump called the group chat leak “fake news,” and U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth claimed it was a “hoax.” A spokesperson for the National Security Council verified that it was real after the original Atlantic article.
National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, claimed that Goldberg’s number was “sucked into” his phone. That’s simply just not possible. Waltz also claimed that he’d never met Goldberg. Goldberg says that this isn’t true, and that’s how his number was in Waltz’s phone. It’s as simple as that. This isn’t unexplainable. There is a reason; it’s just that no one wants to take accountability for it, so they resort to lying.
This administration has a habit of dismissing the problem at hand and deflecting it onto others. For example, instead of being honest, taking accountability and facing this issue with respect for Americans, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed that the media “continues to be focused on a sensationalized story from the failing Atlantic magazine that is falling apart by the hour.”
After the initial article, Hegseth referred to Goldberg as a “deceitful and highly discredited so-called journalist.” He followed that statement up with “nobody was texted warplans.” It’s ironic. In the same statement, he called a journalist “deceitful” for sharing what turned out to be the truth, and then lied to the country.
Leavitt told reporters that there was “no classified information” shared. In reality, the CIA requested Goldberg not to release certain messages.
Goldberg practically took all of this as a challenge. He released the group chat messages two days after the original article was published. The reason? The Trump administration was lying to the American people.
If you just accepted that this wasn’t a big deal or “fake news” because someone in power told you so, you are part of the problem. This administration lies all of the time. Yet, no one bats an eye because they’ve either gaslight their supporters into believing it’s untruthful or because they do something even more stupid that overshadows a previous issue.
If you’re falling for everything they’re telling you, then you are exactly where the president and his administration wants you: susceptible and ignorant. It’s blind obedience, and it’s toxic. Do not allow yourself to be brainwashed and manipulated.
