A Virtual Church

The amateur hour

Today

Come on, Pete! It doesn’t take genius to double check an email list of recipients to see if anybody is on it who should not be. Jeffrey Goldberg should not have been on the list. And yet he was.

Goldberg is editor of The Atlantic Magazine. He is a meticulous reporter and judge of right and wrong. He realized what he was hearing and screenshotted the conversation.

He was reticent about reporting any of it until he read about the bombings in Yemen, the attack he just heard planned in the Signal chatroom. Yep. That was a war plan. This is more than just an “oops.”

At this point, no heads have rolled. Plenty of eyes have. From our allies in Europe and around the world there is shock and there is question of whether they should share sensitive information with the US if it is going to be handled so carelessly.

The MAGA world loves the “Ds.”

Doubt. The most predictable response Donald Trump always has is to call the issue de jour “fake news” or a “witch hunt.” Sowing doubt is the most important action plan in the MAGA playbook. The amplification of doubt in voices of rightwing media grows the misinformation. I watch Fox News. It feels like we don’t live on the same planet.

 Walls at the Wall Street Journal are cracking over this breach of classified war plans being published. Their editorial staff is raising questions of how this will be handled in the administration. I doubt there will be any measurable response.

Deny. The script written for the chat gate debacle began with the well-worn line, “This never happened.” Denial of facts, even facts that play out before our eyes. From the election of 2020, to the insurrection of January 6, 2021, and now to the security breach of Hegseth and company, denial is a Trump card.

Deflect. Forget about the breach of classified information. Did you see how successful the operation was against the Houthis? Never mind that Iran, North Korea, China and Russia are eager to know our plans, the weapons we will use and what the target is.

Distract. Trump shouts, “Squirrel,” and the next shiny story is told. The national ADHD is alive and well in Trump world. Don’t look at the boxes of documents in the bathroom, isn’t the wallpaper lovely?

Denigrate. Demean. Defame. Mocking, belittling, blaming are part and parcel to the way MAGA operates. There is no obvious shame in the denigration and dehumanization of people the president dislikes. “Nasty” is a favorite, albeit overused word. I think of the ways Trump characterized E. Jean Carroll. Me thinks this is a man of limited vocabulary. The “Ds” are stacking up.

Double down. Let me beat you over the head with my own version of the facts. I won’t back down. No, I won’t back down. I will crush you under disinformation and punish you if you dare call me out. I can hear them planning to double down. If you say something often enough, people may believe you. It’s worth a shot.

Disregard. Blatant disregard of facts, laws and judges’ mandates is rampant. Apparently, nobody is going to stop this. That’s why people are taking to the streets by the millions. We will make enough noise on the outside, and we will take people power to the work of keeping our democracy.

Dump. MAGAs are particularly good at dumping blame – on Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama. Enough of Hillary Clinton’s emails, and Biden’s classified documents. Biden’s documents were returned. Trump’s stash of classified documents is still on the floor of his bathroom. He denied they were classified. Hegseth did the same thing. He said what he had done was perfect. That sounds familiar.

Dumb. Tulsi Gabbard may be the poster child of dumb. With a dead pan expression, says she doesn’t recall much. Maybe she was asleep during the chat. “I don’t recall.” “I am not going to answer that.” Not helpful, but very telling. She likes to make her questioners the bad guys. It’s one thing to despise accountability, it’s quite another to be a jerk when people are trying to find out answers.

Despicable. In the end, I will claim this word as my own “D.” I find the body snatching despicable. I think denying due process to those picked up on the streets is despicable. I find the amateur hour the cabinet is revealing before us beyond despicable.

 Some of this may be peachy keen with you. I am getting more and more fed up.

 Lib Campbell is a retired Methodist pastor, retreat leader, columnist and host of the blogsite www.avirtualchurch.com. She can be contacted at libcam05@gmail.com 

 

 

 

 

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