Democrats have found their spark—finally. After months of political inertia during budget battles and legislative gridlock, the Signal chat “scandal” has given them something they desperately needed: a chance to act outraged. For a party sidelined in the reconciliation battle—where Trump and a united GOP are poised to extend the landmark tax cuts, complete the border wall, and push through a wishlist of conservative domestic victories—any distraction from the GOP's momentum is welcome.
Enter The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg, unwittingly or not, becoming the vehicle for that distraction. The facts are straightforward, if embarrassing: a National Security Council staffer added Goldberg to a Signal thread involving national security operations. The group, using Signal—an encrypted, government-approved messaging platform—was coordinating strikes against Houthi militants. That’s when things unraveled.
2025: Hakeem Jeffries angrily calls on SecDef Pete Hegseth to be fired or “resign in disgrace” over Signal text messages.
2021: Hakeem Jeffries defends the Biden admin’s Afghanistan withdrawal that ended the lives of 13 Americans — with zero calls for resignations. pic.twitter.com/MK5sqpDTLE
— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) March 26, 2025
Goldberg claimed the chat revealed ultra-sensitive war plans. He couldn’t show them, he said, because they were just that classified. But as pressure mounted, the claim disintegrated. Subsequent disclosures showed nothing resembling strategic details—just the usual communications chatter you’d expect from a modern, secure coordination platform. But by then, the narrative had already escaped its leash.
Democrats pounced. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) called for resignations—specifically zeroing in on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, a favorite target since his nomination. But the indignation feels selective. Jeffries never asked for heads to roll after the Afghanistan withdrawal fiasco, which cost American lives.
Thirteen U.S. service members were killed at Abbey Gate. A drone strike, initially denied as a civilian casualty incident, ended up killing an aid worker and several children. There were no calls for resignations then.
🚨Dem Sen Michael Bennet is asked why Democrats didn’t call for firings after the Biden Afghanistan disaster that left 13 Americans dead:
“All these cases need to be looked at. We need to hold people accountable for their failures in leadership, no matter what administration it… pic.twitter.com/jflCAoyRbE
— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) March 27, 2025
Now compare that to the Signal chat: no Americans killed, no operations compromised, and no classified data confirmed to be shared. In fact, the only ones harmed were Houthi militants, who found themselves on the receiving end of Trump’s renewed use of military force. That’s the real outrage, it seems—for the left.
Senator Michael Bennet (D-CO), caught off guard during a CNN appearance, failed to explain why no one in the Biden administration had been held accountable for those Afghanistan failures. It was a revealing moment, especially as the administration continues to recover from the fallout of Lloyd Austin’s unexplained medical absence—another internal crisis that generated more media shrugs than scrutiny.