Tag Archives: Vice President JD Vance

New York Times: The Message Pete Hegseth Sends the Troops

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Last week’s shocking report that Mr. Hegseth shared sensitive information about a yet-to-be-launched air attack in Yemen on an unclassified messaging app is now straining the limits of his credibility as an everyman — and his fitness to lead the American military’s 2.1 million service members.

Americans stationed across the globe know if they violate similar security protocols, they can expect swift reprimand, the loss of security clearance and perhaps a court-martial. In his first departmentwide message on Jan. 25, Mr. Hegseth told troops he was a firm believer in holding everyone to account. “Our standards will be high, uncompromising, and clear,” he wrote. Now those same operational security standards don’t appear to apply to him. What message is sent to American troops if that imbalance continues?

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For now, the affair raises profound questions about whether Mr. Hegseth can handle an actual national security crisis, after he’s managed to blunder into such a major unforced error.

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It’s difficult to imagine that two of his recent predecessors, Jim Mattis and Lloyd J. Austin III, who retired six ranks above Mr. Hegseth as four-star generals, would have copy and pasted such details onto a publicly available app. It’s not that either man flawlessly executed the role of defense secretary, but at least they were accountable…. Mr. Hegseth, so far, hasn’t shown that he is willing to admit any fault. Instead, he has taken a defiant tone, attacking Mr. Goldberg’s credibility and arguing that “nobody was texting war plans.”

Opinion | The Message Pete Hegseth Sends the Troops – The New York Times

Law & Crime: ‘The president possesses no such authority’: Lawsuit pits Kavanaugh against 5th Circuit in challenge to Trump’s order that aims to ‘dictate’ new rules for national elections

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President Donald Trump is attempting to dictate the rules for national elections in violation of both federal law and the U.S. Constitution, a lawsuit filed Monday in Washington, D.C., federal court alleges.

On March 25, the 45th and 47th president issued Executive Order 14248, titled: “Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections.” The order broadly seeks to reshape how elections are administered in the country by, among other things, purporting to enforce a requirement that all voters prove their citizenship by way of formal documentation and by putting a stop to vote-by-mail systems that count ballots postmarked by, but received after, Election Day.

The plaintiffs, led by the Democratic National Committee, claim in their 74-page lawsuit that the executive order “asserts unprecedented authority” for the presidency over election administration “on a host of topics.” And this effort, the lawsuit claims, contravenes a number of federal laws and the explicit constitutional carveouts for election authority granted to the states and U.S. Congress.

“In the United States of America, the President does not get to dictate the rules of our elections,” the complaint begins. “The Framers of our federal Constitution foresaw that self-interested and self-aggrandizing leaders might seek to corrupt our democratic system of government to expand and preserve their own power. They therefore created a decentralized system of elections based upon separated powers divided among the leaders elected by — and closest to — the people.”

‘The president possesses no such authority’: Lawsuit pits Kavanaugh against 5th Circuit in challenge to Trump’s order that aims to ‘dictate’ new rules for national elections

‘The president possesses no such authority’: Lawsuit pits Kavanaugh against 5th Circuit in challenge to Trump’s order that aims to ‘dictate’ new rules for national elections

Raw Story: ‘Worst of the lot’: Veteran columnist heaps scorn on ‘revolting’ Marco Rubio

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“I think he’s the worst of the lot,” Rubin said of Rubio. “The rest of them are so stupid and so ignorant that they really don’t get it; they’re just playing a game or they’re following Trump or they’re trying to be with the cool kids. Rubio knows better. First of all, he was the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. If anyone should know about preserving security, it’s he — and he was on that same Signal chain.”

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“He also has spent his entire life fighting communism, fighting oppression, fighting Cuba,” she said. “You know what they do in Cuba? They disappear people and they throw them into a hellhole of a jail. He has become the very thing that he has spent his entire career railing against. He used to be a great defender of Ukraine; now he’s instrumental in turning it over to Russia. So the glaring hypocrisy, the soullessness, the willingness to sell down the river all of the dissidents, all of the freedoms, all of the besieged countries that he once defended is really beyond the pale.”

‘Worst of the lot’: Veteran columnist heaps scorn on ‘revolting’ Marco Rubio

‘Worst of the lot’: Veteran columnist heaps scorn on ‘revolting’ Marco Rubio

Irish Star: Humiliated [Bimbo #1] Karoline Leavitt abruptly cuts short press conference and runs away

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Donald Trump’s press secretary appeared to crumble under pressure following repeated questions on the government’s leaked war plans

White House Press Secretary [Bimbo #1] Karoline Leavitt unexpectedly ended a news conference Wednesday after fielding tough questions about the government Houthi attack plan leak.

Leavitt, who gave a surprise glimpse into her family life, lost her temper and snapped at CNN’s Kaitlan Collins during the volatile press conference.

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Leavitt went on to highlight other efforts, such as honoring veterans and women, before going on to slam the media for focusing its attention on the government Houthi group chat story published in The Atlantic.

In the scoop, the magazine’s editor-in-chief Jeffery Goldberg revealed that he was accidentally added to a chat on the app Signal where top administrators were discussing a strike on the Houthis in Yemen, including screenshots of messages with some of their attack plans. Among those in the chat included Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, National Security Advisor Michael Waltz and Vice President JD Vance.

Leavitt slammed the piece as a “sensationalized story from the failing Atlantic magazine” while attempting to smear the reporter and doubling-down on claims that no classified information was leaked. She also said that Waltz, who added Goldberg, took responsibility for the incident and claimed an investigation into the matter was underway.

“If the story proves anything, it proves that Democrats and their propagandists in the mainstream media know how to fabricate, orchestrate and disseminate a misinformation campaign quite well,” Leavitt said.

She went on to accuse Goldberg, who has previously been critical of the president, of being an “anti-Trump hater” and a “registered Democrat.” Goldberg, 59, has interviewed high-profile political figures including Barack Obama and supported the invasion of Iraq over fears of chemical weapons, which Leavitt mentioned in an attempt to discredit the journalist.

Goldberg, who served in the Israel Defense Forces, has previously drawn the ire of Trump after writing a piece ahead of the November election about his alleged affinity for Adolf Hitler, with exclusive insights from top ex-staffers including Gen. John Kelly, Trump’s longest-serving chief of staff.

Humiliated Karoline Leavitt abruptly cuts short press conference and runs away
Donald Trump’s press secretary appeared to crumble under pressure following repeated questions on the government’s leaked war plans

Humiliated Karoline Leavitt abruptly cuts short press conference and runs away – Irish Star

Newsweek: Greenland Tourism Business Accepts, Then Declines Usha Vance Visit

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Vance visit refused!

Seriously, what country needs a visit from arrogant jerks that thinks they’re above the rest of the world?

“A Greenlandic tourism business has said it changed its mind about welcoming the vice president’s wife Usha Vance to their store.

“Tupilak Travel wrote on Facebook that it had informed the U.S. Consulate that it did not want Vance to visit because of the ‘underlying agenda.’ The post ended with a phrase meaning ‘Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders.'”

Greenland tourism business accepts, then declines Usha Vance visit
Tupilak Travel said it had informed the U.S. Consulate that it did not want Usha Vance to visit because of the “underlying agenda.”

Greenland Tourism Business Accepts, Then Declines Usha Vance Visit – Newsweek

UK Daily Mail: Trump team sparks fury with ‘sickening’ choice of emojis while describing their war plans in leaked Signal chat

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The use of emojis in a leaked Trump administration group chat discussing strikes on Houthi targets has sparked outrage, with accusations that officials made light of the sensitive topics being discussed.

Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of the Atlantic magazine, revealed on Monday that Trump’s national security advisor Michael Waltz had – seemingly inadvertently – added him to a group chat called ‘Houthi PC small group’.

The chat appears to have served as a virtual war room for some of the President’s top team, including Waltz, Vice President JD Vance, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, National Intelligence director Tulsi Gabbard and Trump’s chief of staff Susie Wiles.

Goldberg said that Hegseth shared the war plan with the group at 11.44am eastern time on Saturday March 15, two hours before the bombs began dropping on Yemen.

As news broke of the strikes, the journalist checked the group chat where he found a flurry of emojis and congratulations flooding the text chain.

Waltz updated the group at 1.48pm, saying the operation had been an ‘amazing job’ before sending three emojis a few minutes later – a fist, an American flag, and fire.

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Trump team sparks fury with ‘sickening’ choice of emojis in war chat
As news broke of the strikes on Yemen, the journalist checked the group chat where he found a flurry of emojis and congratulations flooding the text chain.

Trump team sparks fury with ‘sickening’ choice of emojis while describing their war plans in leaked Signal chat | Daily Mail Online

Bloomberg: Deportations Won’t ‘Cure’ Blue Cities. They’ll Get Worse.

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Trump has repeatedly disparaged American urban centers as dystopian hellscapes. His solutions are likely to hurt more than help.

It’s no secret that President Donald Trump has beef with America’s cities, especially the ones run by Democrats. He has long falsely cast them as crime-ridden, chaotic and dystopian — and often blamed immigrants for every urban ill.

Sure, cities aren’t perfect. But pandemic-era rates of violent crime have been dropping and cities remain economic engines, creating roughly 90% of the country’s output. And as US birth rates fall, cities owe much of their population growth to immigrants.

Deportations Won’t ‘Cure’ Blue Cities. They’ll Get Worse.
Trump has repeatedly disparaged American urban centers as dystopian hellscapes. His solutions are likely to hurt more than help.

Deportations Won’t ‘Cure’ Democrat-Led Cities. They’ll Get Worse. – Bloomberg

Washington Post: Trump defends national security adviser Waltz in Signal group chat blunder

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Later, during a White House meeting with U.S. ambassadors, Trump said Waltz had been unfairly attacked and suggested that the problem was an issue with technology, not a lapse in judgment from a key deputy. “I don’t think he should apologize. I think he’s doing his best,” Trump said. “It’s equipment and technology that’s not perfect. And, probably he won’t be using it again. At least not in the very near future.”

Nonsense!

Our government — especially our military — has secure communications facilities and procedures. Trump’s wannabes are just too stupid / too ignorant / to lazy to use them.

Trump defends national security adviser Waltz in Signal group chat blunder

Washington Post: Trump’s shocking military plan leak epitomizes a sloppy operation

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The second Trump administration has clearly made a decision to move fast and break things. Largely gone are the establishment Republican figures and steady hands that sometimes resisted President Donald Trump during his first term. In their place are a bunch of people with less subject-matter and governmental experience but with the zeal of MAGA true believers, eager to implement Trump’s complete governmental overhaul and to bust through the traditional guardrails in the process.

The result is a very — and increasingly — sloppy first two months, by any objective measure.

The big headline Monday was that top Trump national security officials shared sensitive military plans for impending strikes on Yemen’s Houthi rebels with the editor in chief of the Atlantic. The White House confirmed to The Washington Post that the editor was inadvertently included in the messages.

The editor, Jeffrey Goldberg, was added to the string of messages on Signal, an open-source encrypted messaging service. The group included the names of prominent administration figures, such as national security adviser Michael Waltz, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Vice President JD Vance, all strategizing about the impending attacks.

The messages were sent before the strikes began last weekend and previewed almost precisely when they ultimately took place.

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Trump’s shocking military plan leak epitomizes a sloppy operation

UK Daily Mail: Whose side ARE they on? Fury at US plot to ‘extort’ Europe over key global shipping route as extraordinary security bungle reveals Team Trump branding closest allies ‘pathetic freeloaders’

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MPs voiced fury today after an extraordinary security bungle revealed some of Donald Trump’s most senior team condemning Europe as ‘pathetic freeloaders’.

A bombshell exchange on the Signal messaging app – accidentally shared with a journalist – showed an elite group including JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and national security advisor Mike Waltz voicing ‘loathing’ for their long-term allies.

They also discuss how to get money out of European countries in return for US military strikes intended to stop Houthi rebels disrupting critical shipping routes in the Red Sea.

But UK politicians said glimpse behind the scenes showed America was ‘unreliable’ and accused them of plotting ‘extortion’. One normally US-friendly MP described the situation as a ‘nightmare’ and warned Europe must ‘take it seriously and not think it’s just casual chat’. 

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Fury as Team Trump voice ‘loathing’ for ‘pathetic freeloaders’ Europe
A bombshell exchange on the Signal messaging app – accidentally shared with a journalist – showed an elite group voicing ‘loathing’ for their long-term allies.

Whose side ARE they on? Fury at US plot to ‘extort’ Europe over key global shipping route as extraordinary security bungle reveals Team Trump branding closest allies ‘pathetic freeloaders’ | Daily Mail Online