MARC THIESSEN IN THE WAPO: The Signal chat’s big takeaway? Trump has built an effective team. Americans got a fly-on-the-wall view of a group working together to execute the president’s policy.
Amid the outrage over Signalgate, one thing should matter most: The text exchanges have given Americans a window into the inner workings of a highly competent national security team carrying out a successful military operation on the orders of a decisive U.S. president. After four years of Joe Biden’s disastrous leadership on the world stage, we should all be relieved.
Most Americans will never sit in on a National Security Council principals committee meeting. But thanks to the mistaken inclusion of a journalist in a Signal group chat last month, we all got to be flies on the wall as President Donald Trump’s team deliberated before executing effective military strikes against the Houthis, Iran’s proxies in Yemen whom Biden had allowed to fire with virtual impunity more than 140 times at merchant vessels and 174 times at U.S. warships.
Trump’s team respectfully debated the costs and benefits of military action. Vice President JD Vance raised concerns that the mission might be “a mistake” because the Houthi attacks primarily affected European trade. He suggested proceeding with the mission could lead to a rise in gas prices, adding that “there is a strong argument for delaying this a month, doing the messaging work on why this matters, seeing where the economy is.” CIA Director John Ratcliffe chimed in to say that “a delay would not negatively impact us and additional time would be used to identify better starting points for coverage on Houthi leadership.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth responded: “If I had final go or no go vote, I believe we should. This [is] not about the Houthis. I see it as two things: 1) Restoring Freedom of Navigation, a core national interest; and 2) Reestablish[ing] deterrence, which Biden cratered.” National security adviser Michael Waltz pointed out that only the United States could carry out the mission because “European navies do not have the capability to defend against the types of sophisticated, antiship, cruise missiles, and drones the Houthis are now using,” adding: “we have a fundamental decision of allowing the sea lanes to remain closed or to re-open them now or later, we are the only ones with the capability unfortunately.” Hegseth agreed: “Mike is correct. … Nobody else even close. Question is timing. I feel like now is as good a time as any, given POTUS directive to reopen shipping lanes. I think we should go.” Vance replied: “If you think we should do it let’s go.” . . .’
Nothing embarrassing was revealed, no military operations were compromised, and no Americans were killed. Trump’s team executed a successful military operation. There was no “Team Pete” or “Team Mike” or any daylight between them. There was only “Team Trump.”
Competence? You can see why the press is shocked.