Signalgate and the Matt Gaetz Effect
Don't expect accountability for the Signal security breach. For Trump, admitting mistakes and holding people accountable is seen as an invitation for further criticism and setbacks.
Don't expect any accountability for the Signal security breach. For Trump, admitting mistakes and holding people accountable is seen as an invitation for further criticism and setbacks.
If you’re waiting for anyone involved in the Signalgate scandal to take the fall or face consequences for a very public, very serious breach of national security and operational protocols, stop waiting. It’s not going to happen. And you can look no further than former Congressman Matt Gaetz for the reason why.
Let me explain. But first, here’s what’s been happening.
Ever since it was revealed that Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor of The Atlantic magazine, was included in a Signal texting group—a secure, end-to-end encrypted messaging app—discussing the pending attack on Yemen's Houthi rebels, senior officials from the Trump administration involved in the digital conversation have been scrambling to deflect blame and deny any wrongdoing.
Clips of Tulsi Gabbard, Director of National Intelligence, and John Ratcliffe, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), being grilled by members of the House Intelligence Committee are easy to find online. Both admitted mistakes were made but insisted that no wrongdoing occurred and that there would be no consequences for the airing of classified information.
In fact, they often denied that any classified or consequential information was discussed on the commercial platform.
On Fox News’ The Ingraham Angle Tuesday, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz admitted the incident did happen and took full responsibility. He was the person who, for whatever reason, invited Goldberg into the text group.
“I built the group. My job is to make sure everything’s coordinated,” he said.
So, Waltz takes full responsibility, has been stripped of his office and authority, and is now looking for gigs on the lecture circuit or a commentary job on Newsmax or One America News, right?
Not quite. Rather than holding Waltz accountable, President Donald Trump—his boss—excused the incident as a harmless mistake and a learning moment.
“Michael Waltz has learned a lesson, and he’s a good man,” Trump said in an interview with NBC News.
During a Cabinet meeting, Trump said Waltz didn’t have to apologize for the security breach, and wouldn’t rule out the possibility of using an app like Signal for national security and intelligence issues.
Waltz and Trump had some choice words about Goldberg, a seasoned journalist with extensive national security experience, as well as The Atlantic and the mainstream media. As usual, their modus operandi was to deflect and retaliate with harsh criticisms and smears.
Despite Democrats seething over the breach of operational security and basic protocols at the highest levels, they’re virtually powerless to do anything about it. They can ask questions in hearings and make administration officials uneasy in closed-door briefings, but there’s little more they can do because Trump will do nothing about it.
And the reason Trump probably won’t do anything about the incident that, in previous administrations, would have forced those involved to resign or be fired, is because of Gaetz.
In November 2024, Gaetz—the ultra-conservative, firebrand congressman from the Florida Panhandle—was facing the release of a House Ethics Committee investigation into his alleged drug use and sexual relationships with underage girls. Despite recently winning re-election in his district, Gaetz resigned to accept Trump’s nomination for Attorney General. The resignation was expected to block the report’s release and position Gaetz to quash any further scrutiny of his personal life.
Gaetz, who has a terrible reputation on Capitol Hill even among Republicans, couldn’t dodge the allegations of sex with minors. Some of the women who testified to the Ethics Committee began releasing accounts of their experiences. But even as the scrutiny and pressure built, Trump stood by Gaetz, convinced that the Republican majority in the Senate would assure his confirmation.
The allegations gave Gaetz’s enemies on Capitol Hill the ammunition they needed to take him down. Ultimately, he withdrew his nomination. Trump backed away and eventually selected Pam Bondi.
But that wasn’t the end of it. Trump had nominated other controversial candidates to cabinet positions:
Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman who had defended former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Russia’s Vladimir Putin.
Robert Kennedy Jr., another former Democrat and a well-known anti-vaxxer, to run Health and Human Services.
Kash Patel, who has criticized the FBI as corrupt, to run the law enforcement agency.
Linda McMahon, the former head of the Small Business Administration, to run the Department of Education, even though she wanted to eliminate the agency.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who had no experience running large organizations and faced allegations of sexual assault and alcohol abuse.
Some of these cabinet picks were so controversial that some allegedly advocated for tossing Gaetz under the bus to make the confirmations of other nominees easier.
But that’s not Trump’s way of doing things. In his book, The Art of the Deal, Trump says clearly that he believes when someone hits you, you hit them back twice as hard. If someone criticizes you, you whack them with everything you have on them—truth be damned. The last thing you do, in Trump’s thinking, is give an inch. He learned from his mentor, the late Roy Cohn, to never concede defeat and always position defeat as a victory.
Despite abysmal confirmation hearings, all of Trump’s nominees made it through the Senate. Sometimes by straight party votes. Sometimes because some senators held their noses and convictions to vote in favor rather than face the threats of being primaried and, potentially, losing their seats.
Trump learned that he earned no points for sacrificing Gaetz, just as he earned no points in his first administration for letting go of his first National Security Advisor, Michael Flynn, for his contacts with the Russian government. Why take any action, especially when it means losing loyalists, when there’s no gain?
For Trump, compromising and holding people accountable is a sign of weakness. His modus operandi is to deflect, criticize, charge those accusing you of corruption, and wait for the next change in the news cycle to make the entire thing go away. It’s why Gabbard, Ratcliffe, Patel, and others can sit before Congress and avoid answering questions—they know they act with impunity.
Trump and his people will wait it out, hold no one accountable, and close the gates on the issue until the next scandal happens.
And it will happen all over again.