It’s probably wishful thinking, but The Wall Street Journal, Fox News, and some Republican members of the Congress may be waking up. Here is Dana Milbank at The Washington Post:
Wednesday found White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt doing what she does every other day of the week.
“This is classic Fake News,” she announced, in her briefing and in a social media post, from a news outlet that doesn’t “care … about the truth” and is instead “running these lies,” which are “absolutely false” and “erroneous.”
The only unusual thing this time was the diatribe was directed at the Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal. And not just any part of the Journal but its editorial board, which has been a clarion voice of the right in the United States for 135 years. Now, it is using that voice to defend its longtime motto — “free markets and free people” — by becoming a daily scold of the Trump administration for its constant violations of both.
Leavitt’s particular objection was over a minor point, about whether an adviser to President Donald Trump was on the now-infamous Signal group chat while in Moscow, but the White House was no doubt stung by Wednesday’s editorial overall, which criticized “JD Vance’s contempt for allies” and the vice president’s apparent willingness “to let the Houthis shut down shipping to spite the Europeans.” The editorial suggested Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had been “cavalier about the details of incoming military strikes” and was “silly” to try to “shift the blame for the fiasco on the journalist who was put on the chat.” It suggested Trump negotiator Steve Witkoff “is out of his depth in dealing with world crises,” and it warned that “America’s allies may conclude they can no longer trust the U.S. in a crisis.”
After Leavitt’s rebuke, the Journal came back at the administration even harder in Thursday’s paper. “The White House won’t let bad enough alone when it comes to the Signal app fiasco,” it thundered. While conceding the White House’s point about the adviser’s phone, it blasted the administration’s “defensive insistence that the chat didn’t disclose any ‘war plans,’ which is a weak attempt at obfuscation.” Criticizing Hegseth for trying to dismiss the flap as a hoax, it concluded that the administration “seems to think it can bully its way through anything by shouting Fake News and attacking the press” but should instead “take the loss.”
The Journal paired this with another editorial in Thursday’s paper on Republicans’ “shock” loss of a special election in a heavily Republican area of Pennsylvania. “Even voters who like the GOP’s policy agenda could be jolted by the impression of chaos in Washington, plus Mr. Trump’s recent focus on retribution,” it wrote, warning against following “out-of-touch leaders down ideological rabbit holes.” The day before, the Journal denounced the “dumb-and-dumber trade war” and Trump’s desire to “sabotage America with protectionism.”
We have seen entirely too much cowering and capitulation in the face of Trump’s threats: by the Paul Weiss law firm and Columbia University, by Meta and much of Silicon Valley, by Big Pharma and other industries, by mostly supine congressional Republicans, by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (in the eyes of many on the left), and by media outlets. But in a crisis, courage can be found in unexpected places. This is why it’s heartening to see some on the right (beyond the usual never-Trumpers) beginning to speak out about Trump’s overreach. We might be seeing the first cracks in MAGA unity, which Trump has maintained by threats and fear.
Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi) and Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Alabama), who lead the Senate and House Armed Services committees, respectively, pushed back firmly against the administration’s plans to restructure the military and retreat from Europe, saying they “will not accept” changes without congressional approval. Wicker has also said he is directing the administration to preserve documents in the Signal group chat matter, as his committee begins an inquiry into the fiasco. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-South Dakota), Sen. Mike Rounds (R-South Dakota), Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-North Dakota) and others pushed back firmly against the administration in the Signal screwup, directing them to “own it and fix it,” as Thune put it. A Republican Jewish Coalition board member and GOP fundraiser called on Trump’s lead peace negotiator, Steve Witkoff, to resign for his “utter incompetence” in dealing with Vladimir Putin and with Hamas.
Some in the MAGA echo chamber are likewise pushing back. Fox News host Laura Ingraham was skeptical of national security adviser Michael Waltz as he tried to explain how he added Atlantic editor in chief Jeffrey Goldberg’s number to his group chat (“Somehow it gets sucked in”). Fox News’s chief national security correspondent said her sources told her “what was shared may have been FAR MORE sensitive” than the term “war plans” conveys. Broadcaster Piers Morgan pointed out that if “this had happened on [Joe] Biden’s watch, Republicans would have rightly gone berserk.” The (Murdoch-owned) New York Post branded the flap “OPERATION OVERSHARE,” and Fox News contributor Andrew McCarthy wrote a piece for the paper arguing: “It is undeniable, or at least it should be, that ‘information providing advance warning that the US or its allies are preparing an attack’ is to be classified as ‘top secret.’”
Read the entire piece here.
