Ambition Counteracts Ambition

A News Roundup

Foundation of the American Government, by Henry Hintermeister (1925), depicts the signing of the Constitution. The figure in the greenish coat in the foreground is James Madison.

There has been so much going on that I’m going to try to catch up a little with just a roundup of links, with minimal commentary. And I swear I’m going to keep the commentary minimal. Honest.

We’ve Had One Signalgate, Yes, But What About Second Signalgate?

First, there is the latest news about Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, who was caught once again sharing national security secrets with random people in an insecure chat group. His management of the Pentagon is being described as “a complete meltdown.”

Speaking of meltdowns, this is the same administration where a bunch of key national security officials were just fired at the behest of right-wing conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer. See Olivia Troye, a whistleblower from Trumps’ first term, on the significance of this, particularly when it comes to domestic “national security” wiretaps. See also a report that European diplomats are now bringing “burner” phones when they visit the US, following the same protocol as when they visit a dictatorship like China.

Oh, and then there is the commander of the US base in Greenland being fired for contradicting J.D. Vance’s vilification of our allies. Our national security is not in good hands right now.

I think I previously compared Hegseth to Cuffy Meigs, one of the villains of Atlas Shrugged. Meigs was based on a real person, General Hugh S. Johnson, who was appointed by FDR to run to the National Recovery Administration and fired after a year for being drunk, abusive, and incompetent. Johnson was way more qualified for his job than Hegseth, who is repeating this real-life history at a faster pace.

Trump doesn’t want to give up on Hegseth partly because he doesn’t want to give the media “a scalp” or show any sign of losing ground. It is also perhaps because when Trump took office, he gave the Secretaries of Defense and Homeland Security 90 days to submit a report on whether the administration should invoke the Insurrection Act to allow the domestic use of the US military, supposedly to repel an immigrant “invasion.” That’s any day now, and Trump surely wants a compliant lackey like Hegseth in charge when it happens.

He certainly doesn’t want to have to put a new Secretary of Defense through Senate confirmation hearings, because the political opposition is beginning to find its spine.

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“Summon the Best That Is Within Us”

Part of how the opposition is finding its spine is by discovering Trump’s weak spots on the issue where he is strongest with the American public (to the public’s discredit), which is immigration.

Trump has been suffering one loss after another on that issue.