
EVERYONE has had a slip of the fingers. An email reply in which you accidentally “cc all”;. Or a text message sent to the wrong person.
But the Trumpadministration in Washingtonis now going through its first major hiccup thanks to a much worse version of this.


Somebody in Trump’s national security team put a Signal messaging group together in order to discuss a recent US military strike. Specifically on the Houthi terrorists in Yemen.
They included the President’s national security advisers, the US Defence Secretary, the US Secretary of State. And a journalist.
Why the editor of The Atlantic magazine, Jeffrey Goldberg, was included in the group is anyone’s guess.
Perhaps someone of a similar name was meant to be involved. Maybe it was a pure slip of the thumb.
But whatever the reasons, the editor-in-chief of the anti-Trump magazine was included among the 19 people in the group.
And as a result he had prior warning of the significant military strikes that took place earlier this month.
The Trump administration first of all denied the reports that the journalist gleefully published.
Next they admitted that the group was legit. Now they are trying desperately to put a lid on the story.
But with the journalist in question continuing to release the messages â and yesterday publishing them in full â it is hard to hear the denials.
Officials are trying to find a way to stop the story. But it now has legs of its own.
National Security Adviser Michael Waltz has taken responsibility for the error. It seems that it was him who put the group together.
Interviewed yesterday he said he didn’t know how it had happened and said that he wasn’t in touch with the journalist.
In passing he also referred to Goldberg as a “loser”; and the “bottom scum of journalists”;. Ouch.
For his part, President Trump has downplayed the mistake. Describing Waltz as a “good man”; who had “learned a lesson”; he went on to describe the leak as “the only glitch in two months, and it turned out not to be a serious one”;.
Others will disagree about that.


The group chat not only gave Goldberg â a man who obviously has no security clearances â a heads-up about the strikes. It also revealed operational details.
In a response to a query from Vice President JD Vance, Waltz wrote: “Typing too fast. The first target â their top missile guy â we had positive ID of him walking into his girlfriend’s building and it’s now collapsed.”;
One minute later the Vice President replied: “Excellent.”;
Other members of the group replied to messages with emojis, including a punch, a flame and an American flag.
All of this is giving considerable delight to Trump-haters. As it would. After all, if such a security leak had come from the Democratswhen they were in government, the Republicans would be all over this.
But there is also a diplomatic angle to the leaked chat which is deeply telling.
Members of the group talk about the fact that the Houthis have been targeting vessels in the sea lanes of the Red Sea.
This has been an issue for over a year and has demanded a strong response.
In the group chat, the Trump team talk about the need to keep the sea lanes open and free from terrorist attack.
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth points out that keeping freedom of navigation in the world’s shipping lanes is a “core national interest”;.
‘Hate bailing Europe out’
But others point out that it is the Europeans who are most affected by the Houthi attacks on ships.
Waltz says: “Whether it’s now or several weeks from now, it will have to be the United States that reopens these shipping lanes.
“Per the president’s request we are working with DoD [the Department of Defence] and State to determine how to compile the cost associated and levy them on the Europeans.”;
VP: I fully share your loathing of European free-loading. It’s PATHETIC
And at this point the Vice President chips in again: “If you think we should do it, let’s go. I just hate bailing Europe out again.”;
In reply to that message Hegseth said: “VP: I fully share your loathing of European free-loading. It’s PATHETIC.”;
And that is likely to be the part of this leak that will resonate the most.
After all, the Trump administration has not kept quiet on its loathing for EU free-loading. Trump said repeatedly in his first term, and again during his second, that he believes Europe should pay its own way in security.
He is fed up with Europe piggy-backing off US defence spending. And he is right.
But a lot of British and European leaders consoled themselves with the idea that this was all part of a Trump “play”;.
That he was talking tough against European free-loading but that if push came to shove he would have their back.
The Signal chat has lots of potential effects.
But one of the most important is that European leaders and others can see what JD Vance and others are actually thinking.
That they are not bluffing. âAnd that Europeâ and this country â actually does have


HARRY U-TURN SO SAD
AT his recent speech to Congress in WashingtonDC, President Trump got some good laughs at the expense of the small African nation of Lesotho.
Listing the idiotic foreign aid spending his administration has put a stop to, he reeled off: “Eight million dollars to promote LGBTQI+ in the African nation of Lesotho, which nobody has ever heard of.”;
As so often with Trump, his instinct is right.
Trump haters immediately pretended they were in fact all over politics in Lesotho, go there all the time, and find it very shocking that Lesotho would be at the bottom of anyone’s lists of interests.
Funnily enough there is one person who has had a lot of interest in the country: Prince Harry.
When the “spare”; chose to step back from royal duties in 2020 he made sure to say that he wasn’t stepping back from all his charitable work. In particular he said he would remain committed to his Lesotho charity, Sentebale.
He told charity dinner guests back then: “When I lost my mumâ.â.â.âyou took me under your wing. You looked out for me for so long.”;
He also said: “Together, you have given me an education about living, and this role has taught me more about what is right and just than I could ever have imagined.”;
Yet despite saying a year ago that his support for the charity would “never falter”;, Prince Harry has now stepped away from the cause.
The explanation is that there has been a “devastating”; breakdown in relationships between the charity’s trustees and the chair of the board.
You won’t hear this from me often, but I am starting to feel sorry for the prince.
He gave up everything that was meaningful in his life. And he has swapped it for being a walk-on part in his wife’s horrible lifestyle show on Netflix. Where Duchess Meghan pretends to have friends in a borrowed kitchen .
Harry may not be the smartest of royals.
But even he must realise the life he has swapped his own life for is one with very little nourishment. Even if it must still have its perks
ZEGLER FLOP IS SNOW LAUGHING MATTERâ.â.â.
SNOW White is red-faced.
The star of Disney’s remake â Rachel Zegler â has been kept as far from the media as possible in recent months.

It follows interviews and social media posts where the 23-year-old starlet trashed the much-loved 1937 original.
And then went on to attack the majority of the American public who voted for President Trump last November.
Would-be fans have been pointing out how empty the cinemas have been since the film launched last week.
Now Zegler has been filmed in a US cinema watching the film.
Unfortunately, she and her pals appear to be the only people in the place.
Perhaps they booked the whole thing out.
More likely Zegler discovered just how big the audience is for her flop-eroo.
TV SNUB TO TRUE VICTIMS
EVERYONE is talking about the Netflix series Adolescence.
Our politicians even seem to be under the impression that the show is a documentary rather than a work of fiction.
People including the Prime Minister have talked about it and the “issues”; it raises.
That’s because despite the horrible subject matter, the crime that it focuses on is so unreal.
The series suggests there is an epidemic of male violence against women (even among 13- year-olds) because of online personalities teaching misogyny.
There certainly are such people, and it is an ugly, ugly scene.
But there is no evidence that we have an epidemic of teenage violence against teenage girls for this reason.
By contrast, there is plenty of evidence of black British children committing gang violence against other black British children.
The “gang-on-gang”; violence in cities like London leads to routine stabbings and deaths.
There is nothing normal about this.
But you won’t see the BBC, Netflixor other platforms looking into it.
Because it’s just a little too awkward for their worldview, where all the evil people in life have to be not just male but white.