The Media Cares More About A Petty Scandal Than The Hundreds Dead in Yemen
The Trump administration’s security failure should be a second concern to their disgusting war crimes.
We all should know about the establishment media’s knee-bending to the Trump administration by now. As these companies face aggressive threats, they’re incentivized not to fight back but to comply with demands, not ask confrontational questions, and investigate claims made by the White House. When America relies on massive media corporations as its only reliable source of journalism, this effect is to be expected. Although more independent sources have carved out their own space, the majority of narratives, both liberal and conservative, are filtered through the lens of these media conglomerates. For domestic reporting, the effects are admittedly benign most of the time. However, when it comes to international reporting, an American’s view of the world becomes dramatically warped in comparison. Except for the obvious propaganda machines found in the New York Post, Fox News, and even many establishment liberal opinion columns, these domestic narratives don’t often betray basic morality, even when they are grossly apologetic toward corporate power. The obvious cases of corruption, abuse of power, and state violence domestically may be muddled, but never straight-up ignored. That changes when it comes to the rest of the world.
The ongoing genocide of Palestinians is the most brutal example of this; there are undoubtedly a few readers here who refuse to believe it occurred, thanks to the imperial media apparatus, which has worked tirelessly to cover up Israel’s war crimes. The same happened with the Iraq War, where the media was doubtlessly complicit in sowing the WMD narrative lie, then covering up the barbaric slaughter that American troops carried out, and finally, hiding the ongoing torture regime in Guantanamo Bay. Even our global history in American high schools is completely distorted, where false justifications are made for dropping the atomic bomb on Japan, for example. So when the Trump administration ruthlessly bombed Yemen, one of the poorest country on Earth, at the behest of Israel, this same phenomenon repeated: ignore, obfuscate, and distort.
The scandal that became a multi-day headline story was not about the slaughter of civilians by American bombs; instead, it was the Trump administration’s fumbling of basic national security measures. We now know that this all started on March 13th when Mike Waltz, Trump’s national security advisor, created a group chat on the messaging app Signal. Added to the chat were Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Scott Bessent, Stephen Miller, Susie Wiles, Steve Witkoff, and, unknowingly, Jeffrey Goldberg, journalist and chief editor for The Atlantic. In a piece released by Goldberg, he explains that the group was named “Houthi PC small group” and was centered on a military strike on the Houthis, the unofficial government of Yemen. The pretense for the strike was due to the Houthis, in accordance with international law, forcibly stopping Israeli cargo from passing through the Red Sea because of Israel’s genocide against the Palestinians. This is not an opinion; this is a fact supported by the International Court of Justice in a ruling last year, which obligates entities to intervene to stop the crime of genocide in compliance with the UN Genocide Convention of 1948 after the Holocaust. Of course, the Western Nations that signed onto this agreement did so with the expectation that it would be used to justify their intervention in other weaker countries, not used against them to prevent the genocide carried out by an American ally. Such a glaring hypocrisy lays bare how fickle international law is when it comes to global affairs, since might-makes-right is still the ultimate factor, and bodies like the UN Security Council are just facades to hide the brutal dominance of America and the global north.
Thirty-five messages were sent in the chat that we know of, primarily led by Hegseth and Waltz. Initially, concerns were raised, which Hegseth addressed, and the members discussed the optics and messaging. Hegseth suggests, “I think messaging is going to be tough no matter what – nobody knows who the Houthis are – which is why we would need to stay focused on: 1) Biden failed & 2) Iran funded.” Later, Vance says, “Let’s just make sure our messaging is tight here.” Stephen Miller would confirm Trump’s approval, saying, “As I heard it, the president was clear: green light, but we soon make clear to Egypt and Europe what we expect in return.” So on Saturday, March 14th, the attack went forward with Hegseth typing a long message with, “Just CONFIRMED w/CENTCOM we are a GO for mission launch.”
After the strike was complete, Mike Walz adds in “The first target – their top missile guy – we had positive ID of him walking into his girlfriend’s building and it’s now collapsed.” The group replies with congratulations while Hegseth adds, “CENTCOM was/is on point. Great job all. More strikes ongoing for hours tonight, and will provide full initial report tomorrow. But on time, on target, and good readouts so far.” More congratulations and emojis are exchanged until 6:35 pm on March 15th, when Goldberg left the chat. Goldberg waited nine whole days before revealing this by publishing his article, exposing the situation. It wasn’t until he faced immense public pressure that he released the rest of the material he had in a follow-up article.
*Note: In a new development on April 20th, an article was published describing four informants who came forward, revealing that Hegseth also created a separate Signal group chat with his wife, family members, and many non-government individuals, including his personal lawyer, to share the same attack information.
Ironically, for the Trump administration, Goldberg was the best person this could’ve happened to. Goldberg is a devout Zionist who left a solid reporting job at the Washington Post in the mid-80s, when the paper was still living in prestige after Watergate, to work as a prison guard in Israel before joining the Israeli Military voluntarily. Goldberg has been described as a key political figure in Israeli-American media relations, being called the ‘official therapist’ on the issue by an Obama aide. Though Goldberg is criticized for being too liberal of a Zionist by the right because he offers some criticism of Israel’s blatant human rights abuses, consider how grossly skewed the overton window on Israel is in the US if a so called ‘moderate’ on the issue is a rabid warhawk who publishes articles justifying the murder of Palestinian children. Yes, as chief editor of the Atlantic, he oversaw an article published that included the statement, “It is possible to kill children legally, if, for example, one is being attacked by an enemy who hides behind them.” The fact that Goldberg is who he is likely saved the Trump administration from an even worse PR disaster than what happened. Surely, any other principled journalist not indebted to Israeli national interests would’ve published the material sooner and in its entirety. Goldberg claimed in an interview that he initially withheld the information he received due to ‘national security’ concerns, despite there being no sensitive information in the leak. Even if there was, the press is, at least in precedent, protected from releasing information that the government may find objectionable.
Hegseth vehemently denied that the leak had ever happened at first, despite the clear evidence. Hegseth immediately resorted to attacking Goldberg’s character, citing other instances when the Atlantic covered Trump scandals such as when he publicly stated that there were ‘good people on both sides’ of a neo-Nazi rally, indicating it still lives in the mind of the administration. Tulsi Gabbard, the Director of National Intelligence, denied there was any classified information in the leak. It should be noted that the reason this chat was being used in the first place was to circumvent the Presidential Records Act, which requires presidential administrations to maintain records of all communication, including electronic. This requirement was already infringed upon during his first administration, infamously refusing to return classified documents kept at Mar-a-Lago and more subtly by retaliating against inspector generals and using disappearing messaging apps. Consumer apps like these cannot be used on government-issued devices because they do not meet security standards, especially when used on personal devices that could be compromised remotely or physically. All said and done, the White House didn’t seem too phased by this information getting out; at most, Waltz and Hegseth threw insults, calling Goldberg a liar, which foiled the legitimacy of Goldberg’s overly cautious behavior.
All of this drama amounted to nothing material. We already knew that the Trump administration is corrupt in innumerable ways. We could have already guessed that they weren’t using secure communication channels or following any standard procedures. We already knew that the administration is filled with man-children who are living out their fantasy of playing military commander. We already knew that American leadership, even in an anti-establishment administration, is beholden to Israel and will do almost anything at their request. We already know that no one is going to serve this administration any consequences. So, how is this even this big of a story? Admittedly, they’re right; this situation in any normal administration would’ve led to at least one resignation. But it reflects a media establishment that is obsessed with the process and the banal inner workings of government. They have no answers for this current historical moment, where rules are a suggestion.
Hypocrisy-splaining does not work against fascism. Establishment media and Democrats should have learned this a decade ago, and not understanding it now is inexcusable. That’s what happens when your entire political philosophy is centered on technocracy: you get a pathetic op-ed in the New York Times where Hillary Clinton comes out of silence to vindicate herself. It’s a performance. Besides those who mistakenly believe that Clinton lost the election because of the email scandal, nobody resonates with this hypocrisy messaging. The right wing and MAGA have rooted out the problem of Trump’s innumerable hypocrisies a long time ago with two key lies: the ends justify the means, and Trump is your cult leader. It works. Millions of people in this country look the other way for a rapist leading the Pentagon and their 401ks losing 20% in two months. But even regular people disdain this hypocrisy messaging; they want courage and action from the opposition leaders, not pedantry.
An interesting split forming among conservatives over these events is who they should be irrationally afraid of more: Iran, which will likely pursue nuclear weapons thanks to Trump throwing out the JCPOA, or China, which will soon be economically outpacing the United States. On one hand, there are, what I will call, the ‘extremist warhawks’ who have wanted to crush Iran going back decades, often people ideologically tethered to Israel, which has repeatedly aggressed on its neighbors through settler-colonial violence. On the other are the more ‘practical warhawks’ in the military community, the GOP, and many Democrats who think Trump is wasting weapons on Yemen when we should be fighting China, a country that is such a pacifist on the world stage that it has not attacked another country in 34 years.
History will look back on this and wonder how the scandal was some petty concern about security and not about the blatant human rights abuse that happened right in front of us. This was Trump’s first (direct) war crime of his new administration. But calling it what it is would call into question every prior administration up until this point, and that’s what establishment media and Democrats cannot talk about. The Houthis did not attack the United States; they attacked cargo ships associated with Israel— attacks made in accordance with international law to incumber the ongoing genocide. The United States Military, to retaliate on behalf of Israel, launched missile strikes that murdered 32 civilians, wounding 101, including women and children, in residential areas of Sanaa, Saada, and across Yemen. That is the real scandal. It shows how morally sick America is. That we are more concerned with the imaginary scenario where just the right person added to this group chat alerts Yemen about this attack, prompting them to take defensive action, and maybe have a chance to shoot down US aircraft, versus the slaughter of tens of innocent people. In American media, the remote thought of a US pilot being shot down is infinitely more important than the murder of Yemeni people.
Air attacks on Yemen have recurred every single day since March 14th on factories, military installations, government facilities, airports, and residential areas. Many sources corroborate all this information, including the American non-profit the Institute for the Study of War, the UN, UNICEF, Al-Jazeera based in Qatar, SABA, and Al-Masirah run by the SPC, AlHadath based in Saudi Arabia, and even the White House themselves, unconcerned with showing the public their war crimes. It was reported last week that a total of at least 123 people have been murdered so far, and at least 247 wounded. It should not be controversial to even state that these are indiscriminate attacks, as Defense Secretary Hegseth has gone to great lengths to purge any dissent within the Pentagon and remove any existing rules of engagement that might encumber terrorizing civilians with bombs. Former General McKenzie wrote a disgusting op-ed in the New York Times deflecting the scandal and lionizing the Trump administration for the attacks, falsely alleging, “the Houthis will use the Yemeni population as human shields, just as Hamas has done with civilians in Gaza,” hyperlinking to a report put out by the prior Trump State Department as an effort to justify bombing civilian areas. Right after, he says in reference to civilian casualties, “Those are regrettable, and our forces will work hard to minimize them,” even as Hegseth has displayed nothing but contempt for the restraints of basic human rights.
Attacks on Yemen go back to the Obama administration, but since the civil war has slowed down, a new phase began under Biden as the Houthis shut down the Red Sea in 2023 to support Gaza. Despite Trump declaring himself the ‘pro-peace ticket’ just six months ago, this new round of attacks is incomparably indiscriminate, persistent, and unapologetic. The White House Press, run by what appears to be edgy interns, posted a drone video celebrating a bomb dropped on a tribal gathering of approximately 70 people for the Eid al-Fitr holiday, making the unjustified claim that the people were Houthis. The attack reportedly killed and wounded dozens of them, and it was confirmed that they were not affiliated with the Houthi Military. It should be common sense to anyone who isn’t being intentionally ignorant that members of the Houthis Military wouldn’t gather in a large group outside in broad daylight three weeks into a war with the United States. Let’s be clear– this was a deliberate terrorist attack.
The worst of these came on April 17th and 18th when the US struck the sea and airport in Hodeidah, murdering an astonishing 80 people and wounding over 150 more. Video of the incident shows a massive fireball seen for miles emanating from the Ras Isa oil port, a non-military facility. Such a strike puts the entire civilian population at risk as the United Nations has stated that four-fifths of the population is in need of humanitarian aid and Human Rights Watch has determined that includes 9.8 million children. The United States over the past decade, by support of Israel and Saudi Arabia, has only thrown more fuel on the fire, refusing to choose peace at the expenense of the desperate citizens of Yemen. America’s Central Command openly stated that the purpose of this strike was to make the Yemeni economy suffer. Reports also revealed that this was a ‘double-tap’ strike where the area was bombed then bombed again after rescue workers arrive, a tactic universally understood to be a war crime under the Geneva Convention.
This esclation also reveals the desperation of the United States as it struggles to answer the problem posed by the Houthis. The Trump administration has taken the irrational strong-man stance that it will simply bomb countries into submission, but it has largely failed to achieve anything in the past month. In fact, it is helping the Houthis rally support as millions were seen taking to the streets to demonstrate against America. The US Military has burned through an unbelievable $200 million of munitions in three weeks, and US officials say that the total is now over $1 billion, which may prompt them to have to request more funding from Congress. The Houthis are not a weak fighting force by any means; they’ve successfully shot down about 16 to 21 American attack drones since October 2023 and even two in 24 hours on April 18th of this year. Even though Trump has declared this mission a success, it has hardly dented the uniquely resilient Houthi fighting force. This is a group that has fought a multi-front civil war against not only the then-Yemeni government but also the Saudi Military, coming out victorious. Yemen is undoubtedly winning right now. The primary objective of this attack was to reclaim the Red Sea, which remains closed and will not reopen anytime soon. All trade is still routed around the Cape of Good Hope, which has increased cost and transit times on global goods. According to SeaTrade Maritime News, an entire Israeli port is now bankrupt after losing over 85% of its shipping volume over the past seventeen months.
The Houthis have reached out to the US to make the terms of this war clear: they will agree to a ceasefire and allow US ships to pass through so long as the administration forces Israel to cease its assault on Gaza. Unfortunately, the war-hawks in this administration are far too concerned with generating conspiratorial fears about Iran than with peace that benefits all parties.
We should call things what they are. Since corporate media refuses to frame international events neutrally, we have to make a conscious effort to reverse our ‘patriotic’ conditioning by understanding that the people of Yemen are no different than us. These attacks are meant to sow terror within the people of Yemen; put more simply, they are terrorist attacks. Who is more afraid of who? Americans, worried that an impoverished nation they can’t point to on a map could attack an Israeli cargo ship… or the people of Yemen, who can’t leave their house without wondering if this is the day an American drone murders them?
Didn't you realize this years ago.
In 1994, or thereabouts, Several Hundred Thousands Tutsis were murdered in Rwanda by Hutus. When Hutus killed Tutsis, they very often did not merely kill them. Instead, they DISEMBOWELLED THEM and used their intestines as a Necklace. And the media. Where was our flippant, frivolous, catty, bratty media, that abomination that collectively has the orneriness of a 14 year old spoiled girl. The gutless, rudderless media was SPENDING COUNTLESS HOURS ON THE IMAGINARY KILLING OF Vince Foster at the hands of Hillary Clinton.
If one were to survey American politics today, one might infer that this country is morally deficient (Donald Trump has the moral sensibility of a sewer rat) Since we have just gone through Easter, I have prepared some ruminations about Guilt in America and how it is ineffectively expiated.
https://open.substack.com/pub/davidgottfried/p/mary-magdalene-salvation-on-a-suckers?r=87ef5&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
One percent versus 99 and they are kicking our ass