It’s Monday. Tomorrow is April Fools Day. What mischief might Trump and DOGE manufacture for that occasion, Super Tariff Day? In one of my other lives, I volunteer to teach Poison Prevention to first grade students, who are six years old. In the process of teaching them how poisons may be harmful and make them sick, we use the concept of Signal Words, that are commonly found on packaging. The words we use are Caution, Warning, and Danger Poison. Obviously, these are descriptors of increasing potential harm.
The recent fiasco of high ranking government officials, including The Secretaries of Defense, State, Treasury, and The National Security Advisor, communicating sensitive (and what some would call) top secret information over the unsecured Signal Chat platform would certainly be in the “Danger Poison” range of potential harm. This is a sign of disfunction in our government. There are several things wrapped up in this incident. One of those is the desire to hide from public scrutiny what they are doing. Signal Chat would bypass the rules of preservation of documents for historical context. What if this operation had gone sideways? Would we ever know the truth? The attempt to intentionally hide information from the public, let alone the historical record, is an admission that what you are doing may be outside the law.
A major concern here is the amateurish nature of the entire clown car of Trump appointees up to and including The Vice President. If they didn’t know it was breaking the law to communicate the way they did, using a non-government platform, they should not have the positions they were appointed to, because of pure ignorance. If they did know they were breaking the law, they should not have the positions they were appointed to, because there was a willful violation. Either way, these people should be gone. They are either too stupid to do the job properly, or they are too crooked.
Maybe the oddest observation I have for this week is Pete Hegseth. He is probably the most unqualified person Trump has chosen for any position in this government. Trump picked him because he looked good on Fox TV, not because he had a wealth of pertinent experience! He was in the military, but the totality of his command experience was platoon level, perhaps 50 personnel max. However, Secretary of Defense is an enormously important job with huge responsibility. There are thousands of employees. He is out of his depth to the point he should be wading in the kiddie pool, but he is actually a weak swimmer out in the deep end. The tell is in the chat stream itself. Hegseth gives updates in all caps concerning aircraft, targets, bombing, and repeat. He is unsure of himself, he thinks people are not taking him seriously. He is bragging. He is saying, “Hey look at me, Secretary of Defense. I’m running an attack op designed to kill people in a third world nation!” If Pete Hegseth was confident and competent, there would not have been a chat, and principals would have read about it in an after action report.
Look, this is not a job where on the job training at this level is desirable. The potential for disaster looms. I just think Trump is very unserious about the Presidency, and he could care less about what happens to this nation.
What we do means something. Saturday some of us are going up to St. Marys to participate in a protest there. Contact Tammy to coordinate.
Participate, Donate, Vote.
John Huot, JeffDems Chair
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CALENDAR
*2025: Continuing need for volunteer time at the Office
– It is important that we remain active and have a presence in the community. Please contact John, John, or Tammy to schedule
– 4-7pm (Wednesday) and 12-3pm (Saturday) every week
*April 16, 7PM: Discussion Group – Bridget Shaffer. What we can do.
*May 7, 7PM: Discussion Group – Trump at 100 Days, a Report Card
