Newsletter
You are reading the LA Times Politics Newsletter
George Skeleton and Anita Chhabria cover insights, law, players and politics you need to know in 2024. In your inbox on Monday and Thursday mornings.
We sometimes receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
Sacramento – The Trump administration’s under-screw text message about military attack planning while using an unsecured app instantly reminded me of the phone call Ronald Reagan made when he was president.
The anecdotes show that between Reagan’s team, Trump’s Todie, and these presidents themselves, they grasp capabilities and real-world dangers.
Reagan led the West out of the Cold War. Trump is shredding our Western alliance. That’s for the first time.
As the former California governor frequently did, I was obsessed with the incredible East Beach in Santa Barbara, while the president was on vacation in his beloved, secluded mountain Rancho del Cielo. This was during Reagan’s first term in the early 1980s.
I called Deputy Director Mike Deaver, whose intimacy with Reagan and insider influence far outweigh his official title. Luckily, Deaver and I lived across the hall from each other in a creaking old flat house in San Jose. And we had a good working relationship.
I was trying to pad out the Times Story with some background information, but I don’t remember the subject. What I remember vividly was Deaver’s immediate response after answering the call.
“George, this is not a safe call,” he emphasized.
Deaver was somewhere on the East Coast and took a break from the White House and its secure communications system.
Growing up in Hard Scrabble Khan County, he loved Santa Barbara, where he won his first political job and played piano in a small Republican fundraiser. So I said, “I want you guys out there. How’s the weather in paradise?”
Instead, there were some passionate warnings, “This is not a safe call.”
Okay, but I wasn’t calling about national security issues, I assured him. He still felt uncomfortable. But we chatted and managed to wash away the paper stories before I got back to the beach.
What struck me that day about Deaver was how strict security was ingrained in the entire administration, in many other cases dealing with Reagan officials. They practiced it every day. That was a top priority.
Ignoring and careless Trump administration
Trump and his so-called security team are clearly the exact opposite.
They showed carelessness in the classified information – Or at least it should be categorized, even if it claims not.
They are ignorant of the holes that have been opened because information is leaking to American enemies, and could put our troops at risk.
They can be a hassle to gather in the White House situation room. A windowless, guarded bunker, Reagan and all the presidents met with top advisors to discuss Trump’s sensitive military issues.
They are grossly neglecting to invite journalists to text message exchanges about pending military attacks.
Suddenly, sitting on the political mountains of the country, they are obvious rogs over not considering these fundamentals.
If a detailed military strike plan is texted using a commercially encrypted messaging app – Signal – two hours before the air attack on Yemen’s Houthi militia begins, how else can you explain the uncomprehensible national security breaches?
And the leading journalists representing Trump’s horrifying “fake news” media have been misinformed to join the 18-member chat. Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of Atlantic Magazine, said he witnessed a text message sitting in a car in the Safeway parking lot. It’s not exactly a situation room.
After Goldberg defeated the story, Trump officials, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegsyth, who revealed details of the attack, did what act politicians did well.
Smart people admit their mistakes and promise to move on, promising that it will never happen again. They don’t call it “witch hunt” like Trump. Or Karoline Leavitt, the “hoologue” as a reporter’s secretary, claimed. And he constantly lies.
“As the previous chair [House] The Intelligence Election Committee said it’s difficult for me to explain this huge f,” Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif) declared in writing.
F word? That wasn’t a little unusual, he was asked by a TV interviewer. To characterize the Trump administration, he replied, “I am lacking in adjectives and let dictionaries.”
“Incompetent” is one of the appropriate explanations.
Not the first blunder by Trump
California saw what was demonstrated in the winter when Trump foolishly ordered the Army Corps of Engineers to dump water.
One reason he hinted at was to transfer water to Los Angeles for potential firefighters. However, there was no way to put that water into Los Angeles, and certainly not the farm irrigation season. So instead of saving precious water for the summer, it was wasted.
California does not plan military attacks on other states, but “we use very safe methods, especially very safe methods to discuss issues related to homeland security,” Gavin Gardon Gov. says Izzy Gardon, a spokesman for Gavin Newsom. That includes potential terrorist attacks.
However, unlike the Trump administration, the California government is not using signals. One reason is that it is not considered to be sufficiently unsafe for the state’s mobile phones, another newspaper official asked not to be identified.
The stupid moves of Trump Advisors are also symptomatic of growing dependency on smartphones and reliance on Zoom meetings. We forget how to meet face to face and close the door to those who don’t belong there.
One thing is for sure, unlike Trump’s sloppy bunch, Reagan and his crew kept the attention of the Old World War: “loose lips sink the ship.”
What else should I read?
Must see: “Hate Speech is everywhere in X.” California Legislature Democrats leave Elon Musk’s platform in large numbers
TK: We cherished California dairy products to close down. Point Reyes locals say it’s crazy conservation
Rimes Special: There’s a lot to do with Gavin Newsom. Is it worth listening to?
Until next week,
George Skeleton
–
Has this newsletter been forwarded to you? Sign up here to get it in your inbox.