This all makes a great deal of sense. Both Politico and the New York Times are reporting that Trump had a meeting with J.D. Vance, Susie Wiles and others and discussed getting rid of Mike Waltz. Trump didn’t want to “hand a scalp to the media” because child that he is, his image is the focal point of consideration, not the security of this nation. So it was decided that Waltz would stay. For the moment.
The development that has most incensed Trump about the SignalGate scandal is not the magnitude of the issue itself. Trump is oblivious to that. He barely understands the concepts of what happened or why it was important. His *mind* goes to the PR aspect of things, because that’s all he knows. That’s all he lives for. And Waltz’s *crime* in this case is knowing Jeffrey Goldberg.
At first Waltz said he didn’t know Goldberg but then a damaging photo of them standing side by side at the French embassy a while back surfaced. And that is what will get Waltz canned. Mark my words. Trump should do it now, because it would bring a resolution to things but he prefers to wait until he can bury SignalGate under a lot of other press. And since he’s on the verge of wrecking Social Security and the economy with his 25% auto tariffs, yes, there will be a lot of other stories besides SignalGate. That is a verity.
Despite simmering anger directed at the national security adviser from inside the White House, Waltz still has his job five days after The Atlantic first published its explosive story on the Signal chat. That doesn’t mean he’s safe yet, according to the two people.
In fact, the two allies have heard some administration officials are just waiting for the right time to let him go, eager to be free of the newscycle before making changes.
One of them offered this prediction: “They’ll stick by him for now, but he’ll be gone in a couple of weeks.”
Vance’s office declined to comment. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement that “President Trump continues to have the utmost confidence in his national security team, including National Security Advisor Mike Waltz.”
What else is Kakistocracy Karoline going to say?
The Wednesday evening meeting came as frustration with Waltz reached a boil at the White House. A day earlier, Waltz claimed to reporters he “never met, don’t know, never communicated with” Jeffrey Goldberg, the Atlantic editor-in-chief who was included in the chat. “Wouldn’t know him if I bumped into him, if I saw him in a police lineup,” Waltz said on Fox News Tuesday night.
But the next day, administration officials — already skeptical of his assertion — became more perturbed following a viral social media post showing Waltz standing next to the editor at an embassy event years ago.
A Waltz ally, granted anonymity to discuss the sensitive situation, said it’s absurd to think just because he was pictured next to someone in a room full of people, at a large private event, that he knows Goldberg.
As they passed around the tweet, officials shared another story that made them equally irate: that Waltz’s contacts on Venmo were public — and included a few mainstream journalists.
The simple truth of the matter is that anybody who has been around Washington for a while gets to know people. And phone numbers get input into phones. And that’s a problem for Waltz because the people Trump likes and wants are not GOP team players. He wants newbies who are MAGAs, first, last and always.
Trump hates the Atlantic. He hates Jeffrey Goldberg. And there is undeniable proof that Goldberg’s phone number was in Waltz’s phone. Waltz can say Goldberg “hacked” or “snuck” or whatever his way onto the call and that’s laughable. That’s not physically possible. That dog won’t hunt, even if Kristi Noem shoots it.
Bottom line? Trump no longer trusts Waltz. That’s my take on it. I also think Waltz will be gone in a few weeks. I thought he would have been gone last night.
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