As just about everyone knows by now — including the folks scurrying to deny it — a journalist was accidentally added to a group chat among senior Trump administration officials as they were discussing an upcoming U.S. airstrike on Yemen. Trump and some (not all) of his aides insist no war plans were being texted but as Politifact points out that's obviously not so.
Over on the CNN website, Stephen Collinson summarized the way the whole situation looks to a lot of us. You might want to read the whole piece but if you don't have time, here's an excerpt…
Naive and sloppy behavior by top Trump aides could have endangered U.S. pilots. One of the worst intelligence breaches by top officials in years, it raises grave questions about the competence of top officials meant to keep Americans safe.
But the administration's main concern is protecting the president and his team. They are demonizing those who point out their malfeasance and embroidering the wider conspiratorial narrative that Trump is again a victim of a deep state witch hunt.
The obsession with answering a national security scandal with a fiercely political argument is characteristic of a White House that never admits wrongdoing — following one of the core principles of Trump's pre-political life.
It's never the fault of the people who commit the crimes or screw-up badly. It's always a witch hunt and a hoax by those terrible losers.