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- Failing Sideways and Down
Back in Trump 1.0, that version of the algorithm would fire people pretty frequently. Trump 2.0 isn’t doing that. A week or so ago, NPR reported, incorrectly, that the White House was considering firing Hegseth. Obviously, that hasn’t happened. Push-up bro is still at the Pentagon with his emotional support humans, including his wife, brother and lawyer.
This morning, I got a news alert saying that Trump was going to replace National Security Advisor Mike Waltz. Then, this happened:
Mike Waltz finally left the chat after Donald Trump ousted his national security adviser in the first major shake-up of his administration so far. Trump considered firing Waltz when Signalgate first broke, but decided to wait so as not to give opponents a victory. The push to get rid of him gained momentum in recent weeks as he found himself without allies and losing sway in the White House. His deputy Alex Wong has also been shown the door. Waltz and Wong found themselves under pressure in recent weeks – with West Wing officials blaming Waltz for the fiasco of Signalgate, and far-right activist Laura Loomer targeting them as insufficiently loyal to the Maga agenda. Indeed other aides viewed Waltz as ideologically out of step with the administration and too much of a foreign policy hawk. He has been demoted to ambassador to the UN, while secretary of state Marco Rubio will serve as national security adviser in the interim, Trump said.
That’s the Guardian’s spin, but it isn’t like Trump fired Waltz. Elise Stefanik would have sold her children and sent her husband to El Salvador for the UN Ambassador job, now she’s back to being a simple Member of Congress. That was a real loss. This is a “meh”.
Putting Rubio in as NSA, a second job he isn’t qualified for, is kind of funny. Either Trump is running out of fools, or, more likely, he’s just running a “us guys” administration where the only thing that matters is whether you’re in the room when the decision is made. Who wants to worry about where everyone will sit in the Oval Office when everyone who’s in the room helps Trump break the law? Waltz is probably out of the room, for now. We’ll see where he lands in a few months.
I think the message here is clearly that Trump’s guys can fuck up hugely, and the worst that’s going to happen is a bit of a demotion. He’s just stubbornly sticking with them. He doesn’t want to learn any new names. Real “savvy” coverage of Trump would note that. Instead we get some ball spiking from the press, who love the idea that one of their scoops made a difference. It did, but not in the way they think.
Update: Well, he’s certainly learned his lesson:
Mike Waltz, who started SignalGate, was pictured yesterday texting on Signal with JD Vance, Tulsi Gabbard, Marco Rubio, and other high level Trump officials.
— FactPost (@factpostnews.bsky.social)2025-05-01T19:46:02.724Z
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