Democrats are taking advantage of the backlash from the Signal chat scandal, or “Signalgate,” as part of their campaign fundraising campaign. The scandal, in which senior Trump administration officials debated a military attack on Houthi rebels in a Signal group chat that accidentally included an Atlantic reporter, has outraged national security circles.
Top Democrats are calling for the quits of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, labeling the incident as a classic case of what they term the incompetence of the Trump administration. While the Washington political fallout is evident, Democrats are now trying to see if the scandal could rally their voters.
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Senator Kirsten Gillibrand’s campaign sent out a fundraising email Tuesday with the headline: “Do you feel safe under the Trump administration? ” The email featured The Atlantic’s headline over the story, which described it as one of Trump’s “most egregious and dangerous actions yet.” In a similar vein, Senator Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) sent out a statement decrying the administration’s lack of attention. “This is amateur hour.”.
We’re damn lucky the pilots and sailors involved in that mission didn’t pay the ultimate price,” Gallego wrote, linking to a petition demanding Hegseth’s resignation.
Progressive group Justice Democrats also seized on the controversy, denouncing the Trump administration for discussing “unconstitutional war plans via a texting app.” The group framed the incident as part of a broader pattern of recklessness. In spite of the criticism, the White House has come in defense of the officials, admitting that the messages were genuine but underplaying the security threat. In the meantime, Waltz attacked the media, referring to The Atlantic reporter who broke the leaked messages as “the bottom scum of journalists” during an interview on Fox News.
