Just My Two Cents on the Hegseth/Waltz Group Chat Scandal

Everyone makes mistakes, especially when starting a new job. And, along those lines, I do try to remind myself government officials like Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and National Security Advisor Mike Waltz have only been in their current jobs for about two months. The same for Vice President J. D. Vance.

So, while discussing potentially classified military plans via a text messaging app is not the best decision and accidentally adding a civilian (who also happens to be the editor of the Atlantic) to that group chat only made that questionable decision worse, I normally would be willing to be OK with no harm being done and lessons learned.

Unfortunately, this is the Donald Trump administration and that's not what's happening.

Here's my word of advice to Hegseth, Waltz, Vance, etc. as an independent voter - own up to your mistake and apologize. Period.

This Trump-like systematic denial, spin and even blame shifting is unprofessional and honestly embarrassing. It's childish, unproductive and makes our country's government look inept, especially when the content of that group chat is now publicly available thanks to your mistake.

There is no way to come out of this looking good. You can, however, still come out of it looking humbled and remorseful rather than arrogant and deceitful.