The Democracy Index

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The cavalier incompetence and dangerousness of Signalgate — the misbegotten episode in which top national security officials discussed war plans over the third-party Signal messaging app, and added an Atlantic journalist to see it all — encapsulates much of the danger we have been tracking. It is foolishness and dangerousness, ineptitude and mendacity, all rolled together.

This scandal reflects broader systemic problems with the Trump Administration’s governance and the state of our democracy. Each of these wrinkles revealed themselves in turn, as the public learned more and the White House reacted.

Foremost was the shocking breach itself, and the use of a third-party app. The National Security Adviser, Mike Waltz, mistakenly added The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg to a Signal chat with Trump Administration principals coordinating an attack in Yemen. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, whose previous job was hosting the Fox & Friends weekend show, proceeded to share sensitive war plans, including precise details of the strike.

Waltz’s fumbling fingers could have let anyone into that chat. The White House should feel lucky that he added Goldberg, who displayed more caution and concern for the lives that could be endangered than the principals — by initially withholding information compromising national security or officers. Only after officials insisted that they were not sharing classified information and that there was no reason to worry that any of this had been shared on a non-government-secured app did Goldberg release the full text thread. That does not lessen the reality that our armed forces and the integrity of our national security were one wrong click away from calamity. One immediately wonders how easy it must be for America’s adversaries to penetrate the porous communications of our leaders. Those types of operations, it’s worth noting, have been weaponized against our democracy before. Perhaps more concerning is how this breach will deepen the erosion of trust between the United States and our allies. If our leaders are incapable of safeguarding our own domestic intel, how can we make assurances to other nations that their secrets are safe with us?

Taking after their boss, all of these principals — the Vice President, Secretaries of Defense, State and Treasury; the National Security Adviser — seemed to be avoiding creating government records that would be subject to disclosure laws and archives. Trump’s hostility to record-keeping is notorious. His antipathy toward the sensitivity of national security documents and their proper place under the Presidential Records Act was fully uncovered in the course of the Mar-a-Lago prosecution. Having gotten away with purloining sensitive national security materials in the past, Trump and his associates appear comfortable with blatantly disregarding the necessity of public records-keeping. It’s too early to say whether any laws have been broken, but serious questions must be asked.

Perhaps the most insidious damage this scandal revealed is the absence of accountability. The Attorney General, Pam Bondi, has already indicated she will not investigate.

And why would she? The entire ethos of the Trump White House is that the law does not apply to them; that the Executive is afforded extraordinary protections and powers; and that political actors can influence and pressure supposed law-enforcement officials, such as the Attorney General. Indeed, one of Trump’s first acts in office during his first week was firing the Defense Department’s Inspector General, the independent lawyer who would be tasked with investigating wrongdoing within the Pentagon.

The split-screen this week has been striking: individuals detained without due process deported from the country (including Fulbright Scholars) and frog-marched into El Salvadoran prisons and put on display by DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, as the government’s lies about alleged gang membership unraveled in federal court; and the country’s military leaders imperiled American lives with their recklessness.

Disregard for the livelihoods of Americans extended into people’s health as well this week. As we have documented, the Administration is eviscerating the institutions that keep us healthy. The Administration cut $12 billion worth of funds to key public health infrastructure, as RFK Jr. also announced a massive restructuring of HHS straight out of Project 2025 — with no documented plan, and no justification beyond the slogan “Make America Healthy Again.”

Meanwhile, Trump continues to attack the bedrock of our democracy — elections. This week, he unleashed a new Executive Order that threatens to disenfranchise large swaths of American voters under the guise of election integrity. Many are already questioning the EO’s legality under the Constitution. Fundamentally, subverting the franchise is at the core of the authoritarian project — as Trump has already previewed with his claim that Americans “won’t have to vote anymore.” It’s part of what enables these officials to presume they can act with impunity. Protecting the sacred right to vote may be the most important battle we wage as citizens.

Until next week,

The Democracy Index team