The biggest scandal of Trump 2.0 is no scandal at all on MAGA media

(CNN) — The revelation that President Trump’s aides endangered national security by chatting about a military strike in a Signal chat that included a journalist is embarrassing for everyone involved – which is why it’s a big test of MAGA media’s power to deny, dismiss and deflect.

The president’s favorite media outlets are mostly downplaying the story and deriding the reporter who was invited to the group chat, The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg. On X, Elon Musk and his acolytes are cracking jokes about the scandal. And some pro-Trump outlets are trying to ignore it altogether.

It’s all reminiscent of Trump’s first term, when real news stories were rejected by right-wing opinion outlets time and time again. And as we learned back then, the president’s media consumption has a huge impact on the personnel and policy decisions he makes.

So far, the advice he’s getting from his Fox News friends is to weather the current storm.

Many pro-Trump media figures are taking their cues from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who sounded like he reverted to his former role as Fox host when he blasted Goldberg as a “discredited so-called journalist who’s made a profession of peddling hoaxes.”

Hegseth likely used the word “hoax” strategically since it viscerally appeals to Trump. The president has a long history of trying to disarm damaging stories by claiming they are “hoaxes,” regardless of reality. The word has become a signal to Trump fans to tune out distressing stories.

Some on the right saw right through the rhetorical trick. “Oh for God’s sake,” Fox chief political analyst Brit Hume wrote on X, “the administration has already confirmed the authenticity of the message.”

Hegseth’s insistence that “nobody was texting war plans” was also refuted by Goldberg, who told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, “That’s a lie. He was texting war plans. He was texting attack plans.”

Goldberg acted patriotically (and protected himself legally) by choosing not to publish those specific texts. But Hegseth’s denial was a lifeline to MAGA media commentators who are now saying there is a dispute over the facts.

Monday night on Fox News, the dominant pro-Trump network in the United States, Sean Hannity seethed about “media hysteria.” Laura Ingraham pooh-poohed the story by saying “left-wing networks” cared about it. Jesse Watters’ show said “WE’VE ALL TEXTED THE WRONG PERSON BEFORE.”

The Watters segment prompted Issac Saul, who runs Tangle News, to say “it’s really hard to do any kind of political analysis without constantly grappling with the fact that our two political tribes are just living in completely and utterly different information ecosystems.”

On Tuesday morning, the “Fox & Friends” morning show led with some counter-programming: A segment on deportations.

When the show reported on the war plans leak later in the hour, Steve Doocy took a somewhat hard line, saying “what was revealed was classified and top secret.” Guest host Kayleigh McEnany said it was “an obvious mistake,” but then heaped doubt on Goldberg’s depiction of events, saying “he is not a credible reporter.” Then Lawrence Jones said “literally my only question” is how Goldberg got on the Signal chain.

All in all, it was very gentle treatment of a glaring security breach.

Breitbart and other MAGA media voices have also attacked the messenger and suggested that media reports don’t matter much anymore, anyway.

This is the same approach Trump White House officials and outside advisers are taking. On Tuesday morning, Axios quoted an anonymous Trump adviser saying “we don’t care what the media says” and predicting “this will blow over.”

The president, however, has a reputation for caring deeply about media coverage. On Tuesday morning, he gave a phone interview to NBC News, an outlet he criticized just a few days ago, about the Signal scandal. (Trump expressed support for embattled national security adviser Michael Waltz.)

Goldberg’s story, meanwhile, remains the #1 most-read piece on The Atlantic’s website. In a Q&A with a colleague, Goldberg said he is unperturbed about possible retaliation from the Trump administration.

“Unfortunately, in our society today — we see this across corporate journalism and law firms and other industries — there’s too much preemptive obeying for my taste,” Goldberg said. “All we can do is just go do our jobs.”

The-CNN-Wire
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