March 27, 2025 at 5:53 pm<\/p>\n\n\n\n ILLUSTRATION: MARTIN KOZLOWSKI<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Signal mess is a real mess, not something that will fade away quickly, because it\u2019s one of those scandals that give the world a picture of a new administration. <\/p>\n\n\n\n At just about this time in John F. Kennedy\u2019s presidency (April 17-20, 1961) came the Bay of Pigs disaster, the failed invasion of Cuba by U.S.-backed and trained exiles who had been assured of American air support but learned on the beach it wouldn\u2019t be forthcoming. It shadowed JFK for a long time. The Soviets concluded he was a dilettante and inferred from his actions an ambivalence about the use of force, which led Premier Nikita Khrushchev to rough him up at their first summit, that June in Vienna. JFK wasn\u2019t prepared for such treatment. He confided to the journalist James Reston that it was \u201cthe worst thing in my life\u201d; Khrushchev \u201csavaged me.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n In August the Soviets erected the Berlin Wall; a year later they put missiles in Cuba. Kennedy\u2019s mastery in the latter crisis, in October 1962, had a reordering effect on his international reputation. Good things followed, including his American University address in which he felt free, having proved himself, having established a more grounded relationship with the Soviet government, to unveil a new plea for nuclear arms control. His speechwriter, the great Ted Sorensen, told me years later that of all the speeches they worked on\u2014the Inaugural Address, the announcement of the missile crisis\u2014the one at American University was the most important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n An opposite example: It was at almost exactly this point in the new administration of Ronald Reagan, on March 30, 1981, that the president was shot outside the Washington Hilton. His aplomb, the warmth of his gallantry as he joked with doctors and nurses\u2014\u201cI hope you\u2019re all Republicans\u201d\u2014even though his wound was nearly fatal, also carried immense implications. Among world leaders: This cowboy star is both tough and lucky. (Some of them hated a lucky American president, but all saw the luck as a major factor: Politicians are among the most superstitious people on earth.) The shooting also cemented Reagan\u2019s relationship with the American people. Even Democratic House Speaker Tip O\u2019Neill\u2019s Massachusetts voters were impressed: Tip, don\u2019t be too tough on my Ronnie<\/em>. That was the beginning of serious bipartisan progress between the White House and Congress, when O\u2019Neill realized you can\u2019t ignore this guy or try to roll him every day, you\u2019d better play ball.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Signal mess lacks the size and depth of both these events. But it too will have implications for the reputation of this White House because, again, it gives a picture that is not so forgettable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Every government in the world, even those with the best intelligence services, has wondered exactly what it\u2019s like in there, how exactly it works. To see the transcripts of the now famous \u201cHouthi PC small group\u201d is to conclude it\u2019s pretty ad hoc. Pretty messy. The word jejune comes to mind. So does callow. There\u2019s a lot of freelancing. The vice president questions what appears to have been a presidential decision, and the debate is conducted on a publicly available encrypted app. No one on the 19-person call said, \u201cGuys, should we be doing this on Signal?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n They don\u2019t come across as steely-eyed pros, and often express themselves in ways that are emotional. JD Vance: \u201cI just hate bailing Europe out again.\u201d It made me think of a 1950s housewife in a Rinso commercial: \u201cI just hate those stubborn stains!\u201d Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth: \u201cI fully share your loathing of European free-loading. It\u2019s PATHETIC.\u201d There was also a lot of drama: \u201cWe are a GO for mission launch. . . . (1st strike package),\u201d Mr. Hegseth texted. A Trump-supporting congressional veteran referred to this privately as the defense secretary\u2019s communicating \u201cin his chesty, boastful way.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n