Mike Waltz & The Signal App & The UN – Top 3 Takeaways – May 2nd, 2025 - Driven By Braman Motorcars

Takeaway #1 Mike Waltz Had Himself a Day

Were they “war plans”? No. Was the original Atlantic story a “nothingburger”. No. Was the mistake intentional. No. It's been a month and a half since National Security Advisor Mike Waltz’s National Security team managed to add the Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg, ironically one of the Trump administration's biggest journalistic adversaries, to a Signal thread in the lead up to a military attack on Iranian-sponsored Houthi terrorists on March 15th. It's been just over a month since Goldberg decided to come forward with the leak – which was interesting given the timing. Why, for example, would he have waited for well over a week before coming forward with this story? If the guy was truly on the level and interested in acting in our country’s best interests, wouldn’t he have immediately responded in that thread that he shouldn’t have been included in the first place? There is only one viable reason. He was waiting to see if he would be included in any other threads before coming public with what he saw on the one he was included on March 15th. Goldberg wasn’t a patriot as some in the GSS news media claim, he certainly isn’t a hero. He was what he’s always been. A self-serving anti-Trump journo turd who only came public when it became clear that he’d not be included in any additional internal communications. Let’s be clear about something. If this guy was truly a patriot who was most concerned with the interests of this country and the security of the military, he would have immediately and discretely handled this directly with the Trump administration as opposed to first announcing this took place in the Atlantic after ten days. That he wasn’t included in any other communications while he sat back and waited was an indication that this was a mistake by team Waltz and

Takeaway #2 Not something intentionally done to attempt to undermine the Trump administration

From the fully leaked Signal thread posted by Goldberg in the Atlantic it read: TEAM UPDATE: TIME NOW (1144et): Weather is FAVORABLE. Just CONFIRMED w/CENTCOM we are a GO for mission launch. 1215et: F-18s LAUNCH (1st strike package) 1345: “Trigger Based” F-18 1st Strike Window Starts (Target Terrorist is @ his Known Location so SHOULD BE ON TIME – also, Strike Drones Launch (MQ-9s) 1410: More F-18s LAUNCH (2nd strike package) 1415: Strike Drones on Target (THIS IS WHEN THE FIRST BOMBS WILL DEFINITELY DROP, pending earlier “Trigger Based” targets) 1536 F-18 2nd Strike Starts – also, first sea-based Tomahawks launched. Calling those “war plans” is overstated. For multiple reasons. The actual locations of the strikes are never mentioned, the names of the targets are never mentioned. There’s never been a “war plan” perpetuated that didn’t include where attacks would take place, and an objective stated. What this clearly was, was an operational update. But while not “war plans”, it’s obviously information that if it’d fallen into the enemy’s hands ahead time could certainly have compromised the mission or worse. And on that note, it eventually led to what happened today with Mike Waltz being shown the door that some of his staffers before him had already been shown. Here’s the next thing and it’s an important thing. Yes, the Biden administration put out guidance that use of the Signal app was a best practice for use by government officials. That doesn’t mean that it’s inherently a good thing for government officials to use. How many Biden administration determined best practices would you expect the Trump administration to use? If anything, that should be the first clue that the Signal app wasn’t a good idea to use. The bottom line is this. If only governmental communication services were being used, a mistake like what happened here wouldn’t even be possible to do. The only people that would be able to be included in a sensitive communication chain would be those already authorized in the government chain. That’s one of many potential problems that can crop up with a third-party app that anyone can use. Many had wondered about whether someone on Waltz’s team set this up on an intentional leak. I’m not sure who set up the thread chain that included Jeffrey Goldberg’s name. But I have known Mike Waltz for a number of years. I’ve interacted with his team for a number of years. They’re all first-class people. Mike is a retired Army Colonel and a decorated Green Beret. He is an American patriot and has always had a team to match. Which made this situation that much more surprising from where I sit. Thankfully the mission succeeded unimpeded and there was an important lesson learned. That’s the takeaway and perhaps should have been the end of this story but it wasn’t as we saw today. And that’s potentially in part due to yet another lawsuit. The one that was filed in March against the administration over the use of the Signal App, and that was amended over the past week to include additional administration communications, a la an alleged chat with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s family. That case currently sits with none other than D.C. Judge James Boasberg – the same judge who ruled against Trump’s deportation flights under the Alien Enemies Act. As a result, this wasn’t likely to be a mistake that was just going to go away. Today, with Waltz’s departure from, we saw it didn't. But with what came next...we also saw that

Takeaway #3 President Trump gets it

Just after 2 yesterday came this Trump Truth: I am pleased to announce that I will be nominating Mike Waltz to be the next United States Ambassador to the United Nations. From his time in uniform on the battlefield, in Congress and, as my National Security Advisor, Mike Waltz has worked hard to put our Nation’s Interests first. I know he will do the same in his new role. In the interim, Secretary of State Marco Rubio will serve as National Security Advisor, while continuing his strong leadership at the State Department. Together, we will continue to fight tirelessly to Make America, and the World, SAFE AGAIN. Thank you for your attention to this matter!

Two points about this. First, it could be said, perhaps spun that the NSA decision with Waltz wasn’t related to the Signal App situation. President Trump needs a UN ambassador and Mike Waltz I have no doubt will do a good job. But on the other hand, if the timing for this decision were all part of a larger plan – Secretary of State Marco Rubio wouldn’t have been named interim NSA in addition to his day job as Secretary of State. You’d think in that scenario Trump would already have Waltz’s successor in hand. That he didn’t, and given that fact that Waltz was in yesterday’s cabinet meeting, and on Fox and Friends just this morning as the NSA Advisor – there's clearly more to the story. And that takes me to the next thing. It’s no time in the Senate to be weak kneed.

NSA doesn’t require senate approval, so Waltz hasn’t been through the senate confirmation process before. The role of UN ambassador requires senate confirmation. Against the backdrop of the Signal situation, he’s going to get a serious grilling. He can handle it. Again, we’re talking about a Green Beret Colonel – but the concern would be weak kneed GOPers in the Senate. This is no time for weak knees. Senate Republicans need to send Waltz to the UN. He’s exactly what they need.

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