On Tuesday's CNN This Morning, commenting on new reports that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth held a second Signal chat [that included his wife] in which military plans were discussed, host Audie Cornish said:
"At some point, does it move from it's a joke to he's a joke? And I'm not saying that's what's happening, but, like, it starts out, Operation Overshare, and then next thing you know . . ."
So Audie's not saying . . . but she's saying. Got it.
Cornish also made the comical claim that Hegseth is "not getting criticism from longtime Democrats." As PBS correspondent Lisa Desjardins has reported:
"Scores of Democrats are calling for Hegseth to resign."
And who would have better sources among Democrats than PBS?!
And, yet again, Cornish assembled an unbalanced, left-leaning panel.
Jerusalem Demsas of the highly Trump-hostile Atlantic described President Trump's alleged reluctance to listen to criticisms of Hegseth as "highly dangerous." Demsas' bio mentions that she spent years working on "political campaigns." Googling didn't turn up just which campaigns she worked on, but let's go out on a limb and venture that neither Ted Cruz nor Marjorie Taylor Greene were in the mix.
And then there was panel regular Chuck Rocha, a Democrat strategist. Someone who might be called an attention, um, hound—to put it politely.
During the discussion, wanting to draw attention to his Texas headgear [an absurd bit of showboating unless he had a bronco tied up at the curb], Rocha said of Hegseth's Signal controversy:
"It's went [sic] on from felt cowboy hat season to straw cowboy hat season, and we're still talking about it."
Finally, Kristen Soltis Anderson, a Republican strategist and pollster. Though certainly not MAGA, she made the solid point that when it comes to assessing the political damage to Trump from news of this second Signal chat revelation:
"I just think any damage you would have already seen would have come from the first revelation."
Take Cornish herself into account, and you've got a three-to-one liberal to conservative panel ratio. Fair 'n balanced—CNN style!
Here's the transcript.
CNN This Morning
4/22/25
6:13 am EDTAUDIE CORNISH: Here to kick off the only other group chat that matters here is staff writer at The Atlantic, Jerusalem Demsas, Democratic strategist Chuck Rocha, and CNN political commentator and Republican strategist and pollster Kristen Soltis Anderson.
. . .
KRISTEN SOLTIS ANDERSON: I think in terms of Trump actually taking action, it will only be if he perceives that it is hurting his political standing. And right now, I don't know that the second group chat revelation is as damaging or, I mean, I just think any damage you would have already seen would have come from the first revelation.
CHUCK ROCHAS: You see a drip, drip, and it's went [sic] on from felt cowboy hat season to straw cowboy hat season, and we're still talking about it.
. . .
JERUSALEM DEMSAS: I think from policy perspective, it's really dangerous to have a situation where the President United States or people in the administration are not interested in hearing the feedback loop that someone's not working out. This is the head of the Defense Department!
CORNISH: But in fairness, they hear that all the time, that it's not working out, right? Democrats are like, that's not working, that's not working.
DEMSAS: Yes, but you have to be able to evaluate the difference between your opponents disagreeing with you and someone literally sharing national security secrets. Not one but two unsecure group chats, some of which are not even people who are in the administration at all.
. . .
CORNISH: The other thing that's curious is I think multiple aides actually were commenting on, exited the Pentagon. They were actually people who had worked with Hegseth at his previous nonprofit, which people said he wasn't able to run properly. And now they are out there talking about how they were wrongly fired. And I feel like that's not helpful in this moment, right?
Because he's not getting criticism from longtime Democrats or longtime Pentagon people. It's like, his own buddies, basically.
But at some point, does it move from it's a joke to he's a joke? And I'm not saying that's what's happening, but, like, it starts out, Operation Overshare, and then next thing you know, it's like...
