Cliff Notes – Discrediting the messenger rather than focusing on the message
- Marjorie Taylor Greene has emerged as a prominent figure in the “Make America Great Again” movement, employing a crisis management strategy that involves attacking, discrediting, and distracting from controversies.
- During media questioning about a Signal group chat revealing sensitive military plans, Greene deflected answers, shifting focus to unrelated topics, including issues related to the Biden administration and immigration.
- The Trump administration is prioritising the discrediting of journalist Jeffrey Goldberg, who reported on the group chat scandal, over addressing the implications of the leaked information.
Discrediting the messenger, rather than focusing on the message is order of day for Trump White House
Marjorie Taylor Greene has become the most aggressive spokesperson for the “Make America Great Again” movement.
It’s perhaps no surprise, then, that she would read straight from a fraying playbook when confronted about the Signal group chat fiasco.
Crisis management
Team Trump has adopted a crisis management strategy of attack, discredit, and distract, a dark art of which Taylor Greene is emerging as a master.
When questioned about whether the texts on the group chat, detailing timings and weapons to be used on strikes on Houthis in Yemen, amount to classified information, she refused to answer the question.
The representative from Georgia attempted to deflect attention on to the Biden administration, then on to the US’s border problem and finally, in a remarkable act of contortion, onto “all the women that are raped by migrants” in the UK.
Refusing to answer a questions, she then turned to a question from a US reporter, who also asked for clarification on her views about the Signal scandal and its national security ramifications.
Eventually, Taylor Greene did respond to The Atlantic magazine’s revelation of texts on the signal group chat, fully backing defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, who is facing calls for his resignation.
In MAGA world, the villain of this scandal is Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor of The Atlantic, who was inadvertently invited on to the group chat.
Despite the fact that Goldberg took care over his reporting and potentially exposing major failings in the way senior government communicate, he has been repeatedly smeared by the White House.
Donald Trump calls him a “sleazebag”, national security advisor Michael Waltz equates him to “journalists trying to make a name for themselves”, and press secretary Karoline Leavitt calls him an “anti-Trump hater.”
Discrediting the messenger, rather than focusing on the message and what lessons can be learned, is the order of the day for the Trump White House.