Sure, service members like it when senior leaders work out alongside them, but they like it much more when senior leaders live by the same standards they impose on their troops. They also like it much more when senior leaders can keep the nation’s most precious secrets.

 

What Rusting Russian Tanks Can Teach Us About the Pete Hegseth Group Chat

By David French

Opinion Columnist

Before Russia invaded Ukraine, several leading Trumpists developed a strange fascination with the Russian Army. They contrasted masculine Russian recruitment ads, which featured chiseled Russian soldiers displaying their martial prowess, with much softer American ads on social media.

The Russians were masculine and tough, they said. Americans were woke and weak. But the illusion of Russian prowess was shattered on those battlefields north of Kyiv. There is much more to military strength than physicality and bravado. Ukraine, the much smaller representative of the so-called woke West, has turned much of Russia’s conventional arsenal into smoking ruins.

It’s telling that Hegseth is turning to martial, masculine symbolism to save his career. He’s putting out images of himself working out with Navy SEALs, as if his fitness can cover for his carelessness and incompetence.

As the Trump administration has responded with a mixture of denials, brush-offs, lies and vitriolic attacks on Mr. Goldberg, I’ve found myself worrying less about the leak and more about the character of the people in charge of our nation’s defense. The breach is serious, but security breaches can be plugged. Men and women who have shown themselves to have no character, though, can never be trusted. Not with national security, not with anything.

 

Security Breaches Can Be Fixed. People Without Honor Can’t Be Trusted.

By Phil Klay

Mr. Klay is a novelist and a Marine Corps veteran of the Iraq war.

Its so French

 

They Want More Babies. Now They Have Friends in the White House.

The American conservative movement has long worked to put the nuclear family at the center of cultural and economic life. Lately, it has added a twist. It wants to make those families bigger.

Neighborhood Grocery

 Dear Diary:

It was 1987. I had just moved to New York from Texas. I loved going to small neighborhood grocery stores in the city. They were so different from the huge suburban ones I was used to.

One day, when I was in Grace’s Marketplace on the Upper East Side, I overheard a customer addressing the man behind the counter.

“Do you have fresh escargot?” the customer said.

“No,” the counterman said. “But we have snails in a can.”

— Kate Marcus

Personally I'm keeping my Rover another three years despite its ridiculously high costs

 

Trump’s Tariffs Leave Automakers With Tough, Expensive Choices

Carmakers are likely to face higher costs regardless of how they respond to President Trump’s 25 percent tariffs on cars and auto parts.

By Jack Ewing

Again its Saturday morning when I post this and I can't wait for Saturday Night Live

 

Vance Makes Quick Trip to Greenland, a Place That Doesn’t Want Him

Vice President JD Vance’s trip to an island that President Trump wants to “get” was a scaled-back version of the original White House plan. “He’s not welcome,” one Greenlander said.

By Jeffrey Gettleman and Maya Tekeli

Jeffrey Gettleman reported from London, and Maya Tekeli from Nuuk, Greenland.

It's Saturday morning while I write this but I can't wait for Saturday Night Live

 

Hegseth Seeks to Reassure Allies on First Official Trip to Asia

At his first stop in the Philippines, the U.S. defense secretary promised to strengthen deterrence against Chinese “threats” in the region. He also plans to visit Japan.

By Sui-Lee Wee