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‘You Capitulated to Russia’: Vance Rant on America’s ‘Androgynous’ Masculinity Draws Fire
Vice President JD Vance, in a rare public appearance, told the audience at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) that America’s “cultural message” tells young men they should “suppress every masculine urge” and become “androgynous idiots.” His comments on Thursday were well-received at the far-right conference, but more widely, were quickly denounced, as critics urged him to revisit his own remarks and his own societal and religious beliefs.
“I think that our culture sends a message to young men that you should suppress every masculine urge,” the Ohio Republican said, to cheers (video below). “You should try to cast aside your family, you should try to suppress what makes you a young man in the first place.”
“And I think that my, my message to young men is, don’t allow this broken culture to send you a message that you’re a bad person because you’re a man, because you like to tell a joke, because you like to have a beer with your friends or because you’re competitive.”
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Vance went on to claim that “our cultural message is, I think, that it wants to turn everybody into whether male or female into androgynous idiots who think the same, talk the same and act the same.”
“We actually think God made male and female for a purpose, and we want you guys to thrive as young men and as young women, and we’re gonna help with our public policy to make it possible to do that.”
Fred Wellman is a graduate of West Point and the Harvard Kennedy School, an Army veteran of 22 years who served four combat tours, and is now a political consultant and the host of the podcast “On Democracy.”
“Nobody thinks that,” Wellman wrote, responding to Vance’s remarks. “We just don’t want our young men to rape women. This isn’t hard. This guy is such a f— incel.”
“This guy is too much of a chicken to stand up publicly to a guy who he privately described as a ‘moral disaster’ or to defend his own wife’s honor from a punk kid who said we should ‘normalize Indian hate.’ Obsequious, snivelling, Vancely cowardice ain’t masculinity,” decried U.S. Rep. Sean Casten (D-IL).
Appearing to mock the vice president, The Atlantic’s Jemele Hill asked, “Who told men they can’t have beer with their friends? What I miss?”
Self-described former “Republican flack” and conservative Christian, Kristy Campbell, appearing to denigrate President Trump’s attack on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy this week, noted, “I don’t think it’s a good idea to lecture on masculinity at CPAC – which was launched in 1974 with an incredible speech by future president Ronald Reagan about freedom and America’s role in the world – when you just capitulated to Russia.”
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Award-winning author Jennifer Erin Valent blasted Vance, saying, “What he’s really aiming at isn’t the ability to exercise true masculine strength but rather the ability to be a jerk without accountability. And since he brought God into it, I advise him to take a walk through the gospels and see how his brand of manhood measures up to Christ’s.”
“These guys aren’t reviving masculinity, they’re reviving being a dick. There’s a difference,” wrote Justin Kanew, a writer, producer, and political activist who appeared on the 15th and 18th seasons of “The Amazing Race.” Kanew runs the progressive platform The Tennessee Holler.
“For somebody who supposedly is so smart, JD Vance really says some stupid things,” blasted CNN political commentator Maria Cardona. “No, our culture does not tell young men that they cannot be masculine. But hopefully they are getting the message that that masculinity has to come with decency, compassion, generosity, and confidence that you can be all these things and that actually define real confident manhood. Real men don’t have to go around proving that they are real men.”
Emmy-nominated writer and comedian Mike Drucker asked, “is masculinity when you never stop fucking whining about everything? that seems to be the vance demo.”
David J. Bier, director of immigration studies at the libertarian Cato Institute, remarked, “Is the message young American men need to hear: ‘keep drinking beer with your friends and telling jokes that might offend people’? That doesn’t make you a ‘bad person,’ but there’s something broken in a culture that thinks that’s the most important message to give kids.”
Watch Vance’s remarks below or at the link.
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Image via Reuters
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Highly sensitive information belonging to several top national security officials from the Trump administration—including passwords and cell phone numbers linked to their Signal accounts—is publicly available online. The encrypted messaging app was used in a major breach of classified national security information earlier this month, according to a leading German news outlet, DER SPIEGEL, which concluded that it is “conceivable that foreign agents were privy to the Signal chat group” discussions.
“DER SPIEGEL reporters were able to find mobile phone numbers, email addresses and even some passwords belonging to the top officials,” the news site reported Wednesday. The top officials include National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth—all of whom were part of the Signal chat in which a military attack was mapped out and carried out.
The sensitive information has been used by the three top officials in various ways, and reportedly remains in use.
READ MORE: ‘Liar’ Hegseth Faces ‘Immediate’ Resignation Demand From Growing List of Democrats
Some are “linked to profiles on social media platforms like Instagram and LinkedIn. They were used to create Dropbox accounts and profiles in apps that track running data. There are also WhatsApp profiles for the respective phone numbers and even Signal accounts in some cases.”
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s data was “particularly easy for DER SPIEGEL reporters to discover,” including his cell phone number and email address.”
The reporters “turned to a commercial provider of contact information that is primarily used by companies for sales, marketing and recruitment,” and then they “sent the provider a link to Hegseth’s LinkedIn profile and received a Gmail address and a mobile phone number in return, in addition to other information.”
“A search of leaked user data revealed that the email address and, in some cases, even the password associated with it, could be found in over 20 publicly accessible leaks. Using publicly available information, it was possible to verify that the email address was used just a few days ago.”
READ MORE: ‘Quite a Bit of Perjury’: Texts Shatter Trump Admin’s ‘Bungled Coverup’ of Classified Leak
The DER SPIEGEL investigation, it said, also “revealed an additional grave, previously unknown security breach at the highest levels in Washington. Hostile intelligence services could use this publicly available data to hack the communications of those affected by installing spyware on their devices.”
But National Security Advisor Mike Waltz’s data was also easily accessed, including “several passwords for Waltz’s email address in leaked databases. The information also led to Waltz’s profiles for Microsoft Teams, LinkedIn, WhatsApp and Signal.”
“DER SPIEGEL reporting has demonstrated, though, that privately used and publicly accessible telephone numbers belonging to [Gabbard] and Waltz are, in fact, linked to Signal accounts,” the German news outlet states. “It is thus conceivable that foreign agents were privy to the Signal chat group in which Gabbard, Waltz and Hegseth discussed a military strike.”
That essentially voids the arguments made by the Trump administration, Republican lawmakers, and right-wing news outlets which have said that the military strikes were successful, and no Americans were harmed so the breach of national security is, as President Trump claimed, a mere “glitch.”
READ MORE: ‘Putin Is Giddy’: NSA Knew Signal Was Vulnerable to Russian Hackers Before Security Breach
Image via Reuters
As Signalgate enters its third day and Pete Hegseth emerges as the central figure in what experts warn may be a serious—and possibly illegal—breach of classified information protocols, House and Senate Democrats are coalescing around a single goal: building the case while calling for the immediate resignation, or firing, of the U.S. Secretary of Defense.
Politico‘s national security correspondent Robbie Gramer reports that “multiple White House insiders and GOP Congressional staffers argued to me that the reason this is turning into a scandal is because of Hegesth’s comments in the groupchat — not [Mike] Waltz for setting the groupchat up.”
“They said,” he added, “the real concern is what Hegseth said, and the sensitive information on Yemen strike plans that Hegseth volunteered without prompting in the groupchat.”
During Wednesday’s House Intelligence Committee hearing on global threats, U.S. Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO) blasted the 18 Trump administration national security officials who participated in the Signal group chat, during which Secretary Hegseth reportedly shared classified information in an insecure environment.
RELATED: ‘Quite a Bit of Perjury’: Texts Shatter Trump Admin’s ‘Bungled Coverup’ of Classified Leak
Making his case for Hegseth’s immediate resignation, Congressman Crow got confirmation that both the National Security Agency and the Pentagon had issued warnings about the use of Signal and the vulnerabilities surrounding it. DNI Tulsi Gabbard admitted to Crow that she was part of the Signal text chain, along with lead Russia negotiator Steve Witkoff, who was in Moscow during the chat and possibly using a personal phone, which he has denied.
“I deployed three times to combat in service to this nation,” Crow said, during the end of his remarks (video below). “I learned in that time in service that responsibility is core to leadership. You accept responsibility when things go wrong, you admit mistakes, you set the standard from the very top.”
“It is completely outrageous to me, completely outrageous to me the administration officials come before us today with impunity. No acceptance of responsibility. Excuse after excuse after excuse while we send our men and women down range to do incredibly difficult, incredibly dangerous things on our behalf. And yet, nobody is willing to come to us and say, ‘this was wrong, this was a breach of security and we won’t do it again.'”
“It is outrageous and it is a leadership failure and that’s why Secretary Hegseth, who undoubtedly transmitted classified sensitive operational information via this chain, must resign immediately. There can be no fixes, there can be no corrections until there is accountability, and I’m calling on the administration to move forward with accountability.”
U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), a retired Army National Guard lieutenant colonel, blasted Hegseth’s claim that he shared no classified information in the Signal chat: “Pete Hegseth is a f—— liar. This is so clearly classified info he recklessly leaked that could’ve gotten our pilots killed. He needs to resign in disgrace immediately.”
Conservative commentator Bill Kristol of The Bulwark remarked, “Prediction: Hegseth gone by Friday.”
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NCRM has complied a very partial list of congressional Democrats who are calling for Secretary Hegseth’s resignation, or his firing. (Links go to their video or statement.)
House Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY)
U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA)
U.S. Rep. Andy Kim (D-NJ)
U.S. Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY)
U.S. Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-PA)
Rep. Morgan McGarvey (D-KY)
U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL)
U.S. Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA)
U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA)
U.S. Rep. Ami Bera (D-CA)
U.S. Rep. Becca Balint (D-VT)
U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH)
U.S. Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA)
Senate Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), says Hegseth “should be fired.”
U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT)
U.S. Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ)
U.S. Senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ)
U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA)
Watch the video below or at this link.
“There can be no fixes, there can be no corrections until there’s accountability. And I’m calling on the administration to move forward with accountability.”
Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO) says Pete Hegseth ‘must resign immediately’ following leaked signal chat pic.twitter.com/rzw9xPM7ia
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) March 26, 2025
READ MORE: ‘Makes Me Want to Throw Up’: Democrat Goes Off on Fox Host Over Signalgate Spin
Image via Reuters
In response to the Trump administration’s disinformation-and-discredit campaign, The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, has released the full Signal chat at the center of the growing national security scandal. National security experts and other analysts and experts, after reviewing the exchange, are sharply rejecting the administration’s efforts to downplay the severity of the breach. Many assert that, contrary to official claims, classified information was clearly shared by unsecured means—violating established protocols, internal policy, and potentially federal law.
The Trump administration and its Republican allies have been waging a disinformation campaign and pushing back against the credibility of The Atlantic and its editor-in-chief, after he revealed on Monday that he had been inadvertently added to a group text chat on Signal that took place over a number of days and involved the planning of a military strike against a terrorist group in Yemen.
The use of what has been called an unsecured chat on the messaging app Signal, likely on private, not government phones, while various members of the 18-person group were traveling overseas, including in Moscow, constitutes extreme violations of accepted national security practices, experts say. The conversations should have been held via secure communications, inside a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF).
READ MORE: ‘Putin Is Giddy’: NSA Knew Signal Was Vulnerable to Russian Hackers Before Security Breach
The President, the White House Press Secretary, the Director of National Intelligence, the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, the Secretary of Defense, and other officials — along with top Republican lawmakers and right wing media outlets—have all claimed that information in the Signal chat was not classified.
In sworn testimony on Tuesday before the Senate Intelligence Committee, the Director of National Intelligence and the Director of the CIA both insisted none of the information shared in the Signal chat was classified.
Experts disagree.
“The information Secretary of Defense Hegseth disclosed in the Signal chat was classified at the time he wrote it, especially because the operation had not even started yet, according to a US defense official and another source who was briefed on the operation,” CNN Pentagon and national security correspondent Natasha Bertrand reported.
“It is safe to say that anybody in uniform would be court martialed for this,” the official said, Bertrand wrote.. “We don’t provide that level of information on unclassified systems, in order to protect the lives and safety of the servicemembers carrying out these strikes. If we did, it would be wholly irresponsible. My most junior analysts know not to do this.”
Barbara Starr, the iconic, now former CNN Pentagon correspondent for two decades, focused on Trump National Security Advisor Michael Waltz, who admitted he set up the chat and inadvertently included Goldberg. She wrote:
“Waltz revealed an extraordinary detail when he said there was intel showing the top Houthi missile guy walked into a building. You only know that if you have overhead surveillance, comms intercepts, or an operative on the ground. It means the US had ‘pattern of life’ surveillance. How is that not classified?”
READ MORE: ‘Makes Me Want to Throw Up’: Democrat Goes Off on Fox Host Over Signalgate Spin
NBC News senior congressional reporter Scott Wong reports that two House Armed Services Committee (HASC) Republicans are denouncing the Trump administration’s handling of Signalgate.
“The White House is in denial that this was not classified or sensitive data. They should just own up to it and preserve credibility,” U.S. Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) said.
After reviewing the Signal text chain, U.S. Rep. Scott DesJarlais (R-TN) “said he is concerned about Hegseth sending this detailed information over the messaging app,” Wong also reported.
DesJarlais, chairman of the HASC subcommittee on Strategic Forces said: “It should have never happened and must not happen again.”
Joseph J. Collins is a retired U.S. Army colonel, professor of national security strategy at the National War College, and former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Stability Operations. He currently leads the Center for Complex Operations at the National Defense University.
Dr. Collins, responding to Starr’s remarks, wrote: “Important point … this fiasco compromised or potentially compromised sources and methods, possibly including our agents and stringers on the ground.”
Veteran, veterans’ activist, and Amherst College political science lecturer Paul Rieckhoff declared: “Hegseth must step down or be removed. Any member of the Department of Defense that did this would be in prison. There is no way someone that did this can lead our military as SecDef. And even he knows it.”
“Everyone on this chat probably has to go. Everyone. They all know the rules,” he continued. “Loose lips sink ships. Everyone who’s ever served knows that line. It’s OPSEC 101 that every Private learns in Basic Training. And a f— up like this could have cost American lives. There is no spinning it. Hegseth’s got to go.”
“We can’t have a SecDef who doesn’t follow the same rules and standard he’s expected to hold for millions at DoD,” Rieckhoff added. “There’s no wiggle room. Stakes are too high. Our troops lives depend on it. And our enemies are celebrating.”
Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is one of a handful of top Democrats who have been vociferously contesting the administration’s claims. Based on his extensive military and high-level of government service, late Wednesday he simply wrote: “Well, they lied. Obviously.”
Former CIA lawyer Brian Greer posted screenshots from The Atlantic’s report, and the regulations surrounding what is classified information. He wrote: “This is all very plainly classified at the SECRET level. They all lied. They should all lose their jobs.”
Apparently referencing Tuesday’s Senate Intelligence Committee hearing during which the Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, and CIA Director John Ratcliffe testified, claiming there was no classified information shared, Greer wrote: “There was quite a bit of perjury yesterday.”
See his social media posts below or at this link.
On the left: Hegseth’s message.
On the right: the applicable CENTCOM classification guide provisions.
This is all very plainly classified at the SECRET level.
They all lied. They should all lose their jobs. https://t.co/koVfF4SIhN pic.twitter.com/D8Iaxh7zcd
— Secrets and Laws (@secretsandlaws) March 26, 2025
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Image via Reuters
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Passwords, Contact Info for Top Trump NatSec Officials ‘Publicly’ Available: Report
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