Not a leak. A message. This was Nixon’s Madman Theory 2.0

Everyone’s focused on how dumb this Signal leak was. Pete Hegseth, JD Vance, Waltz, Ratcliffe, Tulsi, Stephen Miller, even Susie Wiles openly chatting on Signal about a live op. Real targets. Launch times. Political messaging. Even fist bump and flag emojis after the first building went down. And yep, they included Jeffrey f*ing Goldberg in the chat.

That’s not a mistake. That’s a broadcast.

Goldberg’s article lays it all out. He thought he was being set up by a prankster. So he watched the clock. And right on schedule, the bombs dropped in Yemen. What he had read two hours earlier was real. The strikes landed, and everyone in the group celebrated like they’d just finished a Call of Duty match.

At first glance it looks like the most boneheaded OPSEC violation in modern history. Cabinet-level officials coordinating war plans on Signal, a platform literally built for journalists and whistleblowers, with a journalist in the thread. But that’s surface noise.

Zoom out.

What if this wasn’t about the Houthis? What if this was about putting the entire world: enemies, allies, and voters - on notice?

This is Madman Theory 2.0. Nixon’s old game was to act just erratic enough that foreign leaders would believe he might go nuclear. That unpredictability forced them to deal. Now fast forward to 2025. Trump’s people didn’t need to act crazy. They let the public watch the crazy in real time.

It’s messy, chaotic, testosterone-soaked theatre. But the point isn’t internal discipline. The point is external message control.

Here’s what the leak really accomplished:

Europe just got humiliated. The chat reads like a roast of NATO’s naval impotence. They outright say European navies can’t handle the drones, cruise missiles, or anti-ship tech the Houthis have. Then they talk about billing Europe after the US clears the Red Sea. They even debate whether to extract “economic gain” from the cleanup. That’s not a leak. That’s a Mafia-style invoice.

The Houthis and Iran got the message loud and clear: We can ID your missile guy walking into his girlfriend’s building, and two hours later it’s rubble. That’s not a press conference. That’s a live demo.

And domestically? This wasn’t about military planning. It was campaign messaging in real time. “Biden cratered deterrence. We’re restoring it. This is what decisive leadership looks like.” The leak makes them look unfiltered, in control, and ruthlessly effective. What’s more politically useful than that?

Goldberg didn’t stumble into a leak. He got invited to a premiere. And when he left the chat? No one said a word. That’s not an accident. That’s the tell.

What we’re watching isn’t a scandal. It’s a signal.

So no, this wasn’t a dumb slip. This was informational warfare disguised as incompetence. The perfect modern psyop: loud, believable, morally grey, and impossible to unsee.

And just like Nixon wanted, now everyone’s wondering what they’ll do next.