Hillary Clinton issued a sharp condemnation of former President Donald Trump and his administration on Friday, calling recent national security missteps "dangerous and just dumb" and warning that America under Trump risks becoming "feeble and friendless." In a blistering opinion piece for The New York Times, the former secretary of state and 2016 Democratic presidential nominee targeted the administration's handling of a military leak and ongoing efforts to dismantle federal agencies.
Clinton's op-ed, titled "How Much Dumber Will This Get?", opens with the line: "It's not the hypocrisy that bothers me; it's the stupidity." She was referring to revelations that a small encrypted Signal group chat-comprised of top Trump officials including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and National Security Adviser Mike Waltz-accidentally included The Atlantic's editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg. Within days of being added to the group, Goldberg reportedly witnessed sensitive planning of U.S. airstrikes on Houthi targets in Yemen, including "precise information about weapons packages, targets, and timing."
"Top Trump administration officials put our troops in jeopardy by sharing military plans on a commercial messaging app and unwittingly invited a journalist into the chat," Clinton wrote. "That's dangerous. And it's just dumb."
Clinton, who faced years of scrutiny over her own use of a private email server, noted the irony of being attacked by some of the same officials now embroiled in a classified information controversy. "We're all shocked-shocked!-that President Trump and his team don't actually care about protecting classified information or federal record retention laws," she wrote. "But we knew that already."
The Signal scandal emerged earlier this month when Goldberg revealed that Waltz mistakenly added him to a group labeled "Houthi PC Group," which included Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Vice President JD Vance, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, CIA Director Scott Ratcliff, and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. The thread contained celebratory emojis and commentary as Hegseth shared real-time updates on the airstrike, which was launched within hours.
Clinton also criticized the administration's broader governance style, taking aim at Elon Musk's reported influence over federal workforce cuts. While she did not mention Musk by name, Clinton highlighted the Trump administration's aggressive reduction of federal personnel, including those tasked with overseeing nuclear security and global health.
She singled out the dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development as emblematic of the administration's rejection of "smart power"-a blend of military strength, diplomacy, and development aid. "In a dangerous and complex world, it's not enough to be strong. You must also be smart," Clinton wrote.
Clinton further condemned what she called the administration's obsession with "swagger" over substance, referencing attacks on diversity programs and performative culture war politics. "Instead of a strong America using all our strengths to lead the world and confront our adversaries, Mr. Trump's America will be increasingly blind and blundering, feeble and friendless," she wrote.
White House spokesperson Harrison Field, responding to Clinton's remarks, told CNBC, "Those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones."
The op-ed follows mounting calls for accountability in the Signal incident. "This is the kind of thing that gets people killed," Sen. Mark Kelly (D., Ariz.) told NPR. "Our service members and our national security deserve more than Pete Hegseth. He is unqualified for this job. And if he doesn't resign, the president should fire him."
Clinton concluded by questioning Trump's competence. "If there's a grand strategy at work here, I don't know what it is. He's gambling with the national security of the United States," she wrote. "If this continues, a group chat foul will be the least of our concerns, and all the fist and flag emojis in the world won't save us."
