The Nuremberg Never Mind

Trump's media people, especially 2.0, are pretty darn good, while it's clear that only the B team is left at the Washington Post. I was wondering all Sunday why they dropped the big war crime story -- maybe the biggest scoop since Deep Throat -- on Black Friday, Nov 28, in the middle of a four-day weekend, when everybody would be bloated with Thanksgiving leftovers or off to the Black Friday sales. And then they just stood there while the White House got its ducks in a row the following Monday, which was yesterday.

By then, even Real Clear Politics was having doubts:

"What happened in this case depends on the sequence," [Carl]Cannon said [on the RCP podcast]. "These stories are not precise. Did Hegseth say 'kill them all' after the first drone strike had disabled this boat?"

Tom Bevan suggested these reports are conveniently timed following the recent video from Congressional Democrats urging service members to disobey illegal orders. "Mark Kelly, Elissa Slotkin, and some others were asked if there had been any illegal orders, and they said they don’t know of any. Then, the next week, two anonymous sources leaked this story. Is that a coincidence? I’ll leave it to our listeners."

"This could all be a hoax, particularly when anonymous sources are attacking Trump's administration," Bevan added. "The media and Democrats are reacting as if it’s the absolute truth — and we don’t know that."

Others suggested that Post co-writer Ellen Nakashima, described as an "intelligence reporter", has been behind a series of high-profile hoax stories, including the letter from 51 intelligence officials declaring the Hunter Biden laptop to be Russian disinformation, the Brett Kavanaugh sexual misconduct story, and the Russian election interference hoax. Indeed, in the wake of all the other departures from the Post, it's surprising she's still there.

But by this morning, almost certainly relying on access to "sources" facilitated by the White House, The New York Times provided the context the RCP commentators suaspected was missing:

"According to five U.S. officials, who spoke separately and on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter that is under investigation, Mr. Hegseth, ahead of the Sept. 2 attack, ordered a strike that would kill the people on the boat and destroy the vessel and its purported cargo of drugs."

"But, each official said, Mr. Hegseth’s directive did not specifically address what should happen if a first missile turned out not to fully accomplish all of those things. And, the officials said, his order was not a response to surveillance footage showing that at least two people on the boat survived the first blast."

"Admiral Bradley ordered the initial missile strike and then several follow-up strikes that killed the initial survivors and sank the disabled boat. As that operation unfolded, they said, Mr. Hegseth did not give any further orders to him."

This additional quote from the Times story (itself behind a paywall) gives further perspective:

The two officials questioned whether the surviving people were Admiral Bradley’s intended target in the second strike, as opposed to the purported drugs and the disabled vessel. They argued that the purported cargo remained a threat and a lawful military target because another cartel-associated boat might have come to retrieve it.

Others have pointed out that on one hand, trhe drug boat crews aren't innocent civilians, but they are probably "unlawful combatants" who aren't wearing uniforms and thus aren't subject to the ordinary laws of war.

But let's grant the likely inference, that the Post story was meant to work in concert with the earlier warnings from the "subversive six" about illegal orders. The timing was nevertheless clumsy -- why did the breathless scoop have to come out on one of the least significant news days of the year? The "subversive six" video came out on Tuesday, November 18. The scoop that finally came up with a specific putative "illegal order" came out a fuil ten days later, while everyone was at the mall.

On top of that, Sen Mark Kelly, who apparently had been cast as the senior statesman in this drama, although he's at best a dollar-store John McCain, hasn't been up to the role:

🚨LMAO! Sen. Mark Kelly is CRYING over @PeteHegseth's post from last night with "Franklin Targets Narco Terrorists."

"He's putting out on the internet, TURTLES with Rocket-Propelled Grenades!" 😂🤣 pic.twitter.com/4W0dpxlktK

— The Patriot Oasis™ (@ThePatriotOasis) December 1, 2025

At the same presser, with a background of American flags, he shrieked, “President Trump is trying to silence me, threatening to kill me for saying what is true”.

This just isn't the A team. There isn't going to be a summer blockbuster about this one starring whomever the successors will be to Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman. Who would that be, anyhow? Alec Baldwin?