The Signal I needed
Facing great threat to life and liberty, Goldberg declared that we, the people, are more important than his personal gain.
Jeffrey Goldberg's Display of Integrity
Jeffrey Goldberg broke the story of the Signal group chat.
I was shocked, like we all were.
Then I heard people point out how Goldberg could have gone.
And I was awed.
Here's what he did not do
Goldberg did not use this story to make his life easier.
He chose to disclose to the American people that this behavior was occurring, and by doing so, has put himself in harms’ way.
He did the hard thing.
Dr. Heather Cox Richardson, said on a YouTube livestream,
“He could have sold that story to a foreign government. He did not do that. He could have taken screenshots, kept his mouth shut and written a kill-all book in two years that would have sold like hot cakes. He could have blackmailed somebody.”
He didn’t do a lot of things that could have made him really wealthy and really powerful.
What he did do, Richardson explains, is he took “the extraordinary step, and the extraordinarily dangerous step, of letting us all know what happened in our names and to us.”
Tim Miller of The Bulwark asked Goldberg, "The Secretary of Defense and now the Whitehouse Press Secretary have said you're lying, have said there's no classified information... Shouldn't you publish the text?"
He replied immediately, "No, because they're wrong."
I was struck
His statement struck me, and it took me a while to figure out why it felt so powerful.
Not sure I'll ever know for sure, but here's what I think: Goldberg made a decision on principle – not on personal gain.
He knows he is one player in a grand orchestra. He expressly does not believe his personal interests are more important than our country as a whole.
He didn't hesitate with his response, either.
It was so self-evident to him that the administration's taunts were immaterial to the mission of protecting our service members and citizens.
In that moment, Goldberg let me know that we are not alone.
Facing great threat to life and liberty, Goldberg declared that we, the people, are more important than his personal gain.
He could've said it this way:
It doesn't matter if they call me a liar. I don’t need to prove myself.
It doesn't matter if it would help the Democrats. I’m not pushing an agenda.
I'm a journalist with a duty to the public interest.
This is integrity.
Integrity on the National Level
I needed to be reminded of what fortitude looks like in national politics.
I see fortitude all around me in my family, my friends, and neighbors, but I’m not used to seeing it on the national stage.
Goldberg’s courage makes me feel like we, the people are not alone in our courage. Others on the national stage share our resolve.
We need people who keep the big picture of what our country could be close to their hearts.
Jeffrey Goldberg's, "Because they're still wrong," shows me how important this country is to him.
In this moment, when I'm starving for integrity from our leaders, Goldberg gave me something to chew on.
References
Jeffrey Goldberg, "The Trump Administration Accidentally Texted Me Its War Plans." The Atlantic.
Jeffrey Goldberg and Shane Harris , "Here Are the Attack Plans That Trump's Advisers Shared on Signal." The Atlantic.
Heather Cox Richardson, "Politics Chat, March 25, 2025." YouTube.
The Bulwark. Tim Miller interviews Jeffrey Goldberg, "BREAKING: Atlantic Editor Jeffrey Goldberg Weighs Releasing Trump War Planning Texts." YouTube.