Wednesday found White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt doing what she does every other day of the week.

“This is classic Fake News,” she announced, in her briefing and in a social media post, from a news outlet that doesn’t “care ... about the truth” and is instead “running these lies,” which are “absolutely false” and “erroneous.”

The only unusual thing this time was the diatribe was directed at the Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal. And not just any part of the Journal but its editorial board, which has been a clarion voice of the right in the United States for 135 years. Now, it is using that voice to defend its longtime motto - “free markets and free people” - by becoming a daily scold of the Trump administration for its constant violations of both.

The White House was no doubt stung by Wednesday’s editorial overall, which criticized “JD Vance’s contempt for allies” and the vice president’s apparent willingness “to let the Houthis shut down shipping to spite the Europeans.” The editorial suggested Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had been “cavalier about the details of incoming military strikes” and was “silly” to try to “shift the blame for the fiasco on the journalist who was put on the chat.” It suggested Trump negotiator Steve Witkoff “is out of his depth in dealing with world crises,” and it warned that “America’s allies may conclude they can no longer trust the U.S. in a crisis.”

After Leavitt’s rebuke, the Journal came back at the administration even harder Thursday. “The White House won’t let bad enough alone when it comes to the Signal app fiasco,” it thundered. Criticizing Hegseth for trying to dismiss the flap as a hoax, it concluded that the administration “seems to think it can bully its way through anything by shouting Fake News and attacking the press.”

The Journal paired this with another editorial Thursday on Republicans’ “shock” loss of a special election in a heavily Republican area of Pennsylvania. “Even voters who like the GOP’s policy agenda could be jolted by the impression of chaos in Washington, plus Mr. Trump’s recent focus on retribution,” it wrote, warning against following “out-of-touch leaders down ideological rabbit holes.” The day before, the Journal denounced the “dumb-and-dumber trade war” and Trump’s desire to “sabotage America with protectionism.”

We have seen too much cowering and capitulation in the face of Trump’s threats: by the Paul Weiss law firm and Columbia University, by Meta and much of Silicon Valley, by Big Pharma and other industries, by mostly supine congressional Republicans, by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (in the eyes of many on the left). But in a crisis, courage can be found in unexpected places. We might be seeing the first cracks in MAGA unity, which Trump has maintained by threats and fear.

Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi) and Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Alabama), who lead the Senate and House Armed Services committees, respectively, pushed back firmly against the administration’s plans to restructure the military and retreat from Europe, saying they “will not accept” changes without congressional approval. Wicker has also said he is directing the administration to preserve documents in the Signal group chat matter, as his committee begins an inquiry into the fiasco. Senate Majority A Republican Jewish Coalition board member and GOP fundraiser called on Trump’s lead peace negotiator, Steve Witkoff, to resign for his “utter incompetence” in dealing with Vladimir Putin and with Hamas. (Witkoff gave a stunning interview to Tucker Carlson in which he said that Putin was “straight up” and not a “bad guy.”)

Some in the MAGA echo chamber are likewise pushing back. Broadcaster Piers Morgan pointed out that if “(the Signal fiasco) had happened on [Joe] Biden’s watch, Republicans would have rightly gone berserk.”

The courts have risen to the occasion in restraining Trump, from dozens of trial judges across the country to the chief justice. When an appeals court this week rejected the administration’s appeal of Judge James Boasberg’s order in the Venezuelan deportation case, Judge Karen Henderson, a George H.W. Bush appointee, wrote in her opinion that the administration was “incorrect” to claim that it was immune from judicial review.

The Journal’s editorial board has been tough on Trump from the start of his term. But lately, it has run one editorial after the other excoriating his positions on trade, national security and the law. It blasted “the administration’s propensity to fall for Russian propaganda,” warning that it might be following in Neville Chamberlain’s footsteps when it comes to Ukraine and that Trump’s military reorganization “sounds more like an American retreat.” It said the calls to impeach “judges who rule against Trump are a corrosive stunt.” And it righteously declared, “Mr. Trump’s decision to use government power to punish [law] firms for representing clients breaks a cornerstone principle of American justice going back to John Adams and the Founders.”

Amen.