The right rejoices: The witch is … FIRED
Bondi gets the boot and a list of replacements instantly emerges
You’re here because you’re watching politics get body-slammed by digital culture and content creators. I’m here because I’m the only one who can guide you through it.
Consider us officially free from Bondi-age!
Pam Bondi is one of the truly transcendent figures of our time — a close to universally loathed vessel of panic and discomfort, whose attempted theatrics never quite matched the moment. I thank her for the generous gift she’s left us — “The Dow is over 50,000, I don’t know why you’re laughing” — which became instant canon.
One day you’re riding with The Boss (not the beloved musical artist Trump just called a “dried up prune”) in The Beast to do some light judicial intimidation at the Supreme Court. The next day, you’re tossed — banished to the private sector for a job to-be-specified-at-a-later-date that tooootally exists. Didn’t even get blessed with the power of the shield like her sister in arms, Kristi Noem.
I’ve heard a few different references to “Pam Bondi’s original sin” today. One such case is her gleeful admittance that she had the Epstein client list “sitting on [her] desk right now to review” way back in July . The truth of that statement changed with the seasons, but MAGA’s dissatisfaction with her lack of urgency, clarity, and (ultimately) chutzpah calcified into rage over time.
When the news broke, I immediately assumed this move was to placate a base that needs to feel like a tide is turning before the midterms clock runs out. This would confirm what I saw with my own eyes at CPAC: deep doomerism about forthcoming election odds. The ally-less AG would be an obvious sacrifice. But like I also suspected, the ire toward Bondi is deeper than that.
Creators are clear, her disposal is so much more than just a vibe change.
Time to run through the Let’s Gos and Oh Nos from across the political content map. Plus, below the paywall, a new battle begins: See what replacement names Republicans are already throwing around.
CUFFING SEASON IS OVER
If there is one thing I want you to take away from the fall of Pam Bondi, it’s this: For the right, her failure extended far past Epstein. Donald Trump promised aggressive arrests and prosecutions, yes, of the Epstein class, but also of all of his political enemies. Leading “the deep state” away in chains was a primary objective of his future DOJ during the campaign and a frequent complaint laundered by GOP influencers through Year 1.
Saturation increased in the past week. Just off the top of my head, I remembered grievance airing from Newsmax and Steve Bannon. Or James O’Keefe’s viral moment:
“I can go on sabbatical until someone is arrested. But I’m not going to put my people’s lives in danger every week for nothing to happen.”
On this, Pam Bondi failed … spectacularly. Charges against James Comey and Letitia James, dropped. Fanfare over Don Lemon’s arrest, short-lived. And you can see that frustration in the replies to the news today, with thousands of people sharing an “arrest scorecard” with zero boxes checked. The Daily Wire’s WH correspondent shared that her sources say “the president made the decision in part because he was frustrated with the lack of criminal prosecutions of law-fare Democrats.”
Creators pegged their high-performing reaction content to this issue:
Tony Kinnett, The Daily Signal (1M YT subs): There were “prosecutions the Trump administration wanted brought forward that Pam Bondi couldn’t seem to get across the door.”
“You have an attorney general. They are presiding in the office of attorney general confirmed by the Senate. And you have the rest of the country going for the love of God, arrest somebody […] and we can’t even get grand jury indictments across the finish line.”
Benny Johnson (6M YT subs): She could have “reestablished a lot of trust honestly in federal law enforcement if it had been handled correctly.”
“You do a real investigation. You start arresting people, you know, who committed crimes … I would have been the first one being like ‘wow this is really new and it’s really exciting to see this happen with our federal law enforcement. They’re going after these evil connected powerful people.’ Instead it’s the exact opposite, and it was treated dismissively. And that’s the real sin there, and that’s why Pam Bondi, well, that’s why she’s out.”
Rep. Nancy Mace hit it home in a reply to a tweet from former AG nominee Matt Gaetz, singing Bondi’s praises (odd):
From another angle, The Bulwark called it out in their own emergency pod:
Will Sommer: “She had failed over and over to get Trump’s enemies indicted. And I think clearly that’s something he really wants.”
Sam Stein: “Well, the sandwich guy, too. She failed to indict the sandwich guy.”
NEXT AT BAT
Those of us old enough to remember Trump 1.0, when firing felt like a full-time beat, will recall that Trump tested the outer limits of the word “acting.” Appointing someone to fill a position “temporarily” and avoiding the hassle of going through the Senate? Sign him up. We have Todd “the Temp” Blanche for now. But that didn’t stop every Tom, Dick, and Harry from offering up their nomination to the post.
