No headline theme today; heart's just not in it. That feature will be back next week.

Bondi Gets Noem'd...

Donald Trump's problems are never Donald Trump's fault. When he's having a bad week, or a bad month—and he's in the middle of both right now—everyone who works for him is at risk of becoming a scapegoat. And yesterday, the wheel of misfortune stopped spinning with the arrow having landed on "Attorney General" Pam Bondi. So, she is now former "Attorney General" Pam Bondi.

As Trump is wont to do, because it's easier than putting your big boy pants on and doing it face-to-face, he got on his social media platform for cowards to swing the ax:

Pam Bondi is a Great American Patriot and a loyal friend, who faithfully served as my Attorney General over the past year. Pam did a tremendous job overseeing a massive crackdown in Crime across our Country, with Murders plummeting to their lowest level since 1900. We love Pam, and she will be transitioning to a much needed and important new job in the private sector, to be announced at a date in the near future, and our Deputy Attorney General, and a very talented and respected Legal Mind, Todd Blanche, will step in to serve as Acting Attorney General. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP

This "much needed and important new job in the private sector" is so badly needed, and so important, that... nobody in the White House knows what it is, as yet. And the scuttlebutt is that what Trump really wants to do is nominate Bondi to a federal judgeship. Whether she could make it through the Senate is an excellent question, but in any case, the careful reader will notice that a federal judgeship is not, in fact, a private-sector job. If a judgeship is not in the cards, then we certainly could imagine her landing a very prestigious job cleaning gold toilets. That could be a private-sector job, depending on whether it's at the White House or Trump Tower.

Officially, Bondi was on the job for only 423 days. In that brief time, however, she built an excellent case for the title of "worst AG in American history." A recap of her "greatest hits":

1. Purges: Bondi instigated the firings and resignations of more than 5,000 DoJ employees, taking particular interest in purging career attorneys assigned to cases involving Trump and/or 1/6 defendants
   
   
2. Paging Roy Cohn: Recalling the worst elements of McCarthyism, Bondi pursued baseless prosecutions and investigations at Trump's behest; the "enemies" of Trump who were targeted include former FBI Director James Comey, New York AG Letitia James, Fed Chair Jerome Powell, former Fed Governor Lisa Cook and Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ).
   
   
3. Grift: Bondi negotiated "settlements" with convicted criminals like Mike Flynn and, possibly, Trump himself.
   
   
4. U.S. Attorneys: Many of the federal U.S. Attorneys' offices were left rudderless, or even saw some of their cases quashed, because Bondi defied court orders regarding unconfirmed acting U.S. Attorneys serving unlawfully.
   
   
5. Reputation: Bondi played a key role in wrecking a generations-long presumption, on the part of federal judges, that the DoJ endeavors to do that which is right, and just and in line with U.S. law and with legal ethics.
   
   
6. Civil Rights Unit Gutted: Now derisively called the "Civil Whites Division," it is soliciting complaints from white men who feel they've been discriminated against and initiating lawsuits against companies that hold women's networking events. More than 250 lawyers have been pushed out or were transferred.
   
   
7. Public Corruption Unit Gutted: Most of the attorneys were fired or transferred to work on immigration cases; Bondi's DoJ also dismissed cases against public officials and shuttered investigations, such as the open-and-shut bribery case against Border Czar Tom Homan.
   
   
8. Counterterrorism and Counterespionage Unit Gutted: Most members were fired, or resigned, or were transferred to immigration cases. With a war in Iran going on, it might just be useful to have some legal minds who know this particular subject.
   
   
9. Financial Corruption, Fraud and White Collar Crimes Unit Gutted: Bondi closed the tax division and dramatically reduced prosecutions of white-collar cases. This is surely completely unrelated to the fact that many of Trump's supporters and donors are white-collar criminals, or rich guys who try to cut corners on their taxes, or both. And, of course, Trump himself is also a white-collar criminal who tries to cut corners on his taxes.

In short, on Bondi's brief watch, the once-venerated Department of Justice shrunk to a shell of its former self, having expelled its most senior, experienced and ethical career prosecutors and gutted the divisions that have rooted out public corruption and enforced civil rights laws and otherwise kept government honest. Bondi was not so much an attorney general as a henchman for the president. She didn't even bother to pay lip service to serving the American people, unless it was to pretend that Trump's retribution campaign was what America voted for. The U.S. has had some corrupt attorney generals who were way too cozy with the president and much too willing to break the law—John Mitchell, John Ashcroft, and Bill Barr come to mind. But they at least saw the value in maintaining the core professional prosecutors who were largely insulated from politics.

Could it get worse for the American people? Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who is now acting AG, continues to act like Trump's defense attorney, as opposed to the American people's attorney. And he told CPAC that he's in favor of sending ICE agents to polling places in November, conveniently ignoring the law that prohibits that action. So, yes, it looks like it could.

Further, it seems that Trump suspects that he might not be able to get Blanche past the Senate. So, Trump is reportedly thinking about nominating EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin to be the permanent AG (to the extent that "permanent" means anything in this administration). Zeldin has been thrilled to tote the administration's water in his current post, from keeping coal-powered plants opening, to trying to open the oceans to drilling, to freezing $20 billion in climate research grants. He will undoubtedly be thrilled to do the same in a different, higher-profile posting. And since he got past the Senate once before, he'll probably get past them again.

The other question is: Could it get worse for Trump? The answer to that one is also "yes." There is some dispute as to what doomed Bondi, with different outlets pointing to two different Achilles heels for her. The first is the Epstein files, where she initially said too much, and then followed that by doing too little (as compared to what the law passed by Congress demanded), and doing that "too little" fairly incompetently. Blanche, or Zeldin or any other future AG can't take back what is already out there, but they do present a new pressure point for subpoenas, etc. In other words, the unreleased Epstein files couldn't get more dead and buried than they already are, but they could get less dead and buried. That would presumably be a setback for Trump.

The other alleged reason that Bondi lost her job was her failure to properly pursue Trump's enemies. The thing here is that she most certainly did pursue them (see above). However, the causes of action were so shaky, they couldn't even get past a grand jury, much less a judge and a petit jury. A replacement for Bondi isn't going to change the fact that James Comey, Letitia James, Mark Kelly, etc. didn't break the law. So either the new AG is going to: (1) take the loss on these cases and move on, or (2) is going to overreach even more than Bondi did with the result that the administration ends up with even more egg on its face or (3) is going to be less willing to serve as Trump's lackey. Don't sleep on Option #3; Trump thought he had a pliant lackey in AGs Jeff Sessions and Bill Barr, only to discover that even they had limits (that Bondi did not). And whatever of these three options it ends up being, it's hard to see how Trump ends up better off with a new AG. It's either worse off on the "persecute my enemies" front, or status quo.

We also cannot help but notice that Kristi Noem got hauled before Congress, embarrassed herself, and got fired. Then Bondi got hauled before Congress, embarrassed herself, and got fired. Think that Congressional Democrats have noticed this? Or maybe Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY)? We bet they have. So, other Cabinet officers should probably be checking their mailboxes for subpoenas.

And now that Trump has broken the seal, and is back to his Cabinet-level-officer-firing ways, there is reporting that he's considering lopping a few more heads off. Here are the apparent "favorites" to be next, in alphabetical order:

Person	Position	Reason
Lori Chavez-DeRemer	Secretary of Labor	Unemployment, numerous scandals
Tulsi Gabbard	DNI	Iran War; Joe Kent embarrassment
Pete Hegseth	Secretary of Defense	Iran War
Howard Lutnick	Secretary of Commerce	Bad economy, losing tariff cases in court
Brooke Rollins	Secretary of Agriculture	Farmers angry about fertilizer prices

Note that some of the "reasons" are valid, others are much less so. These are pretty much all real problems, the question is where the buck stops. In many cases, it's NOT with the Cabinet secretary.

We've had a few requests to survey readers on this question; if you would care to cast your vote (and to comment, if you want), you can do so here. We'll run an item on the results next week. (Z & L)

...So Too do Three Top Generals

It certainly seems like Secretary of Defense War Pete Hegseth was trying to sneak this news in under the radar, since he made the announcement shortly after the Pam Bondi news went public. He announced that he is cashiering three of the highest-ranking generals in the U.S. Army: Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George, Gen. David Hodne and Maj. Gen. William Green Jr.

By virtue of his posting, George was actually the top general in the entire U.S. Army. He was nominated for the job by Joe Biden, and theoretically would have served until 2027. Hodney was serving as Army's Transformation and Training Command, while Green was leading the Army's Chaplain Corps. According to both Hegseth and Chief Pentagon Spokesperson Sean Parnell, the three generals will be replaced by commanders who share the administration's "more aggressive vision for the Army."

It is not uncommon for top generals to be replaced in the middle of a war. Douglas MacArthur was famously removed from command during the Korean War, for example. George McClellan was removed from command during the Civil War, to give another example. But that happens when a war is going poorly. It does not happen when a war's already been won, and is about to end—claims Trump has made many times about the Iran War, including in his speech Wednesday night. Put another way, the administration's words do not line up with its actions.

It's not too hard to guess what was "wrong" with these generals (all of them highly decorated and highly respected in the military community, by the way, particularly George). Undoubtedly, they were not enthusiastic about the Iran War, and communicated that to Hegseth and Trump. In particular, a little reading between the lines suggests that Hegseth and Trump really want a ground invasion and George told them it was not a good idea. It's also likely that Green, in some way, objected to the violent and sectarian version of evangelical Christianity that Hegseth has been using his position to foist on DoD personnel.

Presumably, Hegseth will find three more compliant lackeys. Most generals don't want to have anything to do with a war they know is a loser, but there are always a few Mike Flynns or William Westmorelands out there, willing to take on a problematic job because of their politics or their desire for glory. But the real news here is that all signs seem to be pointing to a ground invasion, which would be disastrous on numerous levels. (Z)

The Case of the Missing Press Conference

This story is a little unusual. Yesterday, before his poorly reviewed speech on Iran, Donald Trump—stationed behind a podium adorned with two gold-painted eagles—delivered some off-the-cuff remarks to an audience in the White House. It's not clear exactly who was in the audience (beyond several members of the Cabinet); at a glance it looks like a press conference, but the press was actually not allowed. Anyhow, the White House posted video of the hour-long session to its website and to YouTube, and then shortly thereafter... disappeared it.

It's not too hard to figure out some of the reasons that someone decided the footage was not a great look for the administration, over and above the tacky gold-eagle podium:

• Trump's spiritual adviser was there, and spoke, and during her remarks she said the President is very much like Jesus Christ, and that is why Trump's enemies are trying to crucify him.
  
  
• Trump slammed several European leaders, most notably France's Emanuel Marcon, who the President declared to be a victim of spousal abuse.
  
  
• He also slammed people who would dare to make fun of Erika Kirk, and advised her that she should "sue their ass off."
  
  
• He reflected on the extent to which he is, or is not, a king.
  
  
• Trump alluded to the speech on Iran that he would make later in the day, and said, "basically, I am going to tell everybody how great I am." That was framed as a little bit of good-natured humor, but it feels like a "joking, not joking" situation, especially because he did go on to give a speech in which he told everyone how great he is.

We can't find anyone who's posted footage of the entire hour, but the links above have clips of the specific remarks in question.

We chose to write this story up for two reasons. The first is that Trump's choice to surround himself with an adoring crowd (click on one of more of the clips and listen to the audience response), and to say the things he said, really underscores how much of a bubble he is in. This is a problem for all presidents, but it's particularly a problem for presidents who do not take steps to puncture the bubble a little. It's even worse for presidents who don't want to so much as acknowledge the existence of a bubble, and who want only fawning praise, since that's the only feedback that is actually "correct." The most famous "bubble" president before Trump was Lyndon B. Johnson at the height of the Vietnam War, but we think Trump's probably got LBJ beat at this point. A president who realizes he is in a bubble and wants to find out what people outside of it really think of him can't ask people around him, but can read newspapers. A Republican president can read The New York Times and a Democratic president can read The Wall Street Journal. There they will find plenty of non-bubbly voices.

The second reason we mention this story is that even when Trump's team proved incompetent in most areas, it was still very disciplined about its social media messaging. Posting this video was a pretty big screw-up, and taking it down probably made it worse, because it makes clear that the administration knows it's problematic and embarrassing. And this isn't the first big social media "oopsie" in recent days; there have been several other things that should not have been posted and had to be taken down, like the video with the racist clip of the Obamas. One wonders what is going on, and how many more oopsies there will be in upcoming weeks. (Z)

The DHS Shutdown Will Linger

We probably need to make a macro of that headline, since that has been the "news" at least two dozen times since DHS was (partially) shut down 49 days ago. But with Donald Trump and Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) announcing they are on board with the bill that passed the Senate with unanimous consent, it seemed as if the end might be upon us. Not so much, as it turns out.

As a reminder, the Senate agreed to fund all of DHS except for ICE and parts of Customs and Border Patrol. Democrats saw this as a win because it isolated the thing they (and, more importantly, their voters) care about, and allowed the airports to resume normal operation. Republicans saw this as a win because they didn't actually give up anything on ICE (as yet), ICE is funded through BBB funds for a good while, and there was talk of doing an end-run around Democrats with a reconciliation bill.

The problem is that this is enough of a win for Trump (for now), and enough of a win for Senate Republicans (for now), and enough of a win for Johnson (who really just does what Trump orders him to do), but it's not enough of a win for some meaningful number of Johnson's Republican colleagues in the House. Those colleagues (presumably mostly Freedom Caucusers) are furious that the Speaker blasted the bill as a "joke" and then turned around and embraced it as soon as Trump ordered him too. Senate Republicans are none-too-pleased either, since Johnson said some pretty insulting things about them, like "guessing" they hadn't even read the bill.

The upshot is that yesterday, Johnson announced he will not schedule a vote on the DHS bill—which, once again, passed the Senate unanimously—until the Senate makes "significant progress" on a bill to fund ICE and CBP. That, of course, means he doesn't have the votes right now, and that he's far enough away that whipping votes, even if it's with all his might, isn't going to help.

Exactly what "significant progress" means is anyone's guess. Relations between Republicans in the House and Republicans in the Senate right now are very sour, largely because House Republicans refuse to accept how the Senate works (e.g. the filibuster), and Senate Republicans don't much like their House colleagues' unwillingness to come to grips with reality (or their House colleagues' habit of going on TV to badmouth the Senate). It appears that House Republicans think that any promise from the Senate is basically useless, and that if the House moves forward first and votes on a bill because of [PROMISE A], the Senate will hamstring them and forget about [PROMISE A]. So, it sure looks like the Senate is going to actually have to pass a reconciliation bill in order to get their House colleagues to do anything with the "funding the rest of DHS" bill.

A reconciliation bill, of course, comes with the hurdles that we've already laid out many times. With very little margin for error in either chamber, it will not be easy to pull a bill together that can get near-unanimous approval from both conferences. There might be slight good news for Johnson that all of this jockeying back and forth might have convinced House Republicans that funding for ICE is all they can get, and that other goodies are not possible. But even if so, that does not solve the problem that Trump wants a bunch of SAVE goodies in there, and has said he won't sign a reconciliation bill that doesn't have them (despite the fact that they cannot survive a Byrd Bath from Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough).

The members are (largely) out of town for another week, and then once that's elapsed, it's anyone's guess how long it will take to make the sausage, or if the sausage can be made at all. The best, and probably only, hope Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) have is to persuade Trump that he's going to have to live with ICE/CBP funding, and that's it. But if he digs in, then the DHS shutdown could very well linger into summer, or even fall. (Z)

This Week in Schadenfreude: There Are Reparations and There Are Reparations

Some reparations payments, like the ones required of Germany (and other defeated powers) in the Treaty of Versailles don't work so well. But that doesn't mean that all reparations payments are misguided. Case in point: The monthly payments that outspoken Islamophobe and Trump insider Laura Loomer has been making to Muslim civil-rights group CAIR.

We've actually been trying to get to this item for a while, but other things kept pushing it aside. The short version of events is that CAIR is one of Loomer's favorite targets, and she's made all sorts of vile claims about them. It's pretty hard to defame a public entity, and if Loomer had contented herself with just running her mouth, she probably would have gotten away with it. However, she decided to pull a favorite trick out of the right-wing-agitator bag, and to sue CAIR, claiming that when the platform then known as Twitter restricted her account, CAIR was behind it.

That is a rather tough assertion to prove. And even if you CAN prove it, we're not so sure it's actionable. After all, anyone can complain about any account they want, and (now) eX-Twitter can do as they see fit, inasmuch as they are a private business and are not bound by the First Amendment. Predictably, then, Loomer's case went nowhere. Actually, it's probably more accurate to say it went backwards. Not only did she not win, but she was ordered to pay $125,000 in court costs and attorney's fees to CAIR. The verdict was upheld on appeal. Loomer's attorneys negotiated it down to $73,500 in late 2023, payable in monthly installments of $2,400.

Although a settlement usually means "OK, I will agree to stop fighting this in exchange for more favorable terms," Loomer decided to head back to court late last year and ask the payments be ended, after Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) had designated CAIR as a "terrorist organization," Even if that was true, it's not clear to us what that has to do with Loomer's phony lawsuit about Twitter. And beyond that, the politically motivated proclamations of Ron DeSantis do not impress federal judges. So, Loomer's attempt to re-open the case was laughed out of court, and she'll keep writing $2,400 checks each month for most of the rest of this year.

After yet another victory over Loomer, a statement from CAIR read, in part: "We look forward to receiving Ms. Loomer's next check and, insha Allah, once again using her money to defend American Muslims from hate while advancing civil rights for everyone in our nation." (Z)

This Week in Freudenfreude: Good Night, Sweet Prince

For the second time this week, I am going to use "I" rather than "we." And for the second time in about a month, I am going to write a piece that I've been dreading. For this one, however, I'll lead with the lede instead of putting it at the end: Staff Dachshund Otto left me late Wednesday night.

Things change fast in this world, even in the 15 years that Otto walked the earth. He came to my ex-wife and I from a pet store. Not only do (most) pet stores not carry dogs anymore, but that particular pet store is long gone, and the mall it was located in is also long gone. Otto, then about 6 months old, was in the front window with two other non-dachshunds. My ex-wife walked by, fell for him immediately, asked, in so many words, "How much is that doggie in the window?" and the deal was sealed. She called me and asked me to come over and give my approval but... c'mon. Here's what he looked like on the day he came home:

The ex-wife did not like to speak the truth of how we got Otto, and preferred to claim he came from a rescue in Las Vegas. I didn't like the lie, but didn't want to betray my then-spouse, and so walked that fine line by answering questions thusly: "Who knows where he came from? One day, I got home and there was a dachshund there." That said, I always did think of him as kind of a rescue; he was a week away from aging out, and being turned over to a shelter by the pet shop. That's why he was in the front window, and why the price was cut way down. I always told Otto we got him out of the bargain bin.

He was a purebred, and so presumably had a name assigned by his breeder. I haven't the faintest idea what it was. When he came home, my wife asked me to run down traditionally German names, and I rattled off a bunch—Ludwig, Wolfgang, Wilhelm, Friedrich... Otto. She immediately pounced on "Otto" and said it was perfect for him. She was 100% right, and many times we had various vets and vets' assistants tell us that name really captured his personality. Since he was effectively named after Otto von Bismarck, and since he was now Otto Bates, we quickly added the von in there, such that when he was addressed by his full name, it was Otto von Bates. This was usually after he'd been naughty (left), or he was trying to hide at bath time (right):

As dogs, particularly dogs of his breed, are prone to do, he had a gift for inserting himself as the center of attention. We said that he thought of himself as a little German prince, and so his real full name was Prince Otto von Bates.

That said, Staff Dachshund Flash was actually the more dignified and regal of the duo. If you had to pick a single word to describe Otto, that word would most certainly be "joy." For every day of his 15+ years, even after he had physically matured, he was 100% a puppy. He loved to play, and roll in the dirt, and zoom around the apartment. I've never seen a definitive answer from a scientist or veterinarian as to whether or not dogs actually smile, but I personally believe they do, because Otto had a near-perpetual smile on his face. At least, that's what it looks like to me:

Flash, consistent with his more regal mien, was not actually much of one for playing, or for toys, or for anything that expended a lot of energy. Or even a little energy. At the dog park, while Otto played, Flash preferred to sit and observe from a shady spot under one of the benches. The dog that Otto is wrestling with there is named Brody.

Joy is contagious, of course, and Otto "infected" many people. Me, of course, and visitors to the apartment. Bob, and then Tim, who succeeded Bob as caretaker and dog walker. People who met Otto, either at the dog park or elsewhere (a group that includes several readers of Electoral-Vote.com). Veterinary staffers always said Otto was something special, and I think they were speaking truth, and not just being polite. And, of course, Otto also brought joy to many blog readers who did not get to meet him, and knew him only through my writing about him.

Flash and Otto came to this world within a few days of each other. They became good friends while they were still pups. They spent copious amounts of time together while Bob was dog-sitting. And they lived together for 5 years after Bob passed. Now, they have left this world in close proximity to each other. The one source of comfort I have, in a time of almost unbearable pain, is the hope—also expressed in Flash's obit—that somehow, some way the universe is set up so that they are back together again, on some plane of existence, with Flash tracking squirrels, and Otto rolling in the dirt and destroying chew toys, and Bob watching over them. I hope.

Good bye, Otto. Thank you for being my best good guy for all those years. (Z)

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