They do ring bells at the top. You just have to listen.
On February 11, then-Attorney General Pam Bondi put on a show while testifying before the House Judiciary Committee.
I’d say Bondi lost her composure, but that’d suggest she had it in the first place. Bondi left her composure at home both times she went head-to-head with inquisitive lawmakers as Donald Trump’s top law enforcement officer.
I actually don’t like that framing. Because it assumes Bondi wasn’t acting, and she plainly was. Performing for an audience of one. Specifically, for “Individual-One.” (Most of you will get the joke.)
Technically, the Dow peaked the day before Bondi’s February testimony. But her instantly-infamous harangue on February 11 is synonymous with that local top.
“[Nobody] asked Merrick Garland one word about Jeffrey Epstein,” Bondi said that day, shouting at Jerry Nadler. “Do you know why?!”
Everyone waited. To hear why. “Because Donald Trump–” Bondi began. Realizing she didn’t have an answer to her own question, she said this: “The Dow — the Dow right now is over — is over 50,000 dollars.”
She was right. Sort of. The Dow was over 50,000 that day. Points, though. Not dollars. And it hasn’t been back since.
There’s the chart. Bondi’s bell-ringing wasn’t nearly as “good” as Larry Kudlow’s December 7, 2007, “There is no recession” declaration — which I’ve previously described as “the single worst market call in modern history” — but it’s entertaining. (Here’s the Kudlow chart for old time’s sake.)
Jinxing the stock rally didn’t cost Bondi her job, but that hearing (the Dow 50,000 hearing) very well might’ve. Trump fired her on Thursday, and most observers immediately blamed her performance that day, or at least identified it as the likely last straw.
As Trump sendoffs go, Bondi’s was gracious, consistent with what she deserves for exhibiting an obsequiousness matched only (and barely) by Howard Lutnick.
“Pam Bondi is a Great American Patriot and a loyal friend, who faithfully served as my Attorney General,” Trump said, lauding Bondi’s “tremendous” efforts to curb crime.
“We love Pam,” Trump went on, adding that she’s been promised “an important new job in the private sector.” That’s what happens to loyalists unable to maintain a veneer of credibility while simultaneously exhibiting the requisite sycophancy towards an autocrat: They get cushy jobs in the private sector immediately upon dismissal.
Bondi, more than anyone, struggled to strike the credibility-sycophancy balance. It’s not easy. The master of that dark art, by way of contrast, was Steve Mnuchin who was undeniably competent, but unfailingly loyal.
Bondi’s exit is big news even in a week where the only news that matters are headlines out of the Mideast. The problem with Bondi’s dismissal is the same as the problem that’ll present itself when Trump (almost) inevitably fires Kash Patel: Her replacement, Todd Blanche, can’t help but be more effective. And in the context of domestic law enforcement in Trump’s America, “effective” can be an intimidating prospect.
Blanche, who represented Trump in multiple legal proceedings, isn’t a joke, or not one that’s funny, like Bondi. He was a prosecutor in the Southern District of New York. It doesn’t get much more prestigious than that, and his private practice defense work includes two extremely high-profile defendants from “Trump 1.0”: Paul Manafort and Rudy Giuliani pal Igor Fruman.
So, if you’re wary of Trump’s domestic agenda — and somewhere between 40% and 60% of the American public is — Bondi’s exit may be a “be careful what you wish you for” moment.
Happy trails, Pam. You can always say the Dow hit 50,000 on your watch.
I had almost forgotten about the firings. They were such a staple of his first term. They seem to increase when he is unhappy, and he did not look very happy last night. (I think he was more upset about his Birth-right Citizenship case than anything else.) Her firing today seems almost like an afterthought. Maybe he would really like to fire some of his military staff and advisors, but he can’t just now without sending mixed messages. (Remember, Trump likes to project his feelings.) I think you’re right, Patel could be next.
This afternoon Hegseth fired Gen Randy George, the Army’s chief of staff. Does that count?
Looks like Gen George was fired because, you know, he seemed competent
I’m guessing he objected too strenuously to Hegseth striking four people from the 1 star general promotion list (two women and two black men). Related from the Guardian’s reporting:
Two additional Army Generals were also fired.
The head of Training/Doctrine and the Chief Chaplain.
I wonder what the Chief Chaplain could have possibly done wrong? (Maybe God wasn’t on our side enough?)
That is one of my big questions as well. What could the Chief Chaplain possibly have done or held up? There was that story about Commanders telling our troops that the attack of Iran was part of God’s End Times plans. But who knows?
https://www.militaryreligiousfreedom.org/2026/03/mrff-inundated-with-complaints-of-gleeful-commanders-telling-troops-iran-war-is-part-of-gods-divine-plan-to-usher-in-the-return-of-jesus-christ/
(cue the Dylan)
He might have been guilty of reminding Hegseth that God cares about Trumped up wars/non-wars as much as he does about football.
Somehow Lutnick has managed to not get fired yet. Gabbard as well.
Manafort and Fruman. What a client list. Putin must be pinching himself in disbelief that he could get this lucky.
Bye bye, Burn Book Bondi, bye bye.
I haven’t thought about this song in a long time, but now it’s been stuck in my head for 48 hours.