There is a recurring character in the Trump administration, and she has worn many faces. She arrives credentialed, loyal to the point of embarrassing, willing to remake herself entirely in service of the boss. She breaks rules, fires people, bends the law like warm taffy. She gives press conferences that would make a banana republic spokesman wince. And then, one day, she gets a phone call — or a post on Truth Social — telling her it’s time to go.
The character’s name last week was Pam Bondi.
On April 2, 2026, Donald Trump fired his Attorney General via social media, posting that Bondi — a “Great American Patriot and a loyal friend” — would be “transitioning to a much-needed and important new job in the private sector.” Her replacement, at least in an acting capacity, is Todd Blanche: the man who served as Trump’s personal defense attorney in multiple federal criminal cases, both of which were eventually dismissed after Trump won the 2024 election. The Justice Department has traveled, in the space of fifteen months, from institution to instrument to appendage.