After a Donald Trump-inspired mob stormed the Capitol and threatened to hang his then-vice president Mike Pence five years ago, one would think the president would struggle to persuade people to work for him. As it turns out, the MAGA movement is filled with mediocre people who are convinced that they are the exception — the one staffer gifted with the ability to manage the mercurial impulses of their erratic boss. This is such a consistent issue that one wonders if holding a position in MAGA leadership requires a delusional level of self-importance that would be diagnosable, if any of these people had the humility required to seek therapy.
The latest victim of her own hubris is Attorney General — or rather former Attorney General — Pam Bondi. The former Tri-Delt from Florida was fired Thursday by Trump in a spectacularly humiliating fashion. She was first subjected to an ego-bruising round of media speculation that this was coming, rumors egged on by anonymous White House sources. To rub a little extra salt in the wound, Trump told the New York Times that Bondi was “doing a good job” mere hours before firing her. Then he dismissed her with a Truth Social post where he used the praise once again, making it feel, especially if one were to read it aloud in his voice, like mockery.
