Sorry, Pam Bondi. Trump has no loyalty

Sorry, Pam Bondi. Trump has no loyalty
The attorney general's firing shows why even the most faithful MAGA acolytes are disposable

By Amanda Marcotte
Senior Writer
Published April 3, 2026 6:45AM (EDT)


(Salon) 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.

This is on brand for the president. In March it was reported that Trump has gotten into the habit of buying oversized shoes for his male underlings, which they then feel obliged to wear, even though they look ridiculous. His motives are obvious: He’s a bully and it’s fun for him to watch people debase themselves to please him. What’s harder to understand is why anyone puts up with this, especially since, as Bondi learned, Trump could up and fire any of them at any moment, just because he’s grumpy.

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Bondi’s firing, though, is an especially brutal heave under the MAGA bus. As the former attorney general of Florida, the president’s adopted state, she has one of the longest histories of Trump staffer at pleasing him. Their history of joint corruption kicked off in 2013, when she briefly flirted with the idea of joining the state of New York in what was ultimately a successful lawsuit against Trump for defrauding students of his so-called “Trump University.” Bondi told the Orlando Sentinel in September 2013 that she was thinking about acting on complaints filed by Florida residents. Instead she personally solicited donations from Trump for her reelection campaign. After he cut her a $25,000 check — which wasn’t legal, as it came from what was supposed to be a charity fund — Bondi shuttered the fraud case against him. .................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2026/04/03/sorry-pam-bondi-trump-has-no-loyalty/