Snapshot: Pam Bondi's Insulting Charade
In her confirmation hearing to serve as our nation's Attorney General, the former Florida AG played dumb. Very dumb.
Pam Bondi was asked questions and she gave answers. She gave the appearance on Wednesday that she was acting in good faith, providing honest testimony to assist United States senators constitutionally responsible to advise the executive branch. But what Bondi really did was demonstrate her fealty to Donald Trump.
In another time, in a sane, alternate world where nominees for cabinet positions such as Attorney General would feel duty-bound to provide knowledgeable answers to serious questions, someone like Pam Bondi would be laughed off the dais and roundly rejected. But that world no longer exists, at least not now in the anti-truth environment constructed by Trump in which all of his principal actors happily play their public roles by feigning utter ignorance.
How dumb is Bondi? Or, rather, how dumb did she portray herself to be? Asked by Hawaii Sen. Mazie Hirono about Trump calling felonious Jan. 6 attackers “patriots” and “hostages,” Bondi said, “I am not familiar with that statement.”
Bondi was asked by California Sen. Alex Padilla about birthright citizenship and whether she will defend it, “regardless of parents’ immigration status.” Her answer, regarding a principle that is enshrined in the 14th Amendment of the Constitution: “Senator, I will study birthright citizenship.”
Bondi was asked by Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, the Judiciary Committee’s ranking member, about the enemies published by Kash Patel, Trump’s pick for FBI director. This is a list included in Patel’s 2023 book, Government Gangsters. Her answer: “I don’t believe he has an enemies list.”
Sen. Hirono also asked her about Trump’s Hitlerian comments that immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country.” Bondi’s answer: “I am not familiar with that statement.”
And then there was the ultimate non-answer by Bondi, a noted and active denier of the outcome of the 2020 election. When asked who won that election, Bondi blithely answered, “Joe Biden is the President of the United States.”
I’m inclined to say that Pam Bondi must think we are all very dumb—that we can’t see what she is doing. But the real point is that she is confident there are a sufficient number of Republican senators who will accept this insulting charade and confirm her nomination. What’s more, she made clear by her answers that her loyalty is to one man, not the U.S. Constitution to which she will swear an oath to defend if she is in fact confirmed.
Yes, that’s chilling and disturbing. But it’s also a reminder that we don’t have the luxury to play dumb. It’s our duty to know the facts, see through the obfuscation and call out the lies. Her testimony was another warning that we must see beyond what is said and pay close attention to what is done.
Please consider becoming a paid subscriber for $50 a year or just $5 a month, if you’re not already. This helps sustain and expand the work of America, America, keeps nearly all the content free for everyone and gives you full access to the comment sections. That has never been more important.
She shouldn't be confirmed, but will be just like Barret and Kavanaugh. Barrett, and Kavanaugh did the same charade with "It's a precedent" which isn't much different then "Biden is president" when asked if Trump lost the election in 2016. Don't tell the truth, just don't lie. RINOs don't care about truth, democracy, or justice; POWER if all that counts. Thank you America, Apparently the cost of eggs and milk is more important than the cost of freedom and democracy.
And Bondi is proffered as one of Trump’s more qualified nominees, smoothing the way for Gabbard, Patel, and Kennedy, and erasing the recent debacle that is Pete Hegseth. This is a national embarrassment. It is an insult to our intelligence. And it’s a shameless abdication of responsibility on the part of the Republican senators.