this post was submitted on 13 May 2025
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A bombshell report from The New York Times suggests that despite her title, Attorney General Pam Bondi is hardly running the show at the Department of Justice.

According to the Times, Bondi “sees her role as that of a surrogate, a faithful executor and high-volume messenger, compelled to cede ground to empowered players in the West Wing.”

“The decisions are being made at the White House, and then they’re being pushed down to the Department of Justice, which is very, very atypical,” observed DOJ alum Elizabeth Oyer. “It feels like she is just performing a part. She is like an actor, in a way.”

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[–] forwhomthecattolls@sh.itjust.works 18 points 21 hours ago

"bombshell!! Trump slammed by liberal party!!" bombshell my fucking nuts, when are y'all going to actually do something about it though? I'm so fucking tired of these stupid "bombshell" and "liberals slam" headlines while the media plays softball with this admin as if they aren't burning the nation to the ground.

[–] SoftestSapphic@lemmy.world 11 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

And the Heritage Foundation controls Stephen Miller

[–] LMurch@thelemmy.club 5 points 21 hours ago

They are running the Project 2025 playbook right? Makes sense that Heritage Foundation is the QB. We fucked up.

[–] fmstrat@lemmy.nowsci.com 5 points 22 hours ago
[–] Maggoty@lemmy.world 3 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

Duh? You don't think a Fox News host is actually running the DOD either right? Or Naomi DHS?

This has been transparent from the start.

[–] Uranus_Hz@lemm.ee 4 points 16 hours ago

Been transparent that this is how the GOP governs since they had an actor with dementia play “President” in the 80s.

[–] RedditIsDeddit@lemmy.world 33 points 1 day ago (2 children)

this whole administration is basically a shadow government with figureheads

[–] PalmTreeIsBestTree@lemmy.world 18 points 1 day ago (2 children)

That’s why Trump chose media personalities to head all his departments

[–] null_dot@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 21 hours ago

They all look like vapid bimbos.

[–] LMurch@thelemmy.club 4 points 21 hours ago

That's a good point.

[–] seemefeelme@infosec.pub 3 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

It turns out, WE were the real deep state all along!

[–] Glytch@lemmy.world 1 points 17 hours ago

The real deep state is the friends we made along the way.

[–] MuskyMelon@lemmy.world 26 points 1 day ago

Am I surprised a Stasi looking pedophile is in charge? Nope.

Am I surprised a bottle blonde Barbie bobblehead is a token figurehead? Nope.

[–] logicbomb@lemmy.world 73 points 1 day ago

This is how you get past the problem of Senate confirmation hearings when the person you want to appoint is so horrible that the process could expose things like how they're less of a Nazi sympathizer and more of an actual Nazi.

Similarly, Trump's team has repeatedly denied that Elon Musk was the head of DOGE in order to reduce the amount of congressional oversight that he receives.

[–] Chozo@fedia.io 86 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Well of course. Trump doesn't trust women, but he likes having them around as tokens to flaunt. I doubt any women under his admin are allowed any actual amount of power or control over their own departments.

[–] Drusas@fedia.io 26 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Maybe Noem. She's proven herself to be a sociopath, and that's his kind of people.

[–] barneypiccolo@lemm.ee 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Even she has that Pakled Homan to do the real dirty work. She just cosplays for photo ops.

[–] Drusas@fedia.io 6 points 21 hours ago

...she shot and killed her puppy because she didn't feel like training it. She's definitely a sociopath.

[–] mriswith@lemmy.world 29 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Yeah, this is why they've been spamming social media(including lemmy) with the whole "Kakistocracy" thing recently.

They really want you to think the idiots are in charge, that way you don't try to dig deeper as the idiots chop off everything they see and some parts they're told. Just look at the Librarian of Congress thing. People were making jokes about librarians, meanwhile she was basically in charge of defining DMCA and digital copyright.

[–] Initiateofthevoid@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

I mean, the idiots are in charge. There's too many stupid goddamn things piling up for them all to be some 4d chess maneuvers.

Just because they're idiots doesn't mean they're not dangerous. That's what the playbook is for - to keep the idiots on track and doing all the horrible things they're paid to do. Then, if the plan fails, the idiots take the fall and the playbook authors just try again.

[–] faythofdragons@slrpnk.net 3 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

I'm confused, you say the idiots are in charge, but then say that they're fall guys following a playbook. Which one is it?

[–] Initiateofthevoid@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago) (1 children)

I should clarify, it's the idiots currently holding the White House, and the playbook authors are the idiots at the Heritage Foundation et al. who funded and supported that acquisition in return for a well-known set of conditions.

There are also many conditions placed upon them by a bunch of other domestic and foreign influences that have been publically and privately bribing the administration and party in various ways.

I don't mean to paint them as simple fall guys, though they are the current face of a much larger problem that will continue after they're gone if not stopped. It doesn't have to be this deep state secret cabal, puppet master / strings scenario. It's blatantly just a bunch of corruption visible to the naked eye. Oligarchs funded and supported a known fascist criminal.

There are many "masterminds" with many shared and competing interests - and I'll admit that some of them are highly effective political operatives - but they're all idiots for thinking this has to work out in their favor.

Anyone with skin in the game had the wealth and power to live their lives however they wanted, in castles and penthouses forever free from want or fear... and they chose to use that power to set things up so that everyone loses. A less stable, less healthy, less prosperous future for the world. All for the sake of their own wallets or their own particular vision of what the future should be.

That fascist criminal took control of the country and put out giant signs saying his administration is up for sale to the lowest bidder. Now he sells out America three times over before breakfast, and turns on allies on a whim - or by mistake!

It is really hard to overstate how utterly stupid it was and is to get in bed with him, because now every last one of them has to hope that their chamber is empty and they survive this incredibly foolish game of Russian roulette.

[–] faythofdragons@slrpnk.net 2 points 15 hours ago

A'ight, I'm with you on that.

[–] Reverendender@sh.itjust.works 42 points 1 day ago
[–] treadful@lemmy.zip 18 points 1 day ago (2 children)

“It was clear from the start that Mr. Miller, who is not a lawyer, would exercise control inside the department, current and former Trump aides said,” observed the Gray Lady.

Who the fuck is Gray Lady?

[–] Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 15 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] treadful@lemmy.zip 14 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Thanks. Seems like a pretty obscure reference to just include naked in the article like that.

[–] barneypiccolo@lemm.ee 4 points 1 day ago

It's not obscure, it's an old, well-known nickname, you just hadn't heard it before.

[–] Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] ssladam@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Eh. It's always been a part of discourse. If they instead said, "our view of the administration's workings don't even rise to the level of observing shadows projected on a cave wall, we are truly in the dark", I'm betting you would go right along with it, even though there are plenty of people that wouldn't get the reference.

This just happens to be one you didn't know ... And now you do.

I think you're replying to the wrong comment lol

Unlike the person I replied to, I knew that the NYT is called The Gray Lady already, though admittedly I didn't know WHY, so I looked that up.

I'm 42 and would put good money on most other people familiar with the nickname being a generation or two older than me, making it a pretty niche reference to casually expect the wider readership to understand without having to stop reading to look it up..

[–] ArmoredThirteen@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 day ago

Mayor of Bowerstone

[–] OrteilGenou@lemmy.world 1 points 22 hours ago

All these Germans

[–] Kurious84@eviltoast.org 20 points 1 day ago (3 children)

The guy even looks like a henchman. Wtf.

[–] barneypiccolo@lemm.ee 5 points 1 day ago

Stephen "PeeWee Himmler" Miller

He's 100% the image of the violent overseer that cracks his whip across the backs of slaves with a smug sickly sneer on his ugly face in a movie. The one that everyone cheers for when his victims get their justice against him, slashing him with his own whip a dozen times before choking him out with it. Let us hope he receives his deserved comeuppance in real life as well.

[–] Ledericas@lemm.ee 2 points 1 day ago

hes also the guy that DYED his scalp to make it look like he has a youthful amount of hair.

[–] RagingSnarkasm@lemmy.world 19 points 1 day ago (1 children)

She's too busy delivering 747s from her "former" bosses to her "current" boss to be bothered with much else.

[–] barneypiccolo@lemm.ee 1 points 1 day ago

OBVIOUSLY, she was the conduit for this entire deal. Qatar had already paid her a fortune for her lobbying services, she would have been the first phone call they made to set up the deal.

[–] modifier@lemmy.ca 9 points 1 day ago

I could read a similar report for almost any cabinet post, or more likely multiple cabinet posts, and I wouldn’t bat an eye. I would almost assume this is happening in most cases to some degree.

Most of these secretaries are picked for their willingness and ability to absorb what passes for tough questions in congressional hearings while the real power like Hobgoblin here make the decisions.

[–] bradorsomething@ttrpg.network -2 points 1 day ago

Blondi, bombshell. I like it.