By Chris Stirewalt | Friday, April 3 |
By Chris Stirewalt Friday, April 3 |
|
|
[Watch Whole Hog Politics live: Join us today at 9 a.m. ET at TheHill.com as Chris Stirewalt and host Bill Sammon break down this week's political news and answer questions from a live online audience.] I'm not aware of any Justice Department in any administration that wasn't accused of political corruption and that, to at least some degree, there wasn't some there there. The disappearing, reappearing Hunter Biden prosecution. The pardon bonanza of the first Trump administration. Obama Attorney General Loretta Lynch and her tarmac meeting with Bill Clinton amid his wife's prosecution for mishandling state secrets. The U.S. attorney sackings of the George W. Bush presidency. The Rose Law firm records scandal of the Clinton administration. Caspar Weinberger's last-minute pardon by President George H.W. Bush. Reagan Attorney General Edwin Meese and the dubious loans. The Carter Justice Department's treatment of the president's top aide, Bert Lance. By then, you're in the Ford and Nixon years, and Nelly bar the door. We could go on and on, back to the beginning of the 20th century, when the Justice Department went from being something like the legal office for the federal government to being the sharpest arrow in the quiver for projecting federal power domestically. As the number of federal laws increased exponentially in the Progressive Era and the department got its own dedicated police force in the FBI to enforce the failed experiment of Prohibition, things changed quickly. The attorney generalship changed right along with it Two of the worst — Woodrow Wilson's henchman, Mitchell Palmer, and Warren Harding's bag man, Harry Daugherty — helped seal the agency's reputation for politically motivated thuggery and corruption with back-to-back, bipartisan abuses. Which is all to say that in more than a century of what Washingtonians have long called "the Department of Political Justice," nothing being said about former Attorney General Pam Bondi's tenure is particularly pathbreaking. Yes, the alleged misdeeds of some of her predecessors looks quaint in comparison to some of her actions, but she doesn't look so different from the heavies of the past like Palmer, Daugherty, Robert F. Kennedy Sr. or Richard Nixon's enforcer, John Mitchell. What made Bondi's tenure unsustainable, though, was that unlike their bosses, President Trump wanted not just someone to carry out his political agenda, but to do so in an explicit way. He wanted the brass knuckles out for everyone to see, not hidden under a velvet drape. In September, when the president apparently mistakenly posted what was supposed to be a private message to Bondi on his social media platform, his frustration with the niceties of prosecutorial procedure were evident as he complained with a number of posts on the platform about a lack of prosecutions of high-profile Democrats. In essence, Trump wanted her to conduct herself in the way that he claimed Democrats functioned toward him during the many criminal investigations during his first term and the 2021-2025 interregnum. While Republicans certainly have a strong point to make about the institutional drift of career Department of Justice (DOJ) officials, it did not seem to occur to Trump that the individual prosecutors working these cases believed they were doing the right thing. When Trump celebrated the death of former FBI Director Robert Mueller, it put an exclamation point on the idea. Lost on Trump was the fact that, in the end, it was Mueller's probe that finally put to bed the idea of active collusion between Trump and the Kremlin — something that wouldn't have happened without a respected investigator on the case. What Bondi tried to offer Trump was what he lacked in the first administration: a blunt instrument with which to go after his enemies. Her February House Oversight and Government Reform Committee testimony, which was supposed to be about unanswered questions concerning the Jeffrey Epstein investigation, devolved into a circus because she was very obviously trying to prove to Trump that she could be the hammer he wants. (Though one wonders: Now that the Dow is back under 50,000, would the questions be germane?) Ultimately, no attorney general can be what the president wants them to be. Judges, grand juries, career DOJ employees and others stand in the way of the kind of enforcement Trump is looking for. Trump was best served by his second attorney general, Bill Barr, who had the institutional knowledge and respect to undertake what, by typical Republican standards, would have been a tour de force for executive authority and conservative legal initiatives. And he most surely navigated Trump through the final phase of the Russia investigation. But having someone who could do that meant, ultimately, having someone with the capacity to say "no" to the president. The new acting attorney general, Trump's former criminal defense attorney, Todd Blanche, can legally hold the post without Senate confirmation until the end of October. Whether the president opts to ride that one out for as long as he can or decides to kick off what could be a bruising confirmation fight with a Republican Senate majority that seems to be running out of patience with the president this election year is sort of beside the point. Whether it is Blanche or someone else, they will end up in the same place as Bondi as long as Trump demands results, control and absolute personal loyalty all at once. [Programming alert: Watch "The Hill Sunday with Chris Stirewalt" – We'll have the latest news and the best analysis on the war with Iran, the shake-up at the Justice Department and the stalled shutdown deal. Plus when faith and politics collide, the consequences for both can be serious. This Easter, "The Hill Sunday" looks at the intersection and its implications with guests including conservative commentator Erick Erickson and former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu. Be sure to catch us on NewsNation at 10 am ET / 9am CT or your local CW station.] |
Holy croakano! We welcome your feedback, so please email us with your tips, corrections, reactions & amplifications: WholeHogPolitics@TheHill.com. If you'd like to be considered for publication, please include your name and hometown. If you don't want your comments to be publicized, please specify. |
|
| Change from last week: No change Change from one month ago: ↓ 2.6 points |
[Average includes: CNN 35% approve - 64% disapprove; Quinnipiac University 38% approve - 56% disapprove; AP-NORC 38% approve - 60% disapprove; Fox News 41% approve - 59% disapprove; Reuters/Ipsos 36% approve - 62% disapprove] |
VOTERS LACK PATIENCE ON IRAQ WAR |
Thinking about where things stand with the conflict in Iran today, the U.S. should prioritize… Ending quickly | Finishing the job Total: 66% | 27% Republicans: 40% | 57% Democrats: 91% | 8% Independents: 74% | 20% [Ipsos survey of 1,021 adults, March 27-29] |
|
|
Writer David Sims runs back the tape. The Atlantic: "It probably won't shock you to learn that the best-selling game of 2026 thus far is not about the mundane activity of running a video store. Yet for me, it might as well be: Retro Rewind, an indie exercise in retail management, has captured my attention as much as the real global chart-topper, Resident Evil Requiem. … In Retro Rewind, meanwhile, zero zombies are slain, no conspiracies uncovered; the biggest crisis the player faces is the phone ringing while they're trying to make change for a customer. … Retro Rewind is the latest in a category called 'store simulators'—games that basically create bottled versions of hourly-wage drudgery. Set in the '90s, the game tasks players with such activities as stocking shelves, manning the checkout counter, and balancing the daily books; sometimes a videotape needs to be rewound, or a patron disputes a late fee. … [O]n Steam, the popular gaming marketplace, Retro Rewind was a surprising entrant in the top-10 best-sellers chart, debuting at No. 1." |
|
|
PAINTING THE LANES FOR VANCE, RUBIO |
Vance huddles with top donors: CBS News: "A line snaked around the first floor of the posh Four Seasons hotel in Nashville Monday evening as wealthy conservative donors eagerly waited their turns to ride an elevator upstairs to hear a special guest speak: the vice president of the United States. JD Vance headlined a closed-door gathering for the spring summit of the Rockbridge Network, a secretive donor group that Vance co-founded in 2019 during his stint as a private investor. According to a source in the room, there were about 250 members of the donor community at the event, which cost at least $100,000 per person to attend. … Rockbridge members are 'the people that will be rallying around JD, and they want to back JD,' said one conservative venture capitalist, granted anonymity to discuss Rockbridge." |
A Catholic follow-up to 'Hillbilly Elegy': New York Times: "Vice President JD Vance, the country's most powerful Roman Catholic politician, will publish a memoir about his conversion to the faith. ... Mr. Vance's faith has become a conspicuous part of his political biography, driving his views on issues like opposition to abortion rights and encouraging Americans to have more children. It has earned him early support from influential conservative Christian leaders…. His book is an effort to position Mr. Vance as a political leader — and potential next Republican presidential nominee — but also supports a larger effort by socially conservative leaders, activists and politicians to strengthen the power of conservative Christianity in American life. Mr. Vance converted to Catholicism in 2019 at age 35, after a bespoke, private instruction with Dominican Friars in Cincinnati." |
Rubio's stock still rising with MAGA: The Dispatch: "Any sensible discussion about Marco Rubio and the race for the 2028 Republican nomination begins by addressing an essential question: Would a GOP base dominated by populists who view President Donald Trump as their north star embrace the secretary of state as the nominee and enthusiastically back his candidacy? Accounting for some possible caveats, the answer is—most likely—'yes,' key Trump allies connected to the president's Make America Great Again movement told The Dispatch this month, as Rubio's White House stock continued to soar in Republican circles. This crowd's affection for Rubio is a significant development. Although nearly a decade has passed since the onetime free-market Reaganite converted to conservative populism ('common good capitalism'), the MAGA wing of the GOP was sufficiently distrustful of Rubio in 2024 that its most prominent voices pushed Trump to make Vice President J.D. Vance his running mate." |
|
|
Trump tries sweeping executive order to challenge states' control of elections — The Hill |
Hasan Piker, growing anti-Israel sentiment bring turmoil to Dem primaries — New York Times |
Rahm Emanuel keeps hitting Dems for misplaced priorities, and finds an audience — Semafor |
Primary challenger to Rep. Jim Baird (R-Ind.) gets a big-name backer — Indianapolis Star |
Former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford joins GOP primary to take back his former House seat — The Hill |
Republican group tries to shape Dem primary in Nebraska battleground House race — The Downballot |
FBI boss, California Dem front-runner Swalwell trade jabs over file release — Politico |
Donalds dominates in Florida governor race — The Hill |
|
|
LORD PALMERSTON OBJECTS, M'LORD |
"I think he would have taken a very different stand [on the war in Iran] but he doesn't do that." — President Trump to The London Telegraph saying that King Charles III would have backed the president's plan in Iran, unlike the U.K.'s prime minister, Keir Starmer "Must be A.I." — South Dakota rancher Kevin Ruesink to The New York Times about compromising photos of Bryon Noem, husband of Kristi Noem, special envoy to the Shield of the Americas. |
|
|
AIN'T NO MOUNTAIN HIGH ENOUGH… |
KSL: "A couple had an unexpected visitor at their elopement ceremony on Saturday. The couple was visiting [Utah] from out of state for a picturesque 'secret elopement' when a rockslide occurred. The moment was captured by Shane Schieve, who said they initially thought it was a low-flying jet because it was so loud. 'It was at 6:01 p.m. (at the) top of the Veterans Home Street in Ivins,' Schieve told KSL. 'They were using my car for the wedding photos, and they were almost done with the ceremony when it happened. It just sounded like thunder and we looked up ... and saw the dust and rocks falling down the mountain. Talk about a wedding crasher!' The couple's wedding photographer, Lois Valdez, also took photos and video of the event. … 'We were in the middle of the ring exchange,' Valdez said. 'Everything was super quiet, intimate and low-key, since it was a secret elopement. And then out of nowhere, we see part of the red rock start sliding down the mountain.'" |
|
|
Write to WholeHogPolitics@TheHill.com with your tips, kudos, criticisms, insights, rediscovered words, recipes, and, always, good jokes. Please include your real name — first and last — and hometown. Make sure to let us know if you want to keep your submission private. My colleague, Meera Sehgal, and I will look for your emails and then share the most interesting ones and my responses here. Clickety clack! |
|
|
Chris Stirewalt is political editor for The Hill and NewsNation, the host of "The Hill Sunday" on NewsNation and The CW, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and the author of books on politics and the media. |
400 N Capitol Street NW Suite 650, Washington, DC 20001
Copyright © 1998 - 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. | All Rights Reserved. |
|
|
|
No comments:
Post a Comment