Pam Bondi Couldn’t Possibly Succeed
Every attorney general Trump appointed failed for the same reason: the legal system cannot convict innocent people, no matter how much the president demands it.
这篇文章深入探讨了唐纳德·特朗普总统任期内司法部长职位的特殊性，指出该职位已成为一个短期且充满政治压力的角色。文章以帕姆·邦迪为例，她因未能成功起诉特朗普的政敌而被解雇，凸显了特朗普对司法部长绝对忠诚和执行其个人指令的要求。此前，杰夫·塞申斯和比尔·巴尔也因未能完全满足特朗普的期望而离职。文章暗示，特朗普的下一任司法部长也将面临同样的困境，因为司法系统难以凭空制造罪名。
Pam Bondi’s 421 days as attorney general of the United States came to an end in the only way they could have: with her being fired ignominiously via a social-media post. Donald Trump announced that Bondi, though a “Great American Patriot and a loyal friend,” will be “transitioning to a much needed and important new job” that, despite its great importance, remains a secret. Also, her new job will be in the private sector, which makes it a strange thing for a president to be determining—or at least it would be strange if the administration still observed traditional boundaries between public and private, which it does not.
美国司法部长是美国司法部的首长，也是联邦政府的首席法律顾问。该职位由总统提名并经参议院批准，负责执行联邦法律、管理联邦检察官系统，并在最高法院代表美国政府。其独立性对于维护法治至关重要，但常面临政治压力。
The attorney-general position under Trump has become a short-term gig not unlike the drummer in This Is Spinal Tap. Back in 2017, Trump chose his first nominee, Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama, specifically for his loyalty—Sessions was the first senator to endorse his campaign. But Sessions disappointed his boss by recusing himself from the Russia investigation and generally following department procedure, leading to his termination.
From the March 2026 issue: What happened to Pam Bondi?
“回避”指公职人员因潜在利益冲突或偏见而退出某项调查或案件。杰夫·塞申斯在“通俄门”调查中回避，是因为他曾是特朗普竞选团队成员，可能存在利益冲突。这一举动旨在维护调查的公正性，但也激怒了特朗普。
Trump replaced Sessions with Bill Barr, who had auditioned for the job by submitting a memo attacking Robert Mueller’s investigation. Barr faithfully upheld Trump’s priorities, but the two men did occasionally find themselves at odds. Barr maintained at least the appearance of rule-following, and complained privately that Trump’s insistence on ordering him in public to do his bidding undermined the department’s credibility. Barr left after enraging Trump by stating that he could not find voter fraud at a scale large enough to have flipped the 2020 election result.
罗伯特·穆勒曾任特别检察官，负责调查俄罗斯干预2016年美国大选以及特朗普竞选团队是否与俄罗斯勾结。文章中提到的“选举舞弊”指控，是特朗普及其支持者在2020年大选后提出的，但普遍缺乏证据支持。
When his second term began, Trump sought out an attorney general whose loyalty would not waver under even the most trying circumstances. Bondi did not bother pretending to uphold the Justice Department’s independence. She announced to the staff upon taking office, “We are so proud to work at the directive of Donald Trump.
Bondi faithfully echoed Trump’s messaging, calling him “the greatest president in the history of our country” and scolding Democrats in Congress two months ago for investigating his administration when the Dow Jones Industrial Average had topped 50,000. (It is currently at 46,000.
Most important, Bondi investigated and brought charges against seemingly anybody Trump wanted her to. At minimum, Bondi tried to investigate a long list of Trump targets, and if she refused any of his demands, no evidence of doing so has made its way to the public. Her problem turned out to be that it remains very difficult to convict Americans of a crime they did not commit, even more so when those targets have competent lawyers. And so, as Bondi kept bringing the cases Trump ordered up, she kept losing them, which made Trump angrier and more determined to compel Bondi to bring flimsy charges against his enemies.
Paul Rosenzweig: What role does ‘wrath’ play in American justice?
美国环境保护局是联邦政府的一个独立机构，负责制定和执行环境保护法规。其职责包括空气、水污染控制、废物管理等。该机构的政策和领导人任命常成为政治争议的焦点，尤其是在环境法规与经济发展之间寻求平衡时。
Trump reportedly wishes to replace Bondi with Lee Zeldin, his administrator at the Environmental Protection Agency, whom Trump is said to currently admire because he wins his cases. The difference, of course, is that it is far easier to win an environmental challenge, especially given the decades of groundwork the conservative movement has invested in weakening environmental law and confirming friendly judges, than it is to manufacture a criminal case out of thin air.
The president apparently believes that Bondi is failing to lock up his enemies because she isn’t smart enough. He will eventually discover that Zeldin, or whoever replaces Bondi, also lacks the power to persuade juries to convict Trump’s enemies of imaginary crimes. And so the next attorney general will also eventually transition to a new job at the Shield of the Americas or a farm somewhere upstate, where they can run and play.