The Lincoln Project :: @ProjectLincoln
An image we won't soon forget. Attorney General Pam Bondi refused to look at Epstein survivors pictured behind her on the Hill today.
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It's a Lovely Life by Heather Delaney Reese
This afternoon, President Trump finally emerged from his self-imposed exile for the “Champion of Coal” event at the White House, where he stunned the entire room with grave concern for his well-being. In the middle of his speech, he stared down at the page in front of him, took a long inhale, then slowly lifted his head, with his eyes vacant of expression, and slurred through what sounded like, “I’m proud to officially name the… undeshibly dishowen… when did this come out, Mr. Speaker…” Not only was it incoherent, but in the context of what he had been saying just moments earlier, it made no sense whatsoever. It was as if what he was reading, what he was trying to say, and what he actually said were three different things.
In a normal situation, a doctor would have been called. But this was the President of the United States, and optics were all that mattered. His sycophants and those quietly pulling the strings behind the scenes clearly think that projecting the image of a functioning leader is more important than the man’s health or the country’s safety.
His performance troubles weren’t unexpected, but they were still jarring. Because when he first started the speech, he had this almost rehearsed enthusiasm as he repeated “clean, beautiful coal” like a chant someone had made him memorize just before going on stage. Which makes sense, because he and his cronies are following the fascists’ playbook, where if you say something enough times, people forget the truth. That’s how propaganda works. Joseph Goebbels, who ran propaganda for Hitler, once said that if you tell a lie big enough and repeat it over and over, people will start to believe it. Trump didn’t invent this strategy; he’s just messier about it. But the goal is the same. It was clear he was reading from a prepared script, probably just bullet points to keep things simple, but even that seemed too much for him. He kept looking down, confused and sluggish, struggling to get through basic words before veering off into one of his usual rambles.
At one point, he said to the coal workers, “You would not switch with a guy who had a beautiful penthouse apartment on Fifth Avenue. You would not switch with me; that was me. And now I decided to do this, such an easy life. And now I decided to do this.” Then he called them “special people.”
He was standing in front of coal workers, men and women who risk their lives and long-term health every day, and telling them that they wouldn’t trade places with him and his Fifth Avenue penthouse. The arrogance of that statement is staggering, and the disconnect is beyond comprehension. This wasn’t just out of touch. It was delusional. A man too far gone to understand how absurd and insulting his words were, or how they revealed his utter lack of respect for the people in front of him.
And I keep asking myself, how much more of this can our country take? At what point will he just be propped up with a blank face in front of the camera, his mental ability nearly completely gone, and his people will tell us all he is “stronger than ever”? It’s in these moments that the frustration and simmering rage toward his enablers becomes almost too much to bear. And my mind can’t stop spinning over the very real fear that if we had a catastrophic attack or disaster, this is who we’re expected to believe would be capable of protecting the country.
And we also need to contend with the fact that we are witnessing something that looks disturbingly close to elder abuse. And behind that, a government functioning on deception, quietly controlled by people the American public didn’t elect.
As shocking as that was, it was only the beginning.
In front of a room full of survivors, Pam Bondi humiliated herself and disgraced the entire Department of Justice. The House Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the Epstein files, and what should have been an act of accountability turned into a farce. The Attorney General of the United States brought ready-to-go insults, shouted over members, accused Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of “Trump Derangement Syndrome,” and refused to even look at the survivors sitting just feet behind her. When Rep. Becca Balint calmly asked about Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick’s ties to Epstein, Bondi lashed out and accused Balint of antisemitism, even though it is commonly known that Balint’s grandfather was killed in the Holocaust. It was a horrific and truly disgusting moment. She stooped so low that she weaponized identity to deflect attention from criminal connections. This wasn’t a hearing. It was a disgrace. And it was calculated and deliberate.
And then there was Bondi’s treatment of the survivors, beginning with the brutal fact that many of their identities were fully exposed in the DOJ’s unredacted Epstein files. These women had endured cruelty that many of us could never imagine, and Bondi’s DOJ released their names while protecting the men who were accused of these horrendous crimes. The redactions shielded the powerful and exposed the powerless. That decision was a betrayal.
And Bondi refused to apologize to the victims for what she and her office did. When Rep. Pramila Jayapal asked if she would turn to the survivors in the room and apologize for including many of their names in the unredacted Epstein files, Bondi refused. When Rep. Hank Johnson pressed her again, she deflected and remained hostile, accusing Democrats of theatrics and acting as if congressional oversight was some kind of personal attack. Then came the moment that will forever haunt this country. Lawmakers turned and asked the survivors directly: ‘Has the DOJ reached out to you? Have they asked for your statements?’ And one by one, each survivor shook her head. Every single one of them said they had not been contacted. Then they were asked how many had been completely ignored by the Department of Justice. And with silence so heavy it almost swallowed the room, every survivor raised her hand.
That moment should be burned into our collective memory. These were women who had been trafficked, abused, silenced, and erased, many as children, and when they bravely showed up to be heard, the Attorney General of the United States wouldn’t even look at them. That was a display of cowardice. And it gets worse. Many of these women had never publicly disclosed their identities. They were anonymous survivors for a reason: they didn’t want their trauma to become their entire identity, they feared for their safety, and the weight of being publicly linked to Epstein is not something anyone should carry without consent. And yet Bondi’s DOJ published their names. They redacted the names of wealthy men and powerful officials, accused co-conspirators, financiers, and friends of Epstein, but they left the victims exposed. They protected the powerful and betrayed those already bearing the ultimate cost.
Maybe it was a mistake. Maybe it was bureaucratic carelessness. But maybe it wasn’t. Because if you wanted to send a message to survivors not to speak up again, this is exactly how you’d do it. You protect the men and you “out” the victims. You crank up the public pressure until they retreat into silence again. You let them know they’ll be punished for being brave. And the only conclusion we can draw from this pattern is either willful negligence or something much worse. Either way, the result is the same. And history will remember it, and so will we.
The marathon hearing that lasted close to five hours continued with Rep. Ted Lieu directly accusing Bondi of lying under oath. She shouted back, “Don’t you ever accuse me of a crime!” For Bondi, this was all theatrics, an embarrassing performance meant to appease her boss, Trump. It was steeped in the same frantic arrogance Trump displays when he’s cornered. Lashing out, throwing insults, feigning outrage, and never actually responding to the questions or taking responsibility.
Then came the moment that might be the biggest story of the day. While Bondi was reading from her notes, the press caught a glimpse of what was on the page. It was a printed list tracking Rep. Pramila Jayapal’s personal search history, exactly what she had looked up while reviewing the unredacted Epstein files. That search happened on a DOJ-owned computer, inside a secure DOJ facility, with DOJ staff present. Bondi wasn’t supposed to have that information. And the fact that she brought it with her, read from it in public, and then used it to try to discredit a sitting member of Congress tells us everything.
It means the Department of Justice is spying on lawmakers during their oversight investigations by keeping records of what elected officials search. This is not how democratic government works. Rep. Jamie Raskin put it perfectly, calling it “Orwellian” and a “violation of the separation of powers.” The DOJ does not have the right to monitor Congress, especially not when doing oversight. But Bondi and the people around her don’t seem to understand the lines they’ve crossed, or don’t care because they don’t think there are any. She thought she was scoring political points. What she really did was confirm that this government is corrupt and abusing its power to protect itself. And what’s so revealing is how sloppy it was. She just brought the printout, read from it, and didn’t expect anyone to notice. These aren’t criminal masterminds. They’re reactive, reckless people.
The treatment of survivors in that room was horrific. And this moment, the DOJ spying on Congress, is just as revealing. Because it shows us how far they’re willing to go to protect the people in power and punish those who ask questions. This is the kind of mistake that tells the truth.
We’ve seen this kind of surveillance before, in places like East Germany, where the Stasi maintained vast files on citizens, journalists, and lawmakers alike. Anyone who questioned the regime became a target. Their conversations, reading habits, and associations were documented and used against them. That’s what it looks like when a government decides it’s no longer accountable to the people, but instead to their authoritarian leader. That’s what this moment echoed.
Bondi has not indicted a single Epstein co-conspirator. But she came armed to humiliate and intimidate the very people trying to get justice. Her DOJ missed the deadline for file release by over a month. It redacted co-conspirators’ names but left victims exposed. It spied on Congress. And Bondi, hand-picked by Trump, showed up with pre-printed insults and a “burn book” like she was in some twisted version of Mean Girls. It was a coordinated performance just like what they have done in Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia, where show trials became tools of propaganda, designed to intimidate and cover the truth. Bondi’s behavior fits squarely in that mold. This is what justice looks like now under the Trump Regime.
But even on a day like today, there were sparks of resistance. Because we learned that the US attorney’s office in Washington, led by Jeanine Pirro, tried to indict six Democratic lawmakers who posted a 90-second video urging military members not to follow illegal orders. These lawmakers, veterans, former CIA and Navy officers, and public servants were accused of sedition for reminding troops to uphold the Constitution. Trump called the video “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH.” But a D.C. grand jury refused to go along. Mark Kelly, Elissa Slotkin, Jason Crow, Maggie Goodlander, Chrissy Houlahan, and Chris Deluzio were not indicted on any charges. “This is not a good news story,” Kelly said. “This is a story about how Donald Trump and his cronies are trying to break our system.” Slotkin put it plainly: “Being quiet doesn’t actually make you safe. Going on offense seems to be the only way to get their attention.” This might not feel like good news, but it’s something. Legal professionals often say “you can indict a ham sandwich” because the bar for indictment is so low. But that didn’t happen today. A group of regular people in Washington, D.C. said no, and that means the legal system held, and so did our fellow Americans.
What we are witnessing is the criminalization of dissent. The DOJ tried to bring sedition charges against veterans who exercised their First Amendment rights, which is exactly how strongmen rule. The justice system is no longer a neutral institution; it’s a tool of punishment that Trump is using on his revenge tour. And we still have to stay alert. Just because a grand jury says no doesn’t mean the regime will stop. We have to stay vigilant, because their next move against these six lawmakers could come at any moment.
Today, when I sat down to write, the overarching theme of everything that’s happening is that there have been so many scandals that should have ended Trump’s presidency. So many crimes. So many humiliations. So many assaults on truth and justice, and on the very office he holds. But not a single one of them has. And it’s not because the American people don’t care, it’s because too many people in power stopped believing in accountability and have instead decided to bow down to a wannabe dictator. Too many institutions were willing to be bent and broken instead of putting up any resistance. That includes outside corporations, people in power, and our own internal institutions and agencies. Because the people enabling him have decided that silence is safer than speaking out. And we have to be honest, they’re not just doing it out of fear. They enable him because the power benefits them. Financially, politically, and in every other way. They’ve chosen submission because it pays. And they think we won’t stop them.
But we will. We will stop them come November when we take back both chambers of Congress. And until then, we slow their roll.
First, the SAVE Act was passed in the House and is heading to the Senate. We need to call our Senators and demand that they vote against it. The number one thing to do tomorrow is to contact all our Senators and tell everyone we know to do the same.
Second, we need to make a plan to donate to midterm candidates who are standing against the fascist takeover of our country. No donation is too small. Even if Trump doesn’t plan to fundraise for the Republican candidates, the Musks and the Thiels of the world will. We need to build our own funds for the Democratic candidates so they can compete against the endless GOP money machines.
Third, we need to keep supporting independent media, those still holding the line without corporate backing or political protection. Right now, the most important thing we can do is identify the voices still telling the truth and stand with them as they risk everything to report what’s really happening. I’m laser-focused on subscribing to, sharing, and amplifying the work of people who are taking a stand in a hostile environment. If you’re in a place to support financially, that makes a big difference. But so does sharing their work, reposting their reporting, and making sure their truth reaches the people who need to hear it. I’m also being intentional about where I spend, supporting non-MAGA companies and non-MAGA creators, because, unlike the far-right, we don’t have billionaires funding our message. We don’t have massive platforms built to carry our voices. But we do have each other. And if we stay committed, that’s still enough.
And on a personal note, thank you to everyone who’s chosen to support my work with a subscription. That support has allowed me to keep everything I write free and accessible to everyone, with nothing behind a paywall, so the truth can reach as many people as possible. If you’ve helped make that possible, you’re helping all of us keep going. You’re part of the reason this message is still getting out.
Today was another low point for America. But even in the middle of all that darkness, we saw something good. We saw the best of this country in the survivors who stood up anyway, steady and brave, even as the government that failed them tried to humiliate and silence them once again. They didn’t flinch or back down. And they are why I still have hope for America. And you should, too.
I’ll see you tomorrow,
Heather
