‘When There’s an Opportunity, He Will Go for It’
In an extraordinary series of interviews over the first few months of the Trump II presidency, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles has admitted that President Trump is engaged in retribution against his political foes, even as she tried to tiptoe around the implications of her concession.
While Wiles’ admission is couched as a denial that retribution is occurring, the critical quote in the two-part Vanity Fair series by Chris Whipple includes key concessions that Trump is engaged in what at one point she calls “score settling”:
“I don’t think he’s on a retribution tour,” she said. “A governing principle for him is, ‘I don’t want what happened to me to happen to somebody else.’ And so people that have done bad things need to get out of the government. In some cases, it may look like retribution. And there may be an element of that from time to time. Who would blame him? Not me.”
Asked about the bogus mortgage fraud allegations against New York Attorney General Letitia James, Wiles replied: “Well, that might be the one retribution.”
As for the campaign to prosecute former FBI Director James Comey, Wiles said:
“I mean, people could think it does look vindictive. I can’t tell you why you shouldn’t think that.” Wiles said of Trump: “I don’t think he wakes up thinking about retribution. But when there’s an opportunity, he will go for it.”
With numerous targets of the Trump retribution campaign making claims of vindictive prosecution against the Trump DOJ, Wiles’ stunningly casual admissions of presidential abuse of power are likely to soon make their way into legal filings, providing an arguably critical link in the causal chain between the president and the Justice Department.
Whipple is the author of a 2017 book that profiled White House chiefs of staff from Nixon to Obama, which may have given him the the entrée to such a candid series of 11 interviews with Wiles.
At one point in the spring, Wiles told Whipple of Trump: “We have a loose agreement that the score settling will end before the first 90 days are over.”
Asked about that by the NYT after the Vanity Fair articles came out, Wiles said: “You don’t want it to get in the way of the real agenda. And so, loosely, let’s get it all going within 90 days. Which we did. Now, the justice system works slowly and so even if it was initiated in 90 days, it could be a long time before it’s done.”
Bongino on the Way Out at FBI?
Dan Bongino has been on his way back to podcasting since almost as soon as he became deputy FBI director, but now the NYT reports there is at least a timeframe for his departure … sorta:
Mr. Bongino has said he plans to leave his job as soon as this week or as late as mid-January, according to three people with knowledge of his plans.
One sign it might be sooner rather than later: Mr. Bongino has been sending office knickknacks and other possessions back to Florida, where he intends to resume his lucrative career as a pro-Trump media broadcaster in time for the midterm elections, they said.
But Mr. Bongino’s departure plans, like his brief tenure at the bureau, have been steeped in vacillation and melodrama.
Wisconsin Fake Electors Case Can Proceed
The state prosecution of the Wisconsin fake electors scheme against lawyer James Troupis and 2020 Trump campaign staffer Mike Roman can proceed, a judge ruled Monday. The judge delayed a decision about whether the case can also proceed against lawyer Kenneth Chesebro.
Islamophobia Unleashed
At least two GOP members of Congress are using the terrorist attack on Australian Jews by suspected radical Islamists to call for the removal of all Muslims from the United States:
- Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL): “Islam is not a religion. It’s a cult. Islamists aren’t here to assimilate. They’re here to conquer. Stop worrying about offending the pearl clutchers. We’ve got to SEND THEM HOME NOW or we’ll become the United Caliphate of America.”
- Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL): “It is time for a Muslim travel ban, radical deportations of all mainstream Muslim legal and illegal immigrants, and citizenship revocations wherever possible. Mainstream Muslims have declared war on us. The least we can do is kick them the hell out of America.”
Targeting an entire religion, revoking citizenship on the basis of a disfavored faith, making it impossible to ever be a “real” non-Christian citizen … these are the trappings of white nationalism.
Good Read
Thomas Zimmer: Trumpism Is at War with the Idea of a Citizenry of Equals
The Retribution: Mark Kelly Edition
A remarkable quote from an unnamed Department of Defense official confirming that the Pentagon has escalated its retribution campaign against Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) by turning its preliminary review into a command investigation: “Retired Captain Kelly is currently under investigation for serious allegations of misconduct. Further official comments will be limited to preserve the integrity of the proceedings.”
Notice how the official manages to smear Kelly while in the process of purporting to disavow any smearing of Kelly.
The alleged “misconduct” is Kelly’s participation in a video that urged service members to abide by their legal obligation not to follow illegal orders. The video infuriated the Trump White House. Kelly is being targeted because, as a former Navy captain, there is in theory a route available by which he could be ordered back to active duty and the military’s power over him could be abused to retaliate against him for his lawful actions as a sitting senator.
Venezuela Watch: New Boat Attacks
The U.S. conducted unlawful strikes on three more suspected drug-smuggling boats in the Eastern Pacific, killing eight people.
The Purge: Pentagon Edition
At the direction of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, the biggest reorganization of the Pentagon in decades would consolidate power in the hands of fewer presumably loyalist flag officers and reduce the number of combatant commands from 11 to eight, the WaPo reports.
Quote of the Day
Henry Farrell, on President Trump’s new National Security Strategy:
The Trump administration’s new strategy for the world is a kind of Groyper Grand Strategy Cosplay, which simultaneously purports to be a guide to specific policy. It is set to fail, even by its own ludicrous and wildly offensive standards. As I used to tell my students, a National Security Strategy speaks to three audiences: the U.S. government itself; allies and friends, and adversaries. The new strategy can’t be coherently implemented by the first, will alienate the second still further, and will open up opportunities to the third.
The Corruption: The Most WSJ of Headlines
“CEOs Are Learning to Live With Trump’s Turn to State Capitalism“
Joe Ely, 1947-2025
The Lord of the Highway is dead at 78. From his earliest work with The Flatlanders to opening for The Clash to his long, low-key solo career, Joe Ely made his own way. His cover of Robert Earl Keen’s “The Road Goes On Forever” belongs on every road trip playlist, but this vintage 1981 tune might best capture his distinct throwback sound:
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