Winners & Losers | Below Deck Bondi & the Audacity of Joy
Farewell, Pam. We wish we hardly knew ye.
American aircraft are being shot out of the sky over Iran, the President is threatening to commit war atrocities against Iranian citizens, and we’re all sort of just waiting to see what happens next.
This is the Below Deck presidency, made for TV, built to keep you on the edge of your seat. It was not built to keep you safe. It was not built to ensure that you inhabit a liveable world. It was not built to keep you healthy.
This presidency was built for ratings. That’s it. And we’re all hate-watching it in real-time. But we’re also characters with a lot to lose.
I wrote most of this on Tuesday, April 7, in the lead up to the promised 8 p.m. ET destruction of “Iranian civilization.” No matter what has happened in the space between now and when you read this, Trump’s words matter almost as much as his actions. A bomb will change the landscape, will certainly ruin lives and infrastructure, but his words are fundamentally reshaping the global order.
It’s possible — stick with me here — that the men and women who lead their countries around the world are less interested in tending to the irrational whims of a reality show President than the people who are vying to be stars on the catastrophe that is the Trump show.
This week’s Loser is another character who has kept us spellbound over the past 18-odd months. This will likely be her farewell entry into the Loser Ledger, but that doesn’t mean she will stop being a Loser.
Pam Bondi, Loser
What is there to say about Pam Bondi that hasn’t already been said? This is possibly her third appearance in this column, and she’s earned every single one of them. Last week (can you believe it’s only been a week?), after some reported crying and pleading for her job, she was unceremoniously fired as Attorney General.
She was not suited for that actual job. But she was highly suited for the fictional job that only existed in Trump’s brain.
Until she wasn’t.
Let’s review her qualifications.