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Just dropped · Trial Balloon · Ep. 193

The Magnificent Seven

A new episode of Trial Balloon just dropped for Political Wire members. Log in or become a member

Trial Balloon · Ep. 193: The Magnificent Seven

The MAGA Bubble Is Imploding

February 13, 2026 · 7:05 am ET · Leave a Comment

Paul Krugman: “Attorney General Pam Bondi’s meltdown on Wednesday while being questioned the House Judiciary Committee was exceptional, even by this administration’s rock-bottom standards. Has any high-level official ever before shrieked at a member of Congress, ‘You don’t tell me anything, you washed-up, loser lawyer’?”

“Yet what truly amazed me was her demand that Democrats stop talking about Jeffrey Epstein because the Dow was above 50,000. This plumbed new depths of moral bankruptcy, effectively saying: ‘How dare you complain about child rape when the stock market is up?’”

“There was an unmistakable stench of desperation in Bondi’s tantrum. And it fooled no one. The cracks are showing, as some congressional Republicans have now voted against Trump’s tariffs, Justice Department lawyers are quitting en masse or just plain cracking up, and attempts to weaponize prosecutions keep failing.”

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