Posted originally on CTH on May 8, 2025 | Sundance 

Unfortunately, there is a toxic stew in Washington DC that too few understand.  The events today transpire just as many Trump supporters begin to realize the unfortunate outcomes of nominating unserious people like Pam Bondi, Kash Patel and Dan Bongino.

President Trump reluctantly stated earlier today that he will nominate a different person as U.S. Attorney for the critically important Washington DC office, as the collective republican opposition to Ed Martin has proven to be strong.

Ed Martin was what President Trump needed; a very serious, deliberate and qualified person to confront the Deep State UniParty.  Those core skillsets are why the Republicans did not support him.  However, on the optimistic side, if there is ever a special counsel to be appointed, I suspect Ed Martin will be leading candidate.

WASHINGTON DC – President Donald Trump said Thursday he will withdraw the nomination of Ed Martin, a longtime champion of Jan. 6 defendants, to be the District of Columbia’s top federal prosecutor.

“We have somebody else that will be great,” Trump told reporters. “We have somebody else who we’ll be announcing.”

Support for Martin among Capitol Hill Republicans has faltered in recent days, particularly after Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) signaled his opposition to the nominee over his past comments downplaying the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

Martin has spent the last few years advocating for Jan. 6 defendants and helping organize their legal defense. He has embraced conspiracy theories about the attack and the results of the 2020 election and he has spoken favorably about some of the most egregious perpetrators of the riot.

Tillis, who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, presented a major obstacle to Martin’s ability to be confirmed – both within the panel and on the chamber floor, given the GOP’s razor-thin majority and likely universal opposition among Democrats.

Trump suggested he would place Martin somewhere else in his administration. The Department of Justice did not immediately return a request for comment. (link)

Let us not pretend…

In basic truth, from the position of Washington DC politicians, both the democrats and republicans lost in the 2024 election. Washington DC well understands, candidate Donald Trump defeated the republican, Ron DeSantis, and candidate Trump defeated the democrat candidate, Kamala Harris. Forget the labels, that is what happened.

As the second term of President Trump continues, the republican party will show increasingly obvious opposition to all of the policies and results coming from the MAGA agenda that Trump represents.

In the background of our political dynamic the Republican apparatus is already having conversations about what comes next, after the abhorred MAGA infection identified as President Trump is removed.

When we ask ourselves why President Trump’s agenda hasn’t been codified by congressional action, the honest answer is, because the MAGA policy is not supported by the Republicans in congress. Nothing about this dynamic is likely to change. The professional republican politicians are simply wearing masks right now, and there are certain times when those masks slip.

Into this reality comes a tribe of shallow intellect and emotional thinking amid the Trump support base.  One of the reasons why Waltz, Bondi, Patel, Bongino and a few others were predictably going to fail relates not to their motive (although in Waltz case – ideology), but rather their lack of competence.  Several administration nominees, now officials, were widely known and supported for their high-profile visibility in prior years; unfortunately, their competence was never regarded as important.

As I said from the outset, the economic side is solid and there is much winning to celebrate today and into the future.  However, on the national security side, not so much.  Main Justice, FBI and Intel nominees were/are weak; some only optically valid and unserious.  We are watching the frustrating outcomes in real time.

♦ Washington DC, opposition to President Trump is economically and financially based. This is not about ideology; this is about money. There are trillions at stake.  K-Street exists for a reason, to bribe and influence the politicians.  President Trump does not benefit K-Street, he is focused on Main Street and that is the core of the opposition.

Democrats want power, Republicans want money. Democrats use money to get power; Republicans use power to get money. The policy of democrats determines the donor funding. The donor funding for Republicans determines the policy.  This is how the two wings of the UniParty operate.

The weapons of the opposition are deployed through Lawfare, that’s where the NatSec and Intel silos come into play.

Please understand this nuanced yet clear dynamic. The opposition is based on financial outcomes against their interests, the weapons used by the opposition come from the National Security system (silos).

The economic and foreign policy advancement is solid; however, the Lawfare/IC defense shields are weak because a mix of superfluous, professionally lazy, unserious, and incompetent people are standing atop the wall.