Trump Purges Washington During Wartime — Justice, Military, Alliances, All at Once

Justice: torpedoed

Monday, Trump fires Pam Bondi — his own Attorney General, one of his most loyal allies. The context is explosive: the Epstein files, which Bondi oversaw, threaten to reveal connections between the American political elite and Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking network.

Ottawa sums up in one sentence what the rest of the world analyzes in ten paragraphs: "Bondi's loyalty wasn't enough to save her" (see the Canadian perspective). Rome reaches for the verb "silurare" — to torpedo — more violent than firing, it implies deliberate destruction (see the Italian perspective).

Her replacement by an even more pliant loyalist raises a question the American press is avoiding: who controls the justice system if the president replaces anyone who gets close to sensitive files?

The military: decapitated mid-war

Wednesday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth forces General Randy George into retirement. George is the Army Chief of Staff — the highest ground forces authority — and the United States has been at war with Iran for 5 weeks.

France has known this situation since Napoleon: you do not change generals in the middle of a battle (see the French perspective). Germany opts for "drängt" — to push, to pressure — instead of "fire," underscoring the brutality of a move that should be impossible in wartime. George is the third senior officer to fall in two months.

For Islamabad, 959 km from the Iranian border, the question is vital: who is commanding American military operations in the region if the chief of staff changes every month? (see the Pakistani perspective)