What happened on October 7 in the United States Senate marked a decisive turning point in the country’s democratic standing. Pam Bondi, the attorney general in President Donald Trump’s administration, was summoned by the Judiciary Committee to respond to suspicions of political manipulation of the justice system. Instead of a typical hearing, the attorney general staged an unprecedentedly brutal performance, refusing to answer any key questions.

This political television moment exposed what many had feared: The shift from a system based on the balance of powers to a government without checks. Bondi is not an ordinary government official. Before being appointed to lead the Department of Justice, she served as Trump’s personal lawyer during his first impeachment trial. Her loyalty is not to the institution: It remains that of a lawyer defending a client. The hearing, which was meant, among other things, to address the impeachment of former FBI director James Comey – initiated just hours after the president publicly called him a “traitor” – was transformed into a political trial against opponents of the president.

It was not just the attorney general’s verbal violence that was striking, but also the silence of the Republican Party. Neither Charles Grassley, the veteran who chairs the Judiciary Committee, nor any of his colleagues called Bondi to order. Not one of them defended their Democratic counterparts, whom they have worked with for decades. This silence confirmed the moral surrender of a party that, since Trump’s rise, has replaced institutional sense with fear and personal loyalty. The gravity of the moment cannot be overstated. Congressional hearings had, until now, remained one of the last rituals for holding the government to account. Senators embodied the dignity of the legislative branch in the face of the executive. That ritual has been broken. By openly showing her contempt for elected representatives, Bondi sent a chillingly clear message: Congress no longer exists as a counterbalance.

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