Tea at Trianon: The Case for the Most Obvious Promotion in Washington

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Monday, April 6, 2026

The Case for the Most Obvious Promotion in Washington

From Amuse on X:

Pam Bondi is out. Todd Blanche, the Deputy Attorney General, steps into the interim role while Washington cycles through its familiar ritual of speculation, audition, and delay. The question of who should permanently lead the Department of Justice is already being asked in conservative circles, and the right answer requires very little searching. She is already confirmed by the Senate, already winning in court, and already doing things as Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights that MAGA America has been demanding from the federal government for years. Her name is Harmeet Dhillon, and the case for elevating her to Attorney General is, once you examine her record, almost embarrassingly obvious.
Start with the story that crystallized for millions of conservatives exactly who Dhillon is and how she operates.
On January 18 of this year, a mob stormed Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota. The congregation was mid-service. Protesters flooded the building, disrupted the worship, and targeted the church because one of its pastors reportedly worked for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Former CNN anchor Don Lemon was there. Not as a passive observer, but as someone who had attended an organizer briefing beforehand, kept the church location secret until his live coverage began, and was, according to the federal indictment, blocking a door and preventing congregants from exiting. Within 48 hours, Dhillon went on television and made a statement that electrified conservative America. “Come next Sunday,” she said, “nobody should think in the United States that they’re going to be able to get away with this.” She was not posturing. She meant it. (Read more.)