When the 2016 October Surprise hit, the infamous “grab ‘em by the pussy” tape, most pundits predicted the demise of then-candidate Trump’s nascent political career.
Modern feminist-flavored conventional wisdom held that one simply can’t be caught on tape bragging about a policy of getting aggressively handsy with women at random and getting away with it on account of being famous, which is what Trump essentially said, and win a presidential election.
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In perhaps the most audacious gambit in campaign history, instead of doing what any crisis PR consultant would have advised — calling a press conference with Melania at his side, looking like a dour whipping boy, apologizing for his transgressions against social norms — Trump instead invited all of Bill Clinton’s accused rapists to the Hillary debate, sat them in the front row, pointed them out, and stalked her like an absolute savage the entire debate.
It wordlessly stated the obvious — that Hillary had no moral high ground to stand on, try as she might to cloak herself in the veneer of do-gooder liberalism — but, more importantly, signaled that Trump was willing to go nuclear when others would have sued for peace.
It turns out, voters like that moxie — especially directed against onerous avatars of The Swamp like Hillary Clinton.
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This was the lesson: the modern American political audience will reward perceived strength (with a troll cherry on top) even over character flaws when they feel the target is justified.
Which brings us to Dan Bongino, recently departed Deputy Director of the FBI, who recently announced a return to the podcast circuit:
“I started in this movement as a candidate during the Tea Party movement, and I began my political commentary career shortly thereafter. I helped build this movement and I sure as hell am not going to let it get hijacked by a group of black-pillers, life-losers, grifters and bums. We are a movement guided by truth. The essence of conservative ideology is the preservation of eternal truths. We are not the “latest thing” group. We are not political cannibals. I’ve watched quietly from the inside while doing the job I was hired to do, but I’m back now, and it’s time to restore balance to the force (that one was for Gui). As we get ready to make some announcements about the future of the show, I also want to warn the haters and the zeroes – we’ve been at this a long time. We live for this stuff. This isn’t our first, second or tenth rodeo. We’ve seen a lot dipshits come and go. We revel in making you angry enough to show your asses. It’s glorious. We’ve got midterms coming up, and there’s no time for bullshit. This administration is cooking and REAL change simmers. If you’re spending your entire day bitching and whining with 3/4ths of the term still to go, then please find the exits. There’s no time for it. It’s not “infighting” when you excise a cancer killing the host. It’s “outfighting” because you’re not part of any movement I’m familiar with.”
Let me add this, from the jump, so there’s NO confusion. I started in this movement as a candidate during the Tea Party movement, and I began my political commentary career shortly thereafter. I helped build this movement and I sure as hell am not going to let it get hijacked by… https://t.co/kkH9jTXY9M
— Dan Bongino (@dbongino) January 5, 2026
No doubt, Bongino’s been mulling how to posture when he makes the imminent leap from government insider back to dissident outsider, reaching for an angle to hype.
The honorable, honest strategy would be to admit what he didn’t get done, why he couldn’t or didn’t accomplish what he demanded of government when he wasn’t in it, and what lessons he did or didn’t take from the whole experience.
But he won’t do that, because he doesn’t want to look weak, doesn’t want to alienate the part of his audience (or potential audience, since he’s been out of the game for a while) that’s still fiercely loyal to Trump, and probably also because he doesn’t want to lose all of the clout that he still has with people in and around Trumpworld. Admitting he failed would be admitting the Trump administration failed.
Most of all, perhaps, the reason he’s not going to exhibit any humility whatsoever when he picks the mic back up is that he learned the art of modern politics from Trump himself, the core tenets of which are:
- Never admit failure
- Refuse all accountability
- Double down when criticized
- Viciously attack critics even if their criticism is valid
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The problems for Bongino are that a.) 2025 was a rough year for the MAGA faithful and discontent within the base is high, and b.) the internet doesn’t forget.
Some portion of the MAGA base is going to circle the wagons and reward fealty to the Don uber alles, but some portion, and possibly a larger one, won’t forget that, under Bongino and Kash Patel’s tenure at the FBI, there were:
· No Deep State arrests. The only real attempt, the prosecution of James Comey, fell apart immediately due to either gross incompetence or intentional self-sabotage by the DOJ.
· No January 6 fedsurrection intelligence agency arrests
· No Russiagate arrests after aggressively demanding Russiagate arrests for years while podcasting
· No lasting institutional reforms at the FBI (or any other agency, except arguably HHS under RFK Jr.)
· No COVID arrests despite all the intel agencies agreeing the virus emerged out of a Wuhan lab that was funded by The Science™ establishment in the United States and all of the irrefutable proof that the pharmaceutical companies and Public Health™ authorities knew the so-called vaccine they coerced millions of people into taking didn’t work and were dangerous
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After aggressively pushing the Epstein story for years on his podcast and admonishing his audience to never give it up, specifically in the context of discovering once he became FBI deputy director, Bongino claimed Jeffrey Epstein killed himself, offering as evidence he “saw the file” (“trust me, bro.”) in the larger context of the administration’s obvious cover-up of the files.
Anyway, best of luck, Dan. It’s gonna be a slog.
