This is the Feb. 12, 2026, edition of “The Tea, Spilled by Morning Joe” newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered straight to your inbox Monday through Friday.
I’ve known Pam Bondi for two decades.
If I hadn’t seen so many old friends humiliate themselves at the feet of Donald Trump, I might be surprised by the attorney general’s sad decline.
But I am not.
Many of Bondi’s Florida friends and colleagues describe her behavior as unrecognizable.
Stephanie McCrummen captured the shift in the Atlantic last month, pointing to one particularly revealing appearance before Congress:
It went for hours, a calculated performance that amounted to a giant middle finger to basic notions of decorum and accountability, leaving all sorts of questions unanswered, including a fundamental one that some of Bondi’s old friends and colleagues back home in Florida had been asking.
As one of them put it to me: “I keep asking myself, What the fuck happened to Pam?”
Many from her Florida days remembered Bondi as competent and kind.
Colleagues and others who knew Bondi then remember her as a competent, at times excellent prosecutor who was good with juries, won many convictions, and was able to convey the moral certitude necessary to seek the death penalty.
A former boyfriend, Billy Howard, called her “The Paminator.” At the same time, he told me, “Pam was very well liked—that is something she worked at. She liked to be liked.”
Others took note of her humility.
Many others recalled how kind she could be, how accommodating, how Pambi. One courthouse colleague remembered how a relative of a crime victim mistook Bondi for a secretary and asked her to copy some papers, which Bondi did without hesitating or correcting the woman. “She had humility.”
But that was in the before times.
In Tampa, Bondi’s old friends are still trying to figure out what happened to the person they remember, but one of them, the close friend, told me that she has finally stopped trying. At this point, she knows.
“She went cheap for power,” the friend decided, and now she has only one question left.
“Was it worth it?”
“Yeah, they probably should be indicted.”
— House Speaker Mike Johnson saying members of Congress who warned against following illegal military orders should be indicted, even after a grand jury refused to do so.
A CONVERSATION WITH JON MEACHAM
Pam Bondi’s Capitol Hill appearance yesterday quickly went off the rails, drawing intense reaction across Washington. Presidential historian Jon Meacham joined “Morning Joe” to discuss the spectacle — and what’s at stake for American democracy.
JS: What a sad, pathetic scene on Capitol Hill yesterday. MAGA used to brag about “owning the libs.” Now they’re just owning themselves. I pity these compliant pawns. They’re so weak, so exposed.
JM: The simple takeaway is that the attorney general borrowed a style from right-wing podcasters. Her testimony before Congress was more about talking points than answering questions. But beyond that, it was a sad reminder of how the combative cable-news style has seeped into everything.
JS: And what of these Trump officials’ legacy when their jobs disappear?
JM: As you said, their approach is beyond the point. These officials have to decide who they want to be and how they want to be remembered. If you’re the attorney general, a senator, a Cabinet member, remember, you swore an oath — not to one man or his phone, but to the Constitution. At some point, that has to matter.
JS: Let’s move past yesterday’s circus. Let’s focus instead on one of the lowest moments yet in this administration’s “lawfare” campaign against Donald Trump’s political opponents. When was the last time a U.S. president tried to arrest six senators and members of Congress from the opposing party for simply stating facts and exercising their First Amendment rights?
JM: When I call something unprecedented, it’s serious — because that’s bad for my business model. But this is uncharted territory. It’s not “authoritarian-adjacent.” It is authoritarian.
JS: Explain.
JM: Arresting opponents, canceling or rigging elections — these are danger signs. And anyone who can’t see that isn’t paying attention. Remember, this country was founded to determine whether reason and deliberation could stand against force and accident. Right now, reason is facing off against force, and that’s as fundamental as it gets.
JS: Jon, before we go, please join us for Presidents Day on Monday. Let’s talk about your favorite presidents, including the one you’re working on now.
JM: I’d love to. I’m sure the audience will be thrilled [laughing], and Mika will be positively overjoyed. It will be our version of the Super Bowl for history geeks.
ON THIS DATE
Sixteenth president, savior of the Union, and emancipator of slaves Abraham Lincoln was born on this date in 1809.
Lincoln spent three decades struggling to pull a recalcitrant nation from the bondage of slavery. Against all odds, the Springfield lawyer succeeded.
Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy described Lincoln as the greatest figure in world history:
Of all the great national heroes and statesmen of history Lincoln is the only real giant. Alexander, Frederick the Great, Caesar, Napoleon, Gladstone and even Washington stand in greatness of character, far behind Lincoln. He was a Christ in miniature, whose name will live thousands of years in the legends of future generations.
GALLUP ENDS POTUS POLLS
Fear stalks the land! Even at the preeminent political polling organization in America.
Gallup announced yesterday that it will end its 88-year practice of conducting presidential approval polls.
The esteemed organization has long held out its presidential polling unit as the outfit’s crown jewel — drawing on approval ratings for every U.S. president since Harry Truman.
With the company dependent on government contracts — and Donald Trump’s own ratings hitting historic lows — many conclude that Gallup trashed its longtime legacy to avoid the president’s wrath.
ONE MORE SHOT
Newspaper legend Mike Barnicle, amused by New York City’s tabloid fare.
As the Boston Globe’s most revered columnist, Barnicle played a central role in the paper’s 1975 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for its coverage of busing. Over the course of his career, Mike has won numerous journalism awards, most recently the Pete Hamill Award for Journalistic Excellence from New York University.
Boston’s Barnicle, New York City’s Jimmy Breslin, and Chicago’s Mike Royko remained the giants of print journalism for decades — and heroes to the working class residents they profiled and fought for.
Barnicle is a founding member of the “Morning Joe” family, starting with the show in 2007.
💝 LOVE IS IN THE AIR 💝
With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, the “Morning Joe” family wants to know: What’s the secret to a loving, lasting relationship? Tell us yours here!
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Former Rep. Joe Scarborough, R-Fla., is co-host of MS NOW's "Morning Joe" alongside Mika Brzezinski — a show that Time magazine calls "revolutionary." In addition to his career in television, Joe is a two-time New York Times best-selling author. His most recent book is "The Right Path: From Ike to Reagan, How Republicans Once Mastered Politics — and Can Again."