Pam Bondi, President-elect Donald Trump’s second pick for U.S. Attorney General, has ties to New Apostolic Reformation dominionists who worked hard to put Trump back in office and believe his election will bring about a spiritual “great awakening” that will help like-minded right-wing Christians take control of the “seven mountains” of influence in America—government, business, education, media, arts and entertainment, religion, and family.
After Bondi left office as Florida’s Attorney General, she joined the America First Policy Institute, a think tank created by former staffers that, like the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, has been laying the groundwork for a “revolutionary” plan to “seize control” and dismantle the “administrative state” -- federal agencies charged with protecting American workers, consumers, and communities from corporate wrongdoing.
This year, AFPI partnered with dominionist Lance Wallnau’s Courage Tour, which mixed religious revival with Christian nationalist politics and pro-Trump political organizing. Wallnau celebrated the announcement of Bondi’s nomination as a “great pick,” noting, “She’s part of the America First Policy Institute, a great group I had the privilege of working with in the last year.”
Reflecting the MAGA movement’s increasingly aggressive Christian nationalist orientation, AFPI claims scriptural foundations for every aspect of its right-wing policy agenda, which it has called “10 Pillars for Restoring a Nation Under God.”
In 2022, Bondi co-authored a Daily Caller op-ed with Trump spiritual warrior Paula White, who denounces Trump’s political opponents as demonic. The two wrote about the case of public high school football coach Joe Kennedy, who was fired after refusing to stop leading players in prayer at the 50-yard line after games. The Supreme Court’s MAGA justices ultimately used the case to further weaken church-state separation.
As Florida Attorney General, Bondi tried to weaken church-state separation in the state. She advocated for a proposed constitutional amendment that would strip language in the state constitution that declares, “No revenue of the state … shall ever be taken from the public treasury … in aid of any church, sect, or religious denomination or in aid of any sectarian institution." Voters rejected her proposed amendment.
Unless Trump successfully bullies the Senate into abandoning its constitutional role of confirming his nominees, Bondi will likely face questions about her role as Trump’s personal attorney as well as her decision not to formally investigate Trump University’s fraudulent operations after asking for and receiving a $25,000 donation to her PAC, which was sent illegally from a Trump foundation.
