In the treacherous theater of Washington, where loyalty is as rare as an honest bureaucrat, Roger Alford has emerged as the latest act in a tired but scandalous script. Billed by his admirers as a "genuine MAGA reformer," the former Department of Justice (DOJ) antitrust official was fired in July for insubordination after trying to torpedo a critical merger between Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) and Juniper Networks. Why? Not out of some noble stand for antitrust purity, but because it clashed with the Trump administration's national security priorities. U.S. intelligence had flagged the deal as essential to bolstering American tech defenses against Huawei and its Chinese overlords. Alford, however, saw it as a chance to make a name for himself.
In a speech at the Tech Policy Institute Aspen Forum (bankrolled by Big Tech behemoths like Google and Facebook), Alford recast his dismissal as a badge of honor. He hangs his termination letter like a Purple Heart in his Notre Dame Law School office, puffing himself up as a whistleblower against "corruption" and the "rule of lobbyists." He even invoked Sir Thomas More in A Man for All Seasons. Luckily, I read the whole speech, so you do not have to. I can tell you this: it is the work of a man seeking fame and fortune, an "atta-boy" and an invite to cocktail parties. It reads like a man who has spent his life believing he's the most critical person in the room. The only difference is that he dresses himself up like MAGA while earning the praise of the left through his actions.
This is classic "one true Scotsman" theater, a logical fallacy weaponized by turncoats who claim to embody the purest form of conservatism while gutting it from the inside. Alford didn't just oppose the merger; he defied superiors, smeared DOJ colleagues as corrupt, and framed his insubordination as the real MAGA stance—populist, anti-lobbyist, rule-of-law purism. Sound familiar? It's the same grift that has enriched and elevated a parade of Republican defectors: James Comey, who leaked memos to ignite the Russia hoax and became a CNN saint; John Bolton, the mustache-twirling warmonger who torched his White House tenure in a tell-all screed; Alexander Vindman, the Ukraine whistleblower who testified against Trump with all the subtlety of a regime-change op; David French, the National Review moralist who lectures MAGA from his never-Trump perch; and Jonah Goldberg, the Dispatch founder who peddles "principled" conservatism that conveniently aligns with MSNBC talking points.
These aren't principled stands; they're betrayals dressed in lofty rhetoric. Comey posed as the "last honest man in Washington," undermining the president he swore to serve. Bolton hawked his book on every liberal network, turning national security briefings into Oprah fodder. Vindman, French, and Goldberg? They all pull the same stunt: decry the "extremism" of the base, sabotage the agenda, then bask in left-wing adulation. Book deals, speaking gigs, and TV panels follow like clockwork. Alford fits the mold perfectly by quitting mid-fight, then spinning yarns of heroism to progressive antitrust activists and outlets like the Wall Street Journal (in its softer moments). Democrats like Cory Booker, Amy Klobuchar, and Elizabeth Warren are already weaponizing his saga to conjure a Trump "scandal" out of thin air. The pattern weakens the GOP, arms the left, and shafts the voters who demanded America First.
But Alford's antics run deeper than mere opportunism. In fact, it's laced with sympathies for the very adversary his merger opposition pretended to combat. Records unearthed by the Daily Caller reveal a decade-long coziness with Chinese interests that screams insider threat. In a 2016 speech at Renmin University in Beijing (sponsored by a law school with direct ties to the Chinese Communist Party), Alford slammed Trump's proposed trade war as "ludicrous and uninformed." He fretted that ending free trade with China would harm Americans and "Sino-American relations," equating the future president with Bernie Sanders in their supposed disdain for globalism. "Trump fundamentally distrusts basic tenets of free trade," Alford lamented, as if skepticism of Beijing were a vice.
Deep staters like Alford are the actual insider threats we face. Not cartoonish Russian spies, but suited bureaucrats burrowing into our institutions, whispering pro-CCP poison under the guise of expertise. They staff the antitrust division, draft trade policy, and influence mergers that could tip the scales in Beijing's favor. Alford's "MAGA reformer" act seems to be camouflage, a wolf in sheep's clothing prowling the halls of power. We've seen it before: officials who nod along to America First rhetoric, then sabotage it when the stakes rise. Their "principles" aren't conservative; they're calibrated to empower themselves and our adversaries while weakening us.
Enough. It's time for a complete spectrum decoupling from CCP fronts like Huawei, which masquerade as innovative firms while serving as tentacles of Xi Jinping's surveillance state. Congress must tighten the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) reviews, ban federal contracts with tainted entities, and expose the revolving door spinning between K Street and Beijing's united fronts. Corporate America is addicted to cheap labor and market access, but it needs a rude awakening. No more boardroom schmoozing with the People's Liberation Army (PLA)-linked execs. And Republicans? We can't keep falling for these charlatans. Vet your allies, purge the infiltrators, and remember that authentic MAGA doesn't attack itself from within. It demands vigilance against the wolves who've donned our wool.
