👊 | Even Swamp Creatures Need a Home
What Bill Pulte's appointment might actually mean.
Welcome new subscribers and THANK YOU to those who $upport my independent writing and advocacy.
On May 22, 2026, Tulsi Gabbard announced her resignation as Director of National Intelligence. The official reason was personal — her husband’s diagnosis of a rare sacral chordoma, a cancer of the base of the spine, and his need for her presence during recovery. Many have called it a firing but he did have a long, difficult and thankfully, successful surgery. Whether it was a resignation or a removal, what is not in dispute is that Tulsi Gabbard spent her tenure at ODNI doing things that made very powerful people extremely uncomfortable.
Trump named Bill Pulte as her replacement.
The DC establishment reacted with its characteristic cocktail of derision and panic. What does a builder know about intelligence and national security? On the surface, the question is fair. But if you’ve been paying attention, it reveals the uniparty’s nervousness. After all, swamp creatures do need a place to live.
Who is Bill Pulte?
He is the grandson of William Pulte, founder of PulteGroup, the third largest residential construction company in the United States. An individual of considerable financial means who appears to be serving this administration out of shared worldview and loyalty rather than personal advancement. That combination — independent wealth, ideological commitment, no need to protect a future career in Washington — makes him a particular kind of dangerous to the people who are used to managing appointments through leverage and favors.
Before his ODNI nomination, Pulte served as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency and chairman of both Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, which touch an enormous percentage of American mortgage activity. That means Pulte already has access to detailed, non-public financial and property data on a scale that very few people in Washington have ever held.
As acting Director of National Intelligence, Pulte’s team can cross-reference housing, credit and ownership patterns with intelligence-grade data on foreign contacts, shell structures and illicit funding mechanisms. Mortgage records reveal who owns what, through which entities, financed by whom and connected to what. Intelligence records reveal who those owners are talking to, traveling with and receiving money from. Combined, those two data streams tell a story that neither one can tell alone.
Beginning in April, before his ODNI appointment, Pulte was already using his FHFA position aggressively. He accused Trump foes of mortgage fraud, including New York Attorney General Letitia James, California Senator Adam Schiff and Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook. The accusations against Cook, which she denied, led to calls for her removal and a federal lawsuit. The man arrived at full speed into his role and now, he has the intelligence community’s full toolkit to work with.
Tulsi’s Legacy
Before we move entirely to Pulte, Tulsi Gabbard’s tenure deserves its proper accounting because she built the platform he is inheriting.
Tulsi’s appointment was encouraging precisely because of what she represented. A former Democrat darling, presidential candidate and congresswoman. A soldier. A public servant who had personally experienced censorship and been placed on watchlists for intimidation purposes. She was the embodiment of the coalition that elected Trump — people from across the political spectrum who had been burned by the system and were done pretending it was functioning as advertised.
During her tenure she reorganized the ODNI to hold far more concentrated and coherent authority over the broader intelligence community. The President’s daily briefing was moved and assembled directly at ODNI headquarters so the intelligence community could brief and orient him without the layers of institutional filtering that had previously allowed information to be shaped before it reached the Oval Office. That structural change alone was significant.
She hit hard with findings related to what she characterized as Barack Obama’s role in initiating the Russia collusion investigation against a sitting president-elect. She visited Fulton County to observe the collection of ballot evidence. And her formal departure date is not until June 30, 2026. There is no telling what she will release before she walks out the door.
The Panic Is the Tell
The DC establishment’s reaction to the Pulte appointment is worth mentioning: sneering and coordinated condescension from well established swamp inhabitants whose derision is not confusion but most likely fear. People who have used financial structures, property records and foreign relationships in ways they would prefer remain unexamined. Now they are looking at a man who holds mortgage and intelligence data simultaneously, owes nothing to Washington and has already demonstrated he is not interested in the polite fictions that have kept certain investigations from going anywhere.
Cross-referencing Freddie Mac records with ODNI data is not a theoretical capability, it is a practical one. Shell companies dissolve under that kind of scrutiny and beneficial ownership structures that were designed to be opaque become legible. Foreign money that entered American real estate through carefully constructed intermediaries leaves traces that neither the real estate records nor the intelligence records alone would reveal but together paint a coherent picture.
Perhaps, Finally
Tulsi Gabbard built a more coherent and direct intelligence operation and Bill Pulte arrives with financial surveillance tools that his predecessors did not have. He also has the direct mandate from Trump to oversee massive staffing cuts. Lest we forget, the ODNI was the command and control center for Russia-gate, with the CIA, FBI, NSA, and DHS right behind executing their supporting roles. There are plenty of reasons why the administration needs a loyal trusted outsider to restructure the intelligence apparatus.
It will be fascinating to see what Pulte is able to accomplish with his newly appointed authority. Perhaps, we may finally see real accountability and lasting consequences.
"Power does not corrupt men; fools, however, if they get into a position of power, corrupt power." — George Bernard Shaw
Heavenly Father,
We lift Tulsi Gabbard and her husband during his recovery. Whatever the circumstances of her departure, she spent her tenure making a compromised institution more honest and more coherent. We give thanks for her service.
We pray for Bill Pulte as he steps into a role that Washington did not design for someone like him. Give him wisdom that exceeds his resources, discernment that exceeds his data and the courage to follow what he finds wherever it leads regardless of whose name appears at the end of the trail.
Lord, may the tools now assembled in the hands of people willing to use them bring light on the next chapter of this country’s story. May it be written on a more honest foundation than the last one. We pray for accountability that produces consequences.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
😳: The Infrastructure of Compliance
Welcome new subscribers and THANK YOU to those who financially support my independent writing and advocacy.
Yes we do pray for the light on the next Chapter!! And yes...very thankful for all Tulsi Gabbard has done to bring so many truths forward!
Love your prayers. 🙏. Heartfelt and on point.