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Response: I appreciate the reviewer’s concern about maintaining scholarly rigor in moments of political disruption. I have moderated claims throughout and grounded assertions in available sources and peer-reviewed scholarship. However, I respectfully maintain that the evidence available to any informed observer, including official government documents, Supreme Court rulings, mass resignations, weaponization of the administrative state, and documented administrative actions targeting career public servants, supports the analysis presented. Indeed, the revised manuscript does not call for abandoning administrative theory wholesale, but rather for extending and adapting theoretical frameworks to account for such new realities the theories were not formulated to explain. Critical scholarship must continue to acknowledge evidence as it emerges in-the-real. Accordingly, I have clarified the sections where the original wording could be read as overly prescriptive. I hope these revisions address the concerns raised. I am grateful for the opportunity to strengthen the manuscript and remain open to further suggestions.