Trump is basically just sticking his middle finger up to the United States Senate, and the rest of us for that matter, as he continues to pick dangerous, unqualified zealots to fill cabinet positions, and now nut job conspiracy theorist Kash Patel for FBI Director. (Ed. Note: we have an FBI director, Christopher Wray, whose term expires in 2027.)
As he fills out his incoming administration, Donald Trump’s nominees have ranged from absolutely unqualified to ideological nightmares. But he might have just made his scariest hire yet.
On Saturday night, Trump announced he’s selected Kash Patel to lead the FBI. Patel is one of Trump’s most loyal enforcers and a conspiracy theorist — a 2020 election denier who wants to purge the so-called “Deep State.” He recently publicly pledged to investigate and prosecute Trump’s enemies in the media and government.
For years, Trump had personally promised that he would appoint Patel to a very senior role in a new administration, should he win. Patel is a hyper-MAGA, vengeance-minded Trump loyalist to the point that even some Trump advisers recognize as an extreme liability — even if those aides and confidants aren’t willing to do much to get in Patel’s way, mostly due to Trump’s protection of the man.
For instance, during the 2024 campaign, Patel announced to Trump’s enemies in the press and elsewhere: “We will go out and find the conspirators — not just in government, but in the media.”
Some Trump campaign officials, who quietly worried independent voters would chafe at some of Trump’s more authoritarian-sounding outbursts, saw Patel’s public comments as, in the words of one Trump adviser, “an undisciplined parody of what we were doing.”
Now, that supposed parody is just the law-enforcement reality of the country, if Trump gets his way.
Go read the rest of the article for their long list of why to be terrified of Patel.
The Atlantic’s Tom Nichols appeared on MSNBC shortly after the news broke, weighing in on what we’re facing if Patel somehow manages to get appointed as head of the FBI:
Nichols reacted to the development during a panel on MSNBC by claiming it’s “incredibly dangerous” and that Trump is “creating an administration of people who really don’t care about the interests of the United States.”
Patel is about as dangerous as it gets, not because he’s that much of a true believer in anything, but because and I would recommend that people take a look at a piece that we had about him in the Atlantic. He believes in nothing except serving Donald Trump except, you know, his own interest. And what you’re going to see is Donald Trump creating an administration of people who really don’t care about the interests of the United States. That they’re there to build an authoritarian country and to put themselves beyond the reach of the rule of law. And if you want to be beyond the reach of the rule of law, one of the first things you’re going to want to capture is the FBI. Because the other thing that says putting Patel there, it says the FBI is no longer in the law enforcement business.
It’s certainly not in the counterintelligence business, which our enemies will be very happy to hear. It’s in the business of protecting Donald Trump, furthering Donald Trump’s interests and making sure that Donald Trump’s enemies are investigated and that Donald Trump’s friends are given a free pass. I mean, this is really, you know, I suppose if we still have the ability to be shocked, it’s shocking. But I think this is something we probably many of us saw it coming and, you know, shouldn’t be that surprising. But it’s an incredibly dangerous development.
You can read Nichol’s take on the nomination at The Altantic at this gift link here.
We’re going to find out shortly how many members of the United States Senate still have a spine left, and how many have gone full fascist with Trump.
Democrats need to make sure the public is fully aware of just how dangerous, unqualified and insane most of these picks are, as does the media. Sadly I’m not holding my breath on either.
