Kash Patel an alarming pick for FBI director

There has been no shortage of controversy surrounding some of Donald Trump’s cabinet nominations. Perhaps the most alarming is the pick of Kash Patel, who was raised in Garden City, to head the FBI.

For one thing, the FBI already has a Trump-appointed director, Christopher Wray, whose ten-year term expires in 2027 and who, in theory, should not be fired without cause. More important, Patel, who held several national security-linked posts in the first Trump administration, is a man who seems very likely to place personal devotion to Trump above the law. He has openly expressed an intent to get even with those he sees as Trump’s persecutors, including government officials and journalists.

After the 2020 election, Trump tried to make Patel — an enthusiastic supporter of his claims that the election had been rigged and stolen — deputy director of the FBI. That move was blocked by Attorney General William Barr and CIA Director Gina Haspel, who threatened to resign if the appointment was made. Now, Patel may yet get the top post at the agency.

In the four years since then, Patel’s career has been defined by an intense loyalty to Trump and Trump’s cause, which has taken him to some odd places. For instance, he produced a recording of the national anthem sung by imprisoned Jan. 6 rioters, “Justice for All,” which was played at many Trump rallies during his campaign. He also wrote a book called “Government Gangsters: The Deep State, the Truth, and the Battle for Our Democracy,” exposing a sinister cabal of evildoers who all happen to be real or perceived enemies of Trump. He also authored a children’s book called “The Plot Against the King,” in which the villainous Hillary Queenton plots to overthrow the good King Donald and is thwarted by a wizard named Kash.

In December 2023, on the podcast of former Trump strategist Steve Bannon, Patel promised a postelection vendetta against “the conspirators — not just in government, but in the media,” specifically journalists who “lied about American citizens [and] helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections.” In Patel’s words: “We’re going to come after you. Whether it’s criminally or civilly, we’ll figure that out.”

An appendix to “Government Gangsters” features a long enemies list that includes not only Democrats but Republicans and even Trump administration officials — Barr among them. At least some of these alleged evildoers are probably on the list because of Patel’s own grudges against them. Notably, some have speculated that a grievance against the Obama administration, which did not back him in a dispute with a judge when he was a federal prosecutor, may be at the root of his passionate loyalty to Trump.

One could add a lot more. Patel is a supporter of QAnon, the far-right political movement, which believes that Trump is secretly battling a global cabal of Satan-worshipping pedophiles. And he still maintains the Jan. 6 Capitol Hill insurrection was instigated by “strange agitators” and federal agents.

If this man had been a character in a book or a movie, most people would have criticized its creator for being too over the top. Putting such a man in any position of public trust, let alone in charge of the FBI, is the stuff of very dark comedy. It also confirms some of the worst fears about a new Trump administration: that it would be both farcical and dangerous.

Opinions expressed by Cathy Young, a writer for The Bulwark, are her own.

By Cathy Young

Cathy Young is a writer for The Bulwark.