Trump has released a list of nominees for Cabinet and other senior positions. continuously He started with a fairly simple choice. Then unload the bullets one by one. Perhaps in an effort to paralyze the Senate filibuster with so many bad nominees? or to dominate the already limited political interest of the public. He has chosen a Fox News host with a sordid personal history to lead the Pentagon. Apologist for dictators in Russia and Syria to become director of national intelligence and anti-science and anti-Vax activists to be the nation’s top public health officials.
Now Trump has added another dangerous nomination to this list. In a post Saturday night on his social media site Truth Social, he announced that he was nominating Kash Patel to be FBI Director. Patel’s nomination thin Positions in law enforcement or intelligence circles are always hiding there, and Trump may hold off on announcing it until he feels he has drawn ire. Enough (and exhausting) work with his other nominations.
Patel’s nomination was shocking on many fronts, not least because the FBI already had a director in Christopher Wray, whom Trump appointed to a 10-year term seven years ago. And who he would have to fire almost immediately to make way for Patel is worse than Patel is. conspiracy theorist Even by the standards of the MAGA world, like many of Trump’s senior nominees, His main qualification for the job appears to be a willingness to follow Trump’s orders without hesitation. Patel will likely face a difficult path to confirmation in the Senate.
For Trump, naming Patel in the post serves several purposes: First, Trump is using his slim electoral victory as a mandate to govern as he desires. And Patel is the perfect nominee to prove that he doesn’t care what anyone thinks. Even knowing what they know The Americans chose to return him to office. And he made the decision as license to do whatever he wanted. Including giving great power to people like Cash Patel.
Second, Trump wants to show that the objections of top elected Republicans are of no consequence to him and that he can politically overturn them at will. Some of his nominations come across as insulting. It was his way of showing his power by naming people in his posts and daring others to stop him. Trump always thought of the GOP as his fiefdom and GOP leaders as his vassals. And if the Senate contradicts Patel and others, he may well be proven correct on both counts.
This approach failed when Matt Gaetz’s attorney general nomination quickly spread in the face of defeat in the Senate. But Trump seems confident he will get most of his other options across the finish line. Even nominees who have little or no chance of being confirmed In the previous administration And Trump is always pushing the limits: In place of Gaetz, he sent the more capable but equally committed MAGA loyalist, Pam Bondi, who provoked far less opposition.
Trump has made it clear how much he hates the FBI, and he has touted his MAGA base as a nest of political corruption. In a stunning reversal of political polarization, a significant portion of the law-and-order GOP now regards men and women in federal law enforcement with disdain and suspicion. If Trump’s goal is to destroy the FBI and undermine its mission, Kash Patel is the perfect nominee. Some senior officials may resign rather than serve under Patel, which may suit Trump.
Of course, this means that the FBI will struggle to do what it’s supposed to do. This includes fighting crime and conducting counterintelligence operations against America’s enemies. But it would become a great tool for getting revenge on anyone Trump or Patel identifies as an enemy within. Which in Trump’s world is anyone who criticizes Donald Trump.
Russian people talk about The “Ministry of Energy” is an agency with significant legal and coercive powers. In the United States, this is the Department of Justice. The Department of Defense, the FBI and the intelligence community, Trump has now named co-conspirators to lead each of the institutions. It was a move that would remove a major obstacle to his often expressed desire to use the military. Federal law enforcement officers intelligence expert and government lawyers of his choosing. without legal or constitutional boundaries
If you want to assemble the infrastructure of a totalitarian government. You need to do this:
Óscar R. Benavides, a Peruvian strongman from the early 20th century, once stated a simple principle: That now appears to be what Trump was following when he said: “To my friends, everything; For my enemy is the law.” It is now up to Republican senators to decide whether Trump can impose this formula on the United States.
