Ultimate Trump fanboy is confirmed as FBI chief

Conspiracy theorist Kash Patel was confirmed to lead the FBI on Thursday, cementing President Donald Trump’s grip on federal law enforcement. 

Senate Republicans confirmed him by a vote of 51 to 49, with two GOP defectors. Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska joined all 47 Democrats in voting “no,” citing deep concerns over Patel’s partisan loyalties and potential abuses of power.

“[T]here is a compelling need for an FBI Director who is decidedly apolitical,” said Collins in a press release announcing she would not confirm his nomination. “Mr. Patel has made numerous politically charged statements in his book and elsewhere discrediting the work of the FBI, the very institution he has been nominated to lead. These statements … cast doubt on Mr. Patel’s ability to advance the FBI’s law enforcement mission in a way that is free from the appearance of political motivation.”

However, those concerns weren’t enough to stop other Republicans, and now Patel will oversee everything from cybersecurity to terrorist threats to foreign intelligence operations. Patel will also be responsible for steering investigations of crimes and public corruption—something Trump might be familiar with.

Since Trump announced his nomination, Patel's introduction to the national political stage has been rife with controversy and conflicts of interest. 

Democrats spent weeks raising the alarms about Patel’s unsettling views on political retribution. He likely perjured himself over his hand in FBI firings orchestrated by the Trump administration. And he sent chills down Democrats’ spines over national security concerns from the gutting of Department of Justice and FBI officials.

“Kash Patel has been personally directing the ongoing purge of career civil servants at the Federal Bureau of Investigation,” Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois wrote in a letter to an inspector general in the Department of Justice.

Patel infamously published his 2023 book, “Government Gangsters: The Deep State, the Truth, and the Battle for Our Democracy,” in which he listed the names of 60 people and called them members of the “deep state.” He has said favorable things about QAnon, a bizarre pro-Trump conspiracy theory. He also wrote three children’s books portraying Trump as a literal king. 

Before his nomination, Patel was a key figure in spreading conspiracy theories about the 2020 election. And in December, Patel publicly ignored questions from reporters that Trump’s Justice Department spied on Democratic members of Congress and their aides in 2017 and 2018.

Patel’s confirmation follows a trend of sycophants and deplorables being confirmed to roles in Trump’s administration. Pete Hegseth, who has been accused of rape, now runs the Department of Defense. Anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. leads the Department of Health and Human Services. And former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, best known for refusing to investigate Trump’s for-profit university after she received a campaign donation, heads the Department of Justice.

Patel is just the latest Trump loyalist to sit in charge of a critical American institution. Only time will tell what damage he will bring to the federal government and society at large.