It’s impossible to say definitively at this point which Trump appointee will do the most damage. There isn’t a single one who won’t harm the country. As for the worst? I’d guess Russell Voight, JFK Jr, Pete Hegseth, Pam Bondi, Tulsi Gabbard… would be top contenders. And FBI director, Kash Patel, confirmed Thursday, 51-49. He got no Democratic votes and 2 Republicans— Susan Collins (ME) and Lisa Murkowski (AK)— voted against confirmation. I suspect that one day, every Republican senator who did vote to confirm him will come to regret it.
“Kash Patel,” wrote Sen. Chris Murphy, “is a joke.” But not the funny kind. Senators had been warned in the Judiciary Committee, where ranking member Dick Durbin (D-IL) noted that “The Senate is inviting a political disaster if we put Kash Patel into this job” and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) warned his GOP colleagues that Mark my words, this Patel guy will come back to haunt you.”
Before voting against the confirmation, Murkowski released a statement on her Senate website: “My reservations with Mr. Patel stem from his own prior political activities and how they may influence his leadership. The FBI must be trusted as the federal agency that roots out crime and corruption, not focused on settling political scores. I have been disappointed that when he had the opportunity to push back on the administration’s decision to force the FBI to provide a list of agents involved in the January 6 investigations and prosecutions, he failed to do so.”
Collins’ statement announcing her intention to vote against him was tougher: “The nomination of Kash Patel to serve as Director of the FBI comes to the Senate against the backdrop of recent personnel actions at the Department of Justice, including the resignations of several career federal prosecutors who felt they were being instructed to act in a manner inconsistent with their ethical obligations. In addition, a questionnaire has been sent to thousands of FBI employees regarding their involvement in certain investigations. As I have stated previously, these initiatives raise the specter that adverse actions could be taken against FBI employees— including special agents in the field— who have dedicated their careers to public service and who do not choose their assignments. It is critical that any efforts to promote accountability at the FBI be carefully calibrated and not have the effect of driving away dedicated public servants who keep our country and communities safe. In this context, there is a compelling need for an FBI Director who is decidedly apolitical… 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, in conjunction with the questionnaire sent to thousands of FBI employees, 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...”
As you might expect, Murphy’s response to the confirmation was not exactly couched in senatorial niceties. Referencing his assertion that Patel is a joke, he wrote that “Many of my Republican colleagues know this, but earlier today, they confirmed him anyway— despite his lack of qualifications, his stated desire to politicize the justice system, and the ongoing Constitutional crisis caused by Donald Trump. I told my Republican colleagues that Kash Patel would be the confirmation vote they would regret more than any other.”
So before we voted I made sure they were all clear-eyed on the choice they were making. I want to share with you what I laid out because I think this is really important and dangerous territory for our country.
Kash Patel spent the last four years taking the most extreme positions within the world of MAGA to make money for himself.
He claims he has proof beyond a reasonable doubt that the FBI was behind the January 6 insurrection.
The man Republicans just confirmed to lead the FBI believes that the very same organization secretly organized the violent assault on the Capitol. That’s bananas, and Senate Republicans know it is a lie.
He wrote a book called Government Gangsters and ended it with an appendix titled “Enemies List.” It’s straight out of the McCarthy Era. And shocker, everyone he deems an enemy of America is a Democrat or a Republican who dared to criticize Donald Trump.
The rule of law has no meaning if it’s just what the leader determines the law should be on any given day.
This vote is a clear marker that Republicans are choosing loyalty to Donald Trump over loyalty to our country, our Constitution and the rule of law.
I refuse to be silent. Plenty of people in Washington are probably getting annoyed with me, and I simply do not care. The stakes of this moment demand I do everything I can within my power— whether it’s using the bully pulpit and media attention or slowing down Senate business as much as possible— to wake up the Senate to start addressing the crisis that is unfolding in front of our eyes.
My loyalty is to you and the oath I took when I was sworn into the Senate in January.
If Senate Republicans had any grasp of history, they’d recognize the terrifying parallels between Patel and J. Edgar Hoover. Like Hoover, Patel steps into the role of FBI director not as a neutral enforcer of the law but as a political operative with a personal vendetta. Hoover spent nearly five decades using the FBI to amass dirt on politicians, intimidate civil rights leaders, and crush dissent under the guise of “protecting America.” Patel, however, isn’t interested in blackmailing presidents into compliance— he’s interested in weaponizing the bureau to serve one man’s authoritarian ambitions. And there’s one key difference: Hoover at least pretended to operate under the rule of law, even as he subverted it. Patel doesn’t bother with the pretense. Where Hoover saw secrecy as his greatest weapon, Patel openly brags about his enemies list, his desire to dismantle the so-called deep state, and his belief that Trump’s political opponents are criminals by definition. If Hoover operated like a shadowy puppet master, Patel is more like an executioner— wielding the FBI as a blunt instrument of retribution, unconcerned with anything but loyalty to his leader.
His confirmation this week isn’t just another part of the Trumpist power grab; it’s probably one of the final steps in turning the nation’s top law enforcement agency into an instrument of political retribution. Do you doubt that within a few weeks, Patel will initiate mass firings, replacing career agents with MAGA loyalists? His first major action? A sweeping investigation into so-called “deep state operatives” that quickly morphs into an all-out purge of FBI personnel who worked on Trump-related cases.
How about this for a scenario? Journalists, academics, Democrats suddenly find themselves under federal scrutiny. Subpoenas fly, social media posts become evidence, and a newly formed “Election Integrity Task Force” begins arresting local officials who certified Biden’s 2020 win. The message is clear: dissent is dangerous.
Then come the show trials. Using the “enemies list” from his own puerile book as a roadmap, Patel launches prosecutions of Trump’s political adversaries, including Democratic lawmakers, state officials who resisted election interference, and even former members of Trump’s own administration who once crossed him. The evidence is flimsy, but the verdicts are preordained. By the time Senate Republicans realize they’ve unleashed a monster, it’s too late. Patel, now Trump’s most feared enforcer, controls not just the FBI but the entire justice system. Those who once saw him as a useful idiot now see him for what he really is: the henchman of an authoritarian state.
At least in the short term, history will remember the senatorial complicity.
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