Kesh Patel and his “Bureau of Intimidation”

Clarence Page

When Merriam-Webster chose “polarization” as its word of the year for 2024, it was a dramatic moment for many of us who make words for a living.

The definition of the word as “a division into two sharply distinct opposites; especially a state in which the thoughts, beliefs, or interests of a group or society no longer lie along a continuum, but instead focus on opposite extremes,” the dictionary company asserted in its keen understanding of the obvious—the painfully obvious—about the political state of our nation’s politics.

This observation was further confirmed by President Donald Trump’s selection of his longtime political loyalist Kesh Patel to head the FBI.

With this announcement, my memory also sadly returned to the bad old days of J. Edgar Hoover – Except for the dramatic aspects, Patel looks worse.

As the agency’s longest-serving director, Hoover authorized covert campaigns against apparent enemies, including the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., among others in the civil rights movement. The Hoover Bureau spread disinformation among black progressive groups, tapped King’s phone, and tried to press charges of adultery.

I was a young reporter in Chicago when the FBI identified the Black Panther Party as a radical threat and tried to disrupt it through the illegal counterintelligence program COINTELPRO. This operation culminated in a pre-dawn police raid on the West Side apartment of Chicago Panther leader Fred Hampton, killing him and fellow Panther Mark Clark in a hail of more than 100 shots.

A civil lawsuit filed on behalf of the survivors and their relatives was settled in 1982 with a $1.85 million settlement.

This tragic episode led to congressional investigations and a series of reforms aimed at reassuring the public that such an atrocity would not happen again.

Kashyap “Kash” Patel’s approach is not much more subtle. In interviews and in his 2023 book, Government Gangsters, Patel boldly tries to use the bureau as a partisan force to root out potential Trump enemies.

Unlike Hoover, who scrupulously sought to instill public faith in the agency despite claims to the contrary from many of his critics, Patel calls the FBI a branch of the “deep state” in which he has little faith.

Of course, the fear is not that Patel will destroy the institution he finds so vile, but that he will turn it against new targets.

His agenda calls for firing top bureau officials, prosecuting leakers and journalists, exposing “filth and corruption,” and hiring “people who won’t undermine the president’s agenda.”

Not surprisingly, Trump was reportedly blocked from appointing Patel as FBI deputy director by Attorney General William P. Barr, who considered Patel unqualified and allegedly told White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows that he would become deputy director of the FBI “because of my dead body.” »

But this time, after Trump flooded the field with controversial cabinet nominees, Senate Republicans apparently got used to Patel enough — or tired of testing Trump’s patience — that he gained more support, and his prospects improved significantly.

Perhaps some senators are so intimidated by his radically polarizing views on firing the agency and striking names off his enemies list that Patel may yet slip through the cracks.

Or some senators may be too exhausted by the squabbles surrounding Trump’s other controversial picks, such as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who is battling sexual harassment allegations and reports of excessive drinking.

Unfortunately, old-school arguments about booze and women sound just plain corny after a string of scandals in this year’s confirmation battles.

All this aside, I can’t help but miss the good old days when we could rely on more conscientious efforts to select candidates for good character and competence.

Unfortunately, the process is still plagued by ugly hand-twisting, such as the pressure campaign against Republican Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa. Her outspoken opposition to Hegseth made her a target for MAGA accusations that she wanted the defense secretaryship for herself.

Perhaps senators could skip the formalities and name the agency the Federal Bureau of Intimidation.

That seems to be where we’re headed. Perhaps Kash will be pleased.

Email Clarence Page at [email protected].