Kash Patel, Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Federal Bureau of Intelligence, never worked for the FBI. But he has hosted Steve Bannon’s podcast.
Patel is a contributor Voice of Real AmericaRight-wing news network that produces Bannon’s show War roomAnd has appeared as a guest on the show for a long time. After top Trump adviser Bannon was jailed for four months earlier this year — after he refused to comply with a Jan. 6 committee subpoena on charges of contempt of Congress — Patel stepped up to serve as an occasional guest host.
To try to understand Patel better, I listened to every episode and clip tagged with “Kash Patel.” War room website — and a few others that Bannon’s team missed. The overwhelming impression is that Patel is a man whose entire worldview revolves around paranoid conspiracy theories – specifically, conspiracies against both America and Trump, which for him are one and the same. It’s a certain kind of obsession that reminds me of the first director of the FBI: J. Edgar Hoover, a man who notoriously abused his power to persecute political enemies.
During his various appearances on Bannon’s show, Patel and/or his interviewers declared that:
- China Funds and Sends Democratic Party “Military age malePrepare for a preemptive strike across the Mexican and Canadian border.
- Barack Obama issued a directive “shadow network“It’s quietly ordering the intelligence community and Big Tech to persecute Trump.
- Attorney General Merrick Garland wants to throw “all of us” — which is to say, Trump allies — in prison.
And Patel is willing to take extreme measures in response to this perceived threat.
In one episode, he called on the Republican majority in Congress to unilaterally arrest Garland—invoking an obscure legal doctrine called “inherent contempt” that has never been used in that manner. All of American history. In another, he outlined a plan for a MAGA blitz focused on American institutions Elevating loyalists to higher positions.
It’s hard to tell whether Patel truly believes these things or is merely performing for Bannon’s audience. But it is largely meaningless.
Because that performance is what made him a star in Trumpworld: his willingness to craft Trump’s own conspiratorial worldview has made him the man Trump wants to be in charge of America’s Homeland Security Service. Once in power, his stated commitment to these beliefs – regardless of what he personally thinks – will pressure him to act in accordance with them.
Patel, in short, is the kind of man who could become Trump’s Hoover: a man willing to push federal law enforcement into dangerously anti-democratic territory in pursuit of perceived domestic enemies.
The world according to Kash Patel
Patel He owes his career to Russiagate: The seemingly never-ending battle over whether the 2016 Trump campaign colluded with Russia’s efforts to meddle in the American election.
Patel worked as a staff member of then-Rep. Devin Nunes, the Republican chairman of the House subcommittee on intelligence and Trump’s main defender during the debate. Patel the writer The famous 2018 “Nunes memo” argued that the FBI’s request for surveillance of Trump campaign adviser Carter Page was flawed and motivated by political bias.
Got the memo more accurate Many observers (including myself) credited it at the time – though it did Get the big picture about FBI bias mistakes. Anyway, the incident made Patel a Trumpworld star. He ascended to several high-level positions in the first Trump administration related to defense, national security, and intelligence.
These experiences gave Patel a worldview that I think is best defined as paranoid.
Patel believes that foreign enemies — from China to Iran to drug cartels — are doing everything they can to infiltrate the United States and wreak havoc on its homeland. Only Trump has the strength and determination to stand up to these enemies and protect American allies like Israel.
Democrats, he believes, don’t just disagree with Trump on how to handle these threats: They are actively aligned with America’s enemies.
in one War room The segment, for example, is hosted by Patel A notorious China “expert” Gordon named Chang to warn that China is “planning to attack our installations on our soil.” But it’s worse than that, Chang argued: China installed Joe Biden as president of the United States.
“They were actually able to cast the deciding vote in 2020,” Chang told Patel, claiming without evidence that China “poured money into Joe Biden’s campaign” through Democratic crowdfunding platform ActBlue. Patel’s response was not skepticism but credulity: “I hope people are paying attention.”
But Democrats aren’t just the unwitting cat’s paws of foreign powers, according to Patel: They’re nefarious actors bent on destroying American democracy.
One of Patel’s favorite phrases, which he uses repeatedly on Bannon’s show, is the “two-tier system of justice.” In his mind, federal law enforcement employs two distinct standards—one for the “deep state’s” friends and the other for its enemies. Its allies, like the Bidens, face only limited and superficial scrutiny, while its enemies are constantly harassed and persecuted. For Patel, Trump’s four lawsuits are not legitimate investigations into wrongdoing and abuse of power, but rather agents of a corrupt system threatening their grip on America.
This is why Patel has an enemies list — literally. his book Govt goonwhich he is constantly hawking War roomcontains an appendix Listing dozens of names that make up the “Executive Branch Deep State”. The list ranges from names you know, like Vice President Kamala Harris, to names you’ve never heard of, like Elizabeth Dibble, a former State Department diplomat.
Patel’s distortion of potential powers
All this if you remember the FBI’s most notorious director – J. Reminds me of Edgar Hoover – well, it should do. The two men share a dangerous tendency to associate foreign and domestic enemies and desire to indulge in dangerous abuses of law enforcement powers at war with them.
in his book the enemiesJournalist Tim Weiner argues that Hoover’s worldview was defined by a bone-deep fear of communist plots against the American homeland—from and including “kamikaze planes” and “dirty bombs” to physical attacks. Hoover began maintaining a secret list of “enemies of the United States” inside and outside the government, conducting illegal surveillance and other law-bending operations designed to entrap them. An example: a plot to convince Martin Luther King Jr. to commit suicide by threatening to expose the civil rights leader’s sexual disdain.
In theory, this is the type of abuse of power that Patel is against. He constantly protested against government surveillance and abuse of power against political enemies.
Yet at the same time, he continues to propose plans — such as Congress arresting Garland — that amount to efforts to criminalize political dissent. This includes offer to investigate prominent Democrats and even prosecute journalists.
“Yes, we’re going to come after people in the media who lied about American citizens, who helped Joe Biden rig the presidential election — we’re going to come after you,” he said. A guest appearance on War room last year
“Whether it’s criminally or civilly, we’ll figure it out.”
