On Tuesday the Senate voted to advance Kash Patel’s nomination to a full Senate confirmation vote today. His confirmation as the next FBI Director is all but certain, especially with John Thune’s (R-SD) filing of “cloture.”
The term derives from French parliamentary procedure, and informally means “guillotine.” In essence, it’s a procedure to end or cut off further debate, bringing a matter to a quick end. Two calendar days must pass after the filing, which would schedule the vote for today. This is also in line with the Senate’s agenda.
Patel has weathered the criticisms from Democrats throughout this process, but none has been more deleterious to the confirmation process than accusations made by Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL).
During Patel’s confirmation hearing, he stated unequivocally that there would be no mass firings at the FBI under his leadership. But, last week, Durbin attempted to capitalize on rumors that sweeping terminations are imminent at the FBI, and that FBI employees having any nexus to January 6th investigations would be fired.
Durbin used this opportunity to allege that Patel had perjured himself during his Senate hearing, despite the inconvenient fact that Patel has no executive authority until after his confirmation and swearing in.
In response to Durbin’s ridiculous accusations, Patel’s Communications Representative, Erica Knight posted on X, “Once again, the media is relying on anonymous sources and second-hand gossip to push a false narrative.”
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The previous week, the social media rumor mill was busy churning out the “bloodbath at the FBI” grist with wild abandon. One effect of social media has been the stovepiping of information, more euphemistically known as curation. The result is discrete information nodes that amplify content based on algorithmic biases that select with reference to known patterns of interest and popularity.
Essentially, big accounts are engaged in a perpetual, adolescent popularity contest, with follower counts and engagement metrics being the only measure of success, legitimacy, or veracity. A common response to a challenge on the merits is, “I’ve got more followers than you.” I suppose it’s the digital equivalent of the playground taunt, “Your mom wears combat boots.”
Even the most depraved accounts have followers in the tens of thousands. Irrelevancies abound, and the opinions of hapless cranks percolate up through the social media miasma and incorporate themselves into the thought processes of some feckless policy makers.
Prominent social media accounts known for their anti-FBI vitriol peddled the unsubstantiated theory — concocted out of nothing more than wishful thinking — that mass firings were in the works at the FBI. This narrative was in direct opposition to statements made by President Trump, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and Kash Patel. Moreover, an email statement from acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove demolished the “bloodbath” rumor.
Nevertheless, a group of former FBI Agents gleefully awaited the “bloodbath” of firings and spent several days fomenting the rumor, excitedly tallying engagement numbers, and salivating over hoped-for remuneration from the coffers of X and other platforms.
Durbin’s political theatre was made possible by the same cohorts who’ve been advocating for the abolishment of the FBI as an irredeemably corrupt organization. The proponents of this thoroughly discredited, adolescent, and now totally irrelevant position include a former CIA employee, who has codified this thoroughly reckless position in a book, featuring the ramblings of former FBI employees who lack substantive experience.
The book stands as a testament to the dangers of uniformed theorizing and relying on junior former FBI employees turned social media personalities.
Trump has stated repeatedly, and throughout his campaign, that his intention, far from abolishing the FBI, is to equip it with the leadership necessary to make the venerable institution great again.
The handwriting has been on the wall for quite some time, but unfortunately for those blinded by book sales or monetization interests, the lure of the “disband the FBI” narrative was far too strong. They may have made a few bucks along the way, but have forfeited all credibility with policymakers.
With the Patel confirmation imminent, those who’ve made a splash grinding about the FBI being the Stasi and irredeemably broken will have to quickly rebrand. Those who’ve advocated for abolishment cannot be considered legitimate voices now advocating for reform under the guise of offering support for Kash Patel.
Anyone of principle recognizes the boundless hypocrisy implicit in that kind of colossal flip-flopping. Years spent attacking the good men and women of the FBI, stumping incessantly for the break-up and destruction of the FBI, while lobbying to return to the agency they’ve decried, should forever relegate these voices to an ignominious place of irrelevance.
In the face of such unhinged zealotry, reversals of this magnitude constitute wholesale apostasy — no mere change of opinion — especially without forthright, detailed, and public mea culpas.
You don’t get to have it both ways. Either the FBI is irredeemably broken and an instrument of totalitarian oppression, or the FBI is a flawed organization amenable to the influence of strong leadership.
I, and a number of others, have advocated for reform consistently for years. While a few loud voices have fed the hate machine for personal gain, and have gone on record countless times categorically denouncing the FBI as irredeemable. It’s a bitter pill they must now swallow, but those voices must be held accountable, just as they’ve screeched for FBI accountability.
Durbin’s statements elucidate to what degree the abolish proponents are and have been the useful idiots of the left, not just domestically, but internationally as foreign powers capitalize on the opportunities presented by these agents of chaos.
As the vast majority of FBI brick agents are afforded the opportunity to discard specious investigations, enabled by the principled and transformative leadership of Kash Patel, America will witness a swift reorientation and rebirth of a great FBI — inline with the best traditions of the vaunted G-men, and now G-women, of the world’s premier law enforcement agency.
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