Cache Kash for Cash

Cache Kash for Cash

Is the GOP Congress Bloc a Legislative Body or a Trump Hand Puppet, Parrots or People?

“Patel had virtually no experience that would qualify him to serve at the highest level of the world’s preeminent law enforcement agency.”

Former Trump Attorney General, Willam Barr in his memoir.

“We’re going to come after the people in the media who lied about American citizens who helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections… We’re going to come after you, whether it’s criminally or civilly. We’ll figure that out. But yeah, we’re putting you all on notice.” 

FBI Director Nominee, Kash Patel

I was watching Face the Nation on December 1st. Texas GOP Senator Ted Cruz was on, and as he described “the corruption” that defined today’s FBI, he was simply mouthing the exact words repeatedly uttered by Donald Trump on point. I opened my eyes and saw it was Ted. I remembered his post on Twitter on April 22, 2016. “Donald Trump can’t be trusted with common sense. Why would we trust him in the White House.” Called him “Lyin’ Ted.” And yet, Cruz’ words were parrot-like imitations of Trump. Carl Hulse, writing for the New York Times on December 1st, asked burning question, the answer suggesting whether the Republican Senate would join the US Supreme Court in its presidential immunity ruling and enable the ascension of a true autocrat to rule the United States:

“President-elect Donald J. Trump’s determination to crash over traditional governmental guardrails will present a fundamental test of whether the Republican-controlled Senate can maintain its constitutional role as an independent institution and a check on presidential power… With Mr. Trump putting forward a raft of contentious prospective nominees and threatening to challenge congressional authority in other ways, Republicans who will hold the majority come January could find themselves in the precarious position of having to choose between standing up for their institution or bowing to a president dismissive of government norms.” Trump even promised engaging a special commission to establish that the 2020 was “stolen.”

If you had the slightest hope that Trump’s term would not be driven by retribution and revenge, destruction of a federal government that, while flawed and in need of some prudent culling and restructure, fulfilled our policy needs, and that he would not really pursue anything to make Trump’s designated rich even richer, let me disabuse you of that misguided belief. I’ve blogged about several of his nominees, wildly unqualified, even dangerous, yet while Trump theoretically claims to be the “law and order President,” his greatest foes are mostly Republican federal law enforcement officers with tons of experience and seniority, none hated more than the prestigious Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Assuming he can in fact remove the existing head, FBI director Christopher Wray, whom Trump appointed during his first term in 2017 for a theoretical 10-year term, Trump has nominated ultra-loyal, 2020 election denying, extreme MAGA conspiracy theory mongering and FBI hating, Kash Patel, former chief of staff to Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller, to replace Wray. Patel as FBI director is akin to placing a wolf to guard the henhouse. His antipathy to the most prestigious federal law enforcement agency, his bias very likely to unravel the FBI (provoking the desired mass resignations) indeed seems as another loyalty test for the MAGA majority Senate… perhaps even an unsubtle slap in the face to Congress. Can they really approve a man they know is Trump’s instrument of destruction for the FBI?

“In his final months in [his first term in] office, Trump unsuccessfully pushed the idea of installing Patel as the deputy director at either the FBI or CIA in an effort to strengthen the president’s control of the intelligence community. William Barr, Trump’s attorney general, wrote in his memoir that he told then-chief of staff Mark Meadows that an appointment to Patel as deputy FBI director would happen ‘over my dead body.’…

“The selection is in keeping with Trump's view that the government's law enforcement and intelligence agencies require a radical transformation and his stated desire for retribution against supposed adversaries. It shows how Trump, still fuming over years of federal investigations that shadowed his first administration and later led to his indictment, is moving to place atop the FBI and Justice Department close allies he believes will protect rather than scrutinize him… Patel ‘played a pivotal role in uncovering the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax, standing as an advocate for truth, accountability, and the Constitution,’ Trump wrote Saturday night [11/29] in a social media post.” Eric Tucker and Alan Suderman, writing for the November 30th, Associated Press.

If we’re looking for signs of likely future Trump administration corruption, combine Trump’s power to exempt certain economic sectors from immigration sweeps or tariffs for their imports with the Supreme Court’s presidential immunity ruling for “official acts,” and you can see precisely how loyalists can be rewarded and neutral or critical cadres punished. Add the extra-legislative DOGE (Musk and Ramaswamy) as they “recommend” budget cuts, particularly to healthcare and Social Security supported by Trump, and see how well those parrots are trained.

As we can plainly see, Trump is baiting the Republican members of the Senate to prove their loyalty to him by confirming the worst, least competent, angry, conspiracy driven major federal nominees in recent memory. Internationally, leaders of even friendly nations are beginning to circle the wagons against Trump’s threats and bully tactics… his global opponents are wondering how to marginalize the power of the United States given this global revulsion to Trump’s tactics. And given the pattern of American leadership inconsistency, you have to wonder how many nations will ever trust the United States to honor its treaty commitments and mutual defense obligations… ever again.

I’m Peter Dekom, and I think the world would really like to know whether the GOP members of Congress were elected to represent the people who vote for them… or Donald Trump.