In his 2023 book Government Gangsters, Kash Patel, the president's nominee for FBI director, describes a "deep state" conspiracy against Donald Trump that he equates with a conspiracy to subvert democracy and the Constitution. "The price of rule by the Deep State is high—nothing less than the end of self-government in America," he writes. "The Deep State is a cabal of unelected tyrants who think they should determine who the American people can and cannot elect as president, who think they get to decide what the president can and cannot do, and who believe they have the right to choose what the American people can and cannot know."
The book includes a list of 60 former executive-branch officials who crossed Trump in one way or another, all of whom Patel identifies as members of this cabal. They range from Democrats such as Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton to Trump appointees such as former Attorney General Bill Barr and former White House Counsel Pat Cipollone. The list "is not exhaustive," Patel notes. "It does not, for example, include other corrupt actors of the first order such as Congressmen Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell." Nor does it include "the fake news media," which Patel also portrays as part of this conspiracy.
Testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee during his confirmation hearing last week, Patel insisted that his fingering of deep-state conspirators did not amount to an "enemies list," let alone a litany of suspects he would be inclined to investigate as head of the FBI—a concern that seems plausible in light of Trump's repeated threats to punish his political opponents. "It's not an enemies list," Patel said. "That is a mischaracterization." He promised "the only thing that will matter if I'm confirmed as a director of the FBI is a de-weaponized, de-politicized system of law enforcement completely devoted to rigorous obedience to the Constitution and a singular standard of justice."
