Kash Patel, Trump’s pick to head the FBI, has parlayed his time serving in various national security roles in Trump’s first administration to building a brand promoting pro-Trump conspiracy theories.
JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
President-elect Trump’s pick to lead the FBI, Kash Patel, held several national security positions in the first Trump administration. He’s also built a brand promoting pro-Trump conspiracy theories, bringing him money and influence. Those narratives have inspired his public threats to go after Trump’s perceived enemies, as NPR’s Lisa Hagen reports.
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LISA HAGEN, BYLINE: What you’re hearing is a promotional music video for a children’s book written by Kash Patel. It’s about deep-state plots against a noble hero called King Donald.
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UNIDENTIFIED SINGER: (Singing) The plot against the king. The plot against the king.
HAGEN: “The Plot Against The King” children’s books are a trilogy in which a wizard named Kash helps King Donald defeat characters like Hillary Queenton and Comma-la-la-la. Patel started his career as a public defender and later became a federal prosecutor. During Trump’s first term, Patel’s work as a congressional aide defending the president got him noticed. He went on to hold several national security positions. The Trump transition team says that’s why Patel is, quote, “beyond qualified to be FBI director.” Patel did not respond to interview requests from NPR. He wrote another book, this one for adults. It’s called “Government Gangsters,” a phrase he explains in a trailer for a documentary adaptation of the book.
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KASH PATEL: Government gangsters are the group of individuals, career bureaucrats who have been installed by what we call the deep state into every agency and department in the United States government.
HAGEN: The deep state is one of Patel’s main talking points, according to Russell Muirhead. He teaches political science at Dartmouth College and studies the impact of conspiracy theories on democracy.
RUSSELL MUIRHEAD: The deep-state conspiracy refers to the idea that a huge raft of governmental officials are actually hostile to the president and want to obstruct him and want to disempower his constituents and his movement.
HAGEN: Muirhead says, whether someone believes in it or not, the deep-state idea functions to legitimize a project of disabling or disrupting parts of government that don’t bend to Trump’s will. The deep state is also a key feature of modern pro-Trump conspiracy theories, including QAnon. It claims that the deep state works with a cabal of pedophile elites to secretly traffic children and consume their blood. Many QAnon believers also look forward to, quote, “the storm,” which they anticipate would include mass arrests or punishment of the cabal and members of the deep state. Here’s Patel in 2022, talking to pro-Trump influencer Mary Grace.
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PATEL: You know, the Q thing is a movement. A lot of people attach themselves to it. I disagree with a lot of what that movement says, but I agree with what a lot of that movement says.
HAGEN: Asked to clarify, a Trump transition team spokesperson said, quote, “this is a pathetic attempt at guilt by association.” Patel has tended not to focus on the pedophile part of the Q belief system, but he has been a guest on at least a dozen podcasts that have spread QAnon content or related conspiracy theories. Here’s Muirhead again.
MUIRHEAD: It does seem that he’s happy to embrace the whole train of conspiratorial assertions associated with, or even that define, Donald Trump, and he’s happy to embrace QAnon. It delivers him to an audience of sympathetic listeners and watchers.
HAGEN: Patel has used his exposure to sell merchandise, with at least some of the proceeds benefiting charity. Things like Kash-branded wine, he spells the S with a dollar sign, and supplements that he claims detoxify the supposed negative effects of COVID vaccines. Patel has also promoted false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump, and last year, he promised payback.
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PATEL: We will go out and find the conspirators, not just in government but in the media. Yes, 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.
HAGEN: That’s from an appearance on former Trump adviser Steve Bannon’s talk show. Patel has sued journalists for defamation and recently threatened to sue a former Trump official after she argued he’s unfit to lead the FBI. Charles Kupperman is a former deputy national security adviser to Trump, who said he didn’t vote for either candidate in the last election. Kupperman told NPR he didn’t trust Patel when they overlapped at the National Security Council. The FBI has traditionally operated independently from the president, but Kupperman now worries…
CHARLES KUPPERMAN: Kash will be a propagandist for Donald Trump. He will carry out any orders that the White House president gives him, and he will have an opportunity, if he is confirmed at the FBI, to invoke retribution against individuals. And it will not be a pretty picture.
HAGEN: A Trump spokesperson told NPR that, as FBI director, Kash Patel will end the weaponization of the agency. Lisa Hagen, NPR News.
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