As TNR’s Timothy Noah notes, many of the latter ones are political appointees, so by definition, they are not members of the “deep state.” That’s the permanent, all-powerful bureaucracy that Trump is supposed to be targeting by picking nominees like Patel, giving the move superficial justification. But as this list suggests, Trump wants an FBI director primarily committed to persecuting people for being Democrats or telling the truth about Trump in public.
Third, consider the critique of the FBI from Republicans now pretending Trump wants to genuinely reform the agency. Per The Times:
In recent years, Republicans have attacked the F.B.I. for its role in investigating the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia, including its handling of the so-called Steele dossier; accused officials there of failing to investigate issues surrounding Hunter Biden’s laptop; and slammed its leaders for authorizing a raid of Mr. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in pursuit of classified documents.
Note that those allegations all concern alleged mistreatment of—or unfairness to—Trump himself. They, too, are nonsense: While some irregularities did take place during the Russia investigation, they were investigated and exposed by the Justice Department inspector general—as is supposed to happen when the system works as it should—and they fell far short of the systemic corruption MAGA claimed. The Biden Justice Department didn’t exactly refrain from investigating or prosecuting the Biden family. The search of Mar-a-Lago was approved by a judge who was persuaded by hard evidence.
