Dan Bongino has been named Deputy Director of the FBI, and the Hill coverage I just linked has an unintentionally humorous lede:

President Trump’s selection of Dan Bongino as deputy FBI director adds another conservative firebrand to the top of the agency, fueling concerns from Democrats the bureau will be politicized.

Ha ha – that’s a good one, Hill, a real knee-slapper: will be politicized. Tell me another one.

Actually, they’re afraid it will be politicized in the wrong direction. They were ecstatically happy when it was politicized in their favor and used to destroy those they considered their enemies.

Bongino is described in the headlines of many of these MSM articles as a talk show guy. For example, NPR uses this headline: “What to know about Dan Bongino, the media personality tapped as FBI deputy director.” The NY Times goes with this: “Right-Wing Commentator Named F.B.I. Deputy Director – The choice of Dan Bongino is a radical departure from the bureau’s history of having a veteran agent serve in the key role that oversees operations.” They know that the headlines are all that many people read, so headlines are important. And it’s not as though it’s untrue; Bongino is a “right-wing commentator.” But that’s not why he was chosen. And although the Times does say – not in the headline, but in the first paragraph – that Bongino also has been a NYC police officer and Secret Service agent, it’s clear from the headline what they wish to emphasize.

Plus this:

The role of deputy director does not require Senate confirmation, meaning two steadfast Trump loyalists will effectively be at the uppermost reaches of an agency known for its tradition of independence.

I wonder whether it was ever known for being politically independent. In the days of J. Edgar Hoover? I wouldn’t exactly describe it that way. But whatever independence it once had – whatever objective application of the law and its energies – ended when it turned its focus on Trump and the right. I’m not sure what date to give the beginning of that pivot, but it certainly was in place early in Trump’s first presidential term. But those who are either oblivious to that fact or who applaud it are of course upset at Patel and Bongino.

The Hill article quotes none other than that pillar of objectivity and fairness, Senator Adam Schiff:

Trump installs another loyalist who won’t say no to any immoral or unethical act. And our law enforcement agencies — and the public safety — are further degraded.

Further degraded? You and your party have degraded it so much that there’s almost nothing left.

A bit more on Bongino’s background, from Wiki:

Bongino joined the United States Secret Service in 1999 as a special agent. In 2002 he left the New York Field Office to become an instructor at the Secret Service Training Academy in Beltsville, Maryland. In 2006, he was assigned to the Presidential Protection Division during George W. Bush’s second term. He remained on protective duty after Barack Obama became president, leaving in May 2011 to run for the U.S. Senate.

Also in 2011, The Baltimore Sun reported that Bongino was the lead investigator of a car rental fraud scheme. His work contributed to two people being indicted on federal wire fraud charges. …

In May 2018, after Republican Congressman Trey Gowdy and some conservative legal experts challenged Trump’s claims that the FBI had spied on his 2016 presidential campaign, Bongino claimed Gowdy had been “fooled” by the Department of Justice. In February 2019, he accused Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein of attempting a coup against Trump.

Bongino reportedly told the House Judiciary Committee during hearings on police brutality that efforts to reduce the funding of police departments were an “abomination” that should be dropped “before someone gets hurt”.

After Joe Biden won the 2020 election and Trump refused to concede, Bongino backed his false claims of election fraud, and claimed that Democrats had rigged the election.

Bongino was a strong critic of face mask mandates during the COVID-19 pandemic, stating that face masks are largely ineffective and deriding them as “face diapers” on occasion.

Most of that seems correct, doesn’t it? Whether or not fraud occurred in 2020, or enough fraud to affect the results, there certainly was enough “rigging.”

I say let Patel and Bongino give it a try. Bongino wouldn’t have been my first choice or even second or third for this position. But perhaps he’ll do a good job in helping clean up the FBI. It certainly could use some cleaning up.