Trumpworld is no longer convinced that FBI Director Kash Patel is up to the job.
A multiday manhunt for Charlie Kirk’s killer came to a dramatic close Friday morning when 22-year-old Tyler Robinson was turned in to the authorities by his own relatives, unassisted by the mad-dash efforts of the bureau.
The uncoordinated search left Patel’s conservative allies remarkably unimpressed, taking to social media to openly question his future atop the country’s top law enforcement agency.
“I’m grateful that Utah authorities have captured the suspect in the Charlie Kirk assassination, and think it is time for Republicans to assess whether Kash Patel is the right man to run the FBI,” posted conservative culture warrior Christopher Rufo. “He performed terribly in the last few days, and it’s not clear whether he has the operational expertise to investigate, infiltrate, and disrupt the violent movements—of whatever ideology—that threaten the peace in the United States.”
Rufo rose to prominence among the right for inventing a fiction that the left has taken over America, despite the reality that Republicans hold a majority in every major branch of the federal government and that Fox News and Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp continue to be the largest and most powerful media outlets in the country.
“We would be wise to take a moment and ask whether Kash Patel has what it takes to get this done,” Rufo wrote. “I’ve been on the phone the last few days with many conservative leaders, all of whom wholeheartedly support the Trump Administration and none of whom are confident that the current structure of the FBI is up to this task.”
Over the last 48 hours, Patel has managed to flub practically every component of the investigation, grinding the patience of other MAGA-heads. On Wednesday, he prematurely congratulated authorities for nabbing a suspect who turned out to be the wrong man, earning him the ire of Alex Jones associate Joseph Biggs and Fox News host Laura Ingraham, who criticized the FBI director’s social media dog-and-pony show.
“@FBIDirectorKash you’re the person we are supposed to get the final truth from,” Biggs wrote. “Stop all this click bait shit you keep doing. It’s unbecoming of the office in which you represent and only proves you were a horrible pick for this position.”
Ingraham described Patel’s efforts as “unreal.”
Patel reportedly lost it during an online meeting Thursday with some 200 agents involved in the search as he cracked under pressure to find Kirk’s killer. In the expletive-ridden tirade, Patel warned his subordinates that he would no longer put up with the FBI’s “Mickey Mouse operations,” and was apparently irate that it had taken the bureau some 12 hours to obtain a photograph of Robinson.
Even the $100,000 bounty on Robinson’s head caught Patel flak, with far-right influencer Laura Loomer demanding to know why the sum was less than had been posted for information leading to the potential capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
“So the DOJ and FBI are willing to offer $50 million for information about @NicolasMaduro, but only $100,000 for information about who killed Charlie Kirk on American soil in a cold blooded assassination?!?” Loomer wrote on X. “This is honestly embarrassing for the FBI and our country. What a slap in the face to Charlie Kirk.”
Former FBI officials questioned Patel’s decision to get so close to the investigation, arguing that his high-profile involvement would only be a “huge burden” on the Salt Lake City FBI field office.
Patel, a former podcast host with conspiratorial tendencies, was roundly criticized as Trump’s top choice to run the bureau. Lawmakers and former officials condemned Patel’s lack of relevant experience during his confirmation hearings and raised flags regarding his vindictive nature, pointing to an enemies list he published in his 2022 book Government Gangsters as evidence.
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