Liberals lose it after Trump announces Dan Bongino as deputy FBI director: 'Feels like a bad dream'

President Donald Trump announced Sunday evening that FBI Director Kash Patel has tapped former U.S. Secret Service agent and popular conservative commentator Dan Bongino to be his right-hand man.

The news that Bongino will serve as FBI deputy director was well received on the right and by members of the Trump administration. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, for instance, noted, "No better patriot or professional. Patel-Bongino atop the FBI is pure [fire]."

White House adviser Stephen Miller wrote, "Dan Bongino is the warrior America needs in this vital role."

On the left, however, there was weeping and gnashing of teeth — par for the course given that Democrats and liberal pundits were still in the process of melting down over Patel's Thursday confirmation.

Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy (Conn.) tweeted, "Trump has chosen grifters to lead the FBI. Kash Patel sells 'K$SH' branded merch, vaccine reversal pills. Dan Bongino's entire show is telling listeners the world is ending so they buy the dozens of survivalist products he sells."

Murphy, who recently humiliated himself by attacking Vice President JD Vance and the Trump family over a post from a Lara Trump fan account, added, "I know this feels like a bad dream. It isn't."

'The choice of Mr. Bongino is a radical and abrupt departure.'

The news feed on the liberal X knockoff Bluesky was crowded with similar complaints, which in many cases recycled the attacks previously used by establishmentarians against Hegseth, U.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

One self-identified member of the 2024 Kamala Harris team wrote, "Two of Trump's most devout sycophants have now been installed at the highest, most powerful echelons of the FBI — a law enforcement agency heretofore known for its tradition of independence," adding that the duo are "the least experienced leadership pair in the entire 117-year history of the FBI."

Adam Cohen, the vice chair of the anti-Trump group Lawyers for Good Government, similarly characterized Bongino as "unqualified," suggesting that the FBI deputy director's ideas "are generally ludicrous conspiracy theories, totally devoid of fact."

The New York Times was among the liberal publications that rushed to frame the choice, which requires no Senate confirmation, as unorthodox and "radical."

"In the past, F.B.I. directors have selected senior agents with extensive experience to essentially run the bureau's operations, a complex and grueling job that requires working closely with foreign partners and navigating sensitive investigations," said a Times piece on the announcement. "The choice of Mr. Bongino is a radical and abrupt departure from that practice and raises startling questions about how two people who have never served as F.B.I. agents will oversee the vast surveillance and investigative powers of an agency of 38,000 people and a budget of about $11 billion."

The Times further claimed that Bongino "often peddles rampant misinformation." Two of the examples that the Times provided of "conspiracy theories" advanced by Bongino were, however, fact-based — namely that masks were ineffective at preventing the spread of the coronavirus, which the Cochrane Collaboration's 2023 systematic review confirmed, and that Democrats spied on Trump's 2016 campaign.

MSNBC analyst Tim Miller was among the pundits who appeared to have trouble coping, writing, "What in the living f**k."

'Buckle up, America!'

According to the website for his unsuccessful 2012 U.S. Senate campaign, Bongino started as a police cadet with the New York Police Department in 1995 and became a full officer in 1997. After two years spent patrolling the streets of Brooklyn, he joined the Secret Service in 1999 as a special agent. The 50-year-old father of two who beat Hodgkin lymphoma during the pandemic joined the USSS' Presidential Protection Division in 2006 and remained on protective duty with former President Barack Obama.

In addition to penning best-selling books in the time since, including "Exonerated: The Failed Takedown of President Donald Trump by the Swamp," Bongino has long hosted a massively popular podcast that has consistently ranked high among the top political commentary shows.

"Great news for Law Enforcement and American Justice!" Trump wrote on Truth Social. "Dan Bongino, a man of incredible love and passion for our Country, has just been named the next DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF THE FBI, by the man who will be the best ever Director, Kash Patel."

"Dan has a Masters Degree in Psychology from C.U.N.Y., and an MBA from Penn State. He was a member of the New York Police Department (New York's Finest!), a highly respected Special Agent with the United States Secret Service, and is now one of the most successful Podcasters in the Country, something he is willing and prepared to give up in order to serve," added Trump.

Following Trump's announcement, Bongino thanked the president, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and FBI Director Kash Patel on X, then retweeted a post that said, "THE DREAM TEAM. KASH PATEL. DAN BONGINO. FAFO. Buckle up, America!" The acronym used in the message shared by the FBI deputy director, "FAFO," stands for "f**k around and find out."

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