What Donald Trump wants most, once he becomes President 2.0, is to throw the book at all his perceived enemies who were – and may still be – embedded in the bowels of Official Washington.

So, no wonder Trump rushed to choose as his designated-thrower and new FBI director the man who wrote the book that names the names of Trump’s perceived enemies. He is Kash Patel. His book is: “Government Gangsters: The Deep State, the Truth, and The Battle for our Democracy.”

And at the very top, above the title, the cover of the 2023 paperback edition prominently displays one reviewer’s glowing blurb: “A brilliant roadmap highlighting every corrupt actor, to ultimately return our agencies and departments to work for the American People… we will use this blueprint to help us take back the White House and remove these Gangsters from all of Government.” – President Donald J. Trump.”

When Trump recently named the little-known, lower-level former prosecutor and government national security aide as his next FBI director, he wasn’t worried that you’d probably never even heard of Kash Patel. Trump figures you’ll know Kash’s made-for-Hollywood name – and recognize his made-for-podcast news presence – faster than you can say “J. Edgar!”

Perhaps the one thing that got Patel his new job nomination was, of all things, his book’s Appendix B, titled: “Members of the Executive Branch Deep State.” It is a list of 60 Washington names. But to simply say that – and nothing more – would be like saying the names enshrined in Cooperstown’s Hall of Fame is a just list of baseball guys. There are the contemporary famous Democrats: Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Kamala Harris.

Included are also famous Republicans – staunch right-wingers who dared to speak truth to Grand Old Party power: Trump’s former attorney general Bill Barr, national security adviser John Bolton, and many Trump era cabinet members, generals and intelligence chiefs.

And Patel’s list of 60 Deep Staters includes former FBI directors: James Comey, Robert Mueller, and incumbent director Christopher Wray, who was supposed to serve for three more years. Except Trump pressured him into resigning by publicly acting as if he already had – and declaring Patel was his choice for FBI director.

Patel’s Appendix B list begins with one paragraph that may have been his new job slam-dunk: “This list only includes current and former Executive Branch officials and is not exhaustive. It does not, for example, include other corrupt actors of the first order such as Congressmen (now Senator) Adam Schiff, and Eric Swalwell… the entire fake news mafia press corps, etc.”

Imagine Trump’s reaction the moment someone showed him Patel’s line about “the entire fake news mafia press corps.” For President 2.0, it might have instantly become the book’s climactic moment.

And speaking of that: This week, the Justice Department’s inspector general issued a report critical of Trump administration “inappropriate” surreptitious tactics to subpoena phone and email communications of journalists and members of Congress and congressional staff officials between 2017 and 2020.

Trump officials sought to halt efforts of journalists to report information about possible contacts between Trump officials and Russians during the 2016 presidential campaign. The inspector general concluded that the Trump officials' actions created “at a minimum, the appearance of inappropriate interference by the executive branch in legitimate oversight activity by the legislative branch.”

The DOJ inspector general concluded that Trump administration officials seized records involving two Democratic lawmakers and 43 congressional staff members – 21 who worked for Democrats, 20 who worked for Republicans, and two who worked for nonpartisan offices.

Patel was one of the congressional staff members whose records Trump officials seized, according to the IG’s report. Patel was a staff member of the House Intelligence Committee at the time. Patel discovered what was happening not through top secret investigative efforts, but because Google informed him his records had been subpoenaed. So, the author of “Government Gangsters” sued top officials of Trump’s Justice Department – including FBI Director Wray.

“Who watches the watchmen?” Patel’s lawsuit began. “In our post-PATRIOT Act world, where the U.S. Government has been repeatedly exposed for spying on its own people, and the awesome and chilling power of our federal law enforcement agencies has been weaponized against the American people, there is no more important question.”

The Trump administration subpoena actions that Patel had sued to stop was halted in 2021 – by Biden’s Attorney General Merrick Garland, whose spokesperson said the Justice Department will no longer “seek compulsory legal process in leak investigations to obtain source information from members of the news media doing their jobs.”

The 21st name in Patel’s alphabetical list of “Members of the Executive Branch Deep State” includes: “Garland, Merrick – Attorney General under President Biden.”

And so it goes. The more things seem to change in Washington, the more Washington seems the same.

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