The news every day is hard to stomach. It was bad enough that the Republicans appointed Kash Patel to lead the FBI, despite his documented history as a Trump flunkie, a conspiracy theorist, and a liar. Republicans who served in the first Trump term were aghast at his selection. Republican Senators choked but confirmed him.

Trump selected as the #2 at the FBI a guy who is even worse than Kash Patel: Dan Bongino.

Bongino started his career in the New York City Police Department, then joined the Secret Service. He left the Secret Service and morphed into an extremist. He ran for office three times and lost three times. He found his niche as a far-rightwing podcaster. He used his wildly popular podcast to stir hatred and fear. He, like Patel, is a conspiracy theorist.

He fervently believes that Trump won the 2020 election but was cheated by the Democrats. He ranted against vaccines and masks during the pandemic. He has said that the FBI is corrupt and should be cleaned out (Patel previously said that if he ever led the FBI, he would close its headquarters and turn it into a museum of the Deep State).

TIME magazine wrote this about Bongino:

The deputy director serves as the FBI’s second-in-command and is traditionally a career agent responsible for the bureau’s day-to-day law enforcement operations. The position does not require Senate confirmation. But Bongino, like Patel, has never served in the FBI, raising questions about their experience level when the U.S. is facing escalating national security threats…

The two are inheriting an FBI gripped by turmoil as the Justice Department over the past month has forced out a group of senior bureau officials and made a highly unusual demand for the names of thousands of agents who participated in investigations related to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.

Bongino served on the presidential details for then-Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush, before becoming a popular right-wing figure. He became one of the leading personalities in the Make America Great Again political movement to spread false information about the 2020 election, which Trump and allies have continued to maintain was marred by widespread fraud even though such claims have been widely rejected as false by judges and former Trump attorney general William Barr.

In another article in TIME, Bongino was described:

Bongino, like many new leaders across the Trump Administration including Patel, represents a radical departure from convention for his role. The FBI deputy director, which does not require Senate confirmation, is traditionally an active agent with significant operational expertise and experience—something Patel reportedly agreed to maintain before selecting Bongino.

Bongino, a 50-year-old former Secret Service agent turned conservative-media commentator, is instead most well known for his outspoken support for Trump and his frequent spreading of misinformation, including about the FBI…

Bongino’s popularity and brash style earned him a contract in 2018 with NRATV, the National Rifle Association’s short-lived online video channel. “My entire life right now is about owning the libs,” Bongino famously said during a segment in October 2018.

Over the years, Trump took notice of Bongino, frequently posting on social media about his comments. “Did you see what Bongino said?” Trump reportedly told a confidant after seeing Bongino as a contributor on Fox News in 2018, according to the Daily Beast. “He’s so right, he’s just so right about it all. You have to see it.”

In other words, Trump can be certain that he will not be investigated by the FBI. He owns it. Any agent who participated in the investigation of his ties to Putin or his theft of highly classified documents is likely to be ousted.

Trump controls the FBI, the Justice Departnent, the intelligence agencies, and the military.

Its pretty damn terrifying.