MaddowBlog-Dan Bongino, his FBI leadership post and a failed experiment in amateurism

[LetMyPeopleVote]

What happens when the president puts a volatile podcast personality in charge at the FBI? Now we know the answer.

It’s worth appreciating Don Bongino’s FBI tenure for what it was:

the latest in a series of failed experiments in amateurism. www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2025-12-18T15:46:13.895Z

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/dan-bongino-his-fbi-leadership-post-and-a-failed-experiment-in-amateurism

For FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino, the writing has been on the wall for a while. After weeks of scuttlebutt about the looming departure of the former far-right podcaster, MS NOW reported Wednesday afternoon that Bongino had quietly told confidants that he planned to leave his job early in the new year and would not be returning to headquarters to work this month......

In other words, the president insisted on an experiment in amateurism: What would happen if the White House put a volatile podcast personality in charge of day-to-day operations at the FBI?

The answer, we know now, is “nothing good.”

Complicating matters is the familiarity of the circumstances. This administrative blunder happened in parallel with other misguided experiments. What would happen if Republicans chose an anti-vaccine activist to serve as the nation’s health secretary? What would happen if they invited a billionaire megadonor to oversee a destructive “efficiency” operation? What would happen if they confirmed a scandal-plagued Fox News host to lead the Pentagon? What would happen if they allowed a different podcast personality to become the FBI director?

What would happen if they nominated a television game-show host who didn’t know anything about governing, and who never served a day in any public post, to serve as the chief executive of the world’s preeminent superpower?

What we’re dealing with, in other words, are overlapping experiments in amateurism, each of which is failing in tragic and consequential ways.

[PJMcK]

1. Republicans brought us to this precipice

Very few Republicans have stood up against Trump because they’re all cowards who are not patriots. Their party has been spiraling into the toilet since Nixon with Reagan, Bush I, Bush II and culminating with Trump. It’s quite pathetic but because they’ve led a fierce drive to diminish education in our country, we have a voting populace with at least 30% of stupid people.

And they are stupid because now that they see the results they’re crying, “I didn’t vote for this!” Except they did. Everything that is happening was broadcast and articulated by the Republicans.

I don’t know if the U.S. can survive the next three years.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

2. Dan Bongino's embarrassing tenure at the FBI was a failed experiment in amateurism

Dan Bongino’s embarrassing tenure at the FBI was a failed experiment in amateurism — but in this administration, it was only one in a series of failed experiments in amateurism.

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2025-12-21T21:30:09.462Z