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Kill 'Em All

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Briefing
by
Kyle Mantyla

As two men clung to a stricken, burning ship targeted by SEAL Team 6, the Joint Special Operations commander followed the defense secretary’s order to leave no survivors.

Fuentes is a 27-year-old livestreamer with openly antisemitic views. He has called Adolf Hitler both “awesome” and “right.” But he has become impossible for the Republican Party to banish, despite repeated attempts by some party leaders. This dynamic reveals how fringe ideologies operate differently today compared to the mid-20th century, when institutional gatekeepers – political parties, law enforcement, the media – could more effectively contain extremist movements. 

  • Miranda Devine @ The New York Post: Damning report labels FBI ‘rudderless ship’ under Kash Patel — with him and Dan Bongino more concerned with building ‘personal résumés'

FBI Director Kash Patel is facing withering criticism from an alliance of active-duty and retired agents and analysts, days after the White House denied media reports that the president is about to fire him. A troubling new report card on the first six months of Patel’s leadership concludes he is “in over his head” and his deputy, Dan Bongino, is “something of a clown,” according to the alliance, which in two previous reports warned about crippling DEI and politicization of the FBI during the Biden administration.

  • Sean James @ Mediaite: 6 Craziest Revelations From Scathing Report on Kash Patel — Including His Refusal to Leave a Plane Until He Was Given a Female Agent’s Jacket

A blistering report from a number of current and former federal agents blasted the FBI under Director Kash Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino, saying it has been a “circus” and “all f*cked up” under their leadership.

The results of this week’s vote have also been billed as a bellwether ahead of the midterms.

On the Watchlist
Pete Hegseth

Pete Hegseth

Donald Trump's pick to run the Department of Defense, Hegseth left the military after colleagues raised concerns about his tattoos associated with the Crusades and embraced by white nationalists. As the head of a veterans' nonprofit, he reportedly led a bar crowd in chants of "Kill All Muslims." In his book "American Crusade," he wrote, “Our American Crusade is not about literal swords, and our fight is not with guns. Yet.” Hegseth attends a church associated with Doug Wilson, a Christian nationalist who wants the Apostles Creed to be incorporated into the U.S. Constitution. 
Image from livestream of Kash Patel confirmation hearing: Patel in suit and tie, seated at desk with his hands folded in front of him, leaning into and speaking into microphone

Kash Patel

Trump's pick to lead the FBI is a MAGA insider who seems eager to go after Trump's enemies, including the "deep state" and mainstream media, which Patel has called "the most powerful enemy that the United States has ever seen." Patel's book "Government Gangsters" includes a long list of people he'd like to see punished, including Republicans who refused to go along with Trump's attempts to stay in power after losing the 2020 election. Patel has promoted bogus election-fraud claims and recruited QAnon conspiracy theorists for Trump's social media company. 
Shadowy figure

Dan Bongino
Nick Fuentes with bullhorn at a Stop The Steal rally

Nick Fuentes

Dropping out of college after one year following his participation in the deadly white nationalist “Unite The Right” rally in Charlottesville, VA, in 2017, Fuentes launched a career as a racist, antisemitic, misogynistic far-right activist and livestreamer.