Some would suggest it’s pretty foolish to publish an “enemies list” of those you would target for prosecution if you had the power to do so. Others would call it far worse. So, naturally, that’s what Kash Patel did, because that’s what Kash Patel is.

Was hard for me to find the list of people Kash Patel included in his book “Government Gangsters” as Deep State officials who need to be targeted so here it is in one place. pic.twitter.com/j9I7FWNzoZ

— Tim Miller (@Timodc) December 2, 2024

And that’s just the start of it, Patel having already expressed his desire to target journalists who said mean things about his beloved.

[A] 2023 podcast interview Patel did with fellow Trump loyalist Steve Bannon has circulated far and wide.

In the recording last year, Patel asserted how he would handle reporters if he were put in power.

“We’re going to come after the people in the media who lied about American citizens, who helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections,” Patel said then. “Whether it’s criminally or civilly, we’ll figure that out.”

Of course, if the Senate rejects Patel’s nomination as FBI director because he’s wholly unqualified, both by experience and temperament, the question of what, if anything, should be done about someone bent in advance about the abuse of power is moot, assuming whoever in nominated in Patel’s place doesn’t share his desire to use the office for retribution.

To deal with this possibility, it’s being argued that President Joe Biden should issue pre-emptive pardons to those on the list. The argument is that, although no one has been charged with a crime, the impact of investigations and potential prosecutions will be onerous, whether temporal, financial and/or psychological.

Further, it’s worth considering what it will do to people willing to engage in public service, upon threat of suffering investigation and prosecution by the opposing party upon completion of service.

Can people who have committed no crime be pardoned? For what? Does their acceptance of a pardon suggest that they have reason to fear investigation and prosecution? If you’ve done nothing wrong, why would you accept a pardon? If an unconditional pardon is issued so as to cover whatever allegations are claimed in the future, what about the possibility that some on the list, even if it’s just one, has indeed committed a federal crime and, well, should be investigated and prosecuted? Forget the nonsensical Trumpist claims of wrongdoing, but an actual, real crime about which we know nothing as yet. Do they get a free pass on that? Should they?

If this seems like a good moment to recall Lavrenty Beria’s assertion, “Show me that man and I’ll show you the crime,” it is, indeed.

Putting aside the hysteria of the unduly passionate who get their “facts” and legal advice from reddit, the argument is that Biden did it to Trump, so Trump, via his pet Patel, should do it back to Biden and his minions on the alphabetically-arranged enemies list. This, of course, is the argument that appeals most to the puny mind. If it’s wrong against Trump, it’s wrong against anyone else. It doesn’t become any less wrong when done to your (or Trump’s, or Patel’s) enemies.

But given that a substantial, albeit less than half, of the voting population ticked Trump on the ballot, will the public understand why Biden might issue a pardon even as he, and those on the list, assert that they are innocent of any wrongdoing? Or will this stink up the joint, fueling the belief that they must have done the dirty or they would neither need, nor accept, a pardon? Even if people accept that not everyone targeted has done wrong, will the issuance of pardons taint these individuals, Democrats and Republicans alike, neutrals as well, and validate Trump’s claims that he’s the biggest victim ever of the evil deep state? In the minds of his more aggressive supporters, will pardons not “prove” everyone was lying about Trump and Trump was telling the truth all along?

On the other hand, quite a few of Trump’s former cabinet and White House staff are on the list as well. Is it possible Trump doesn’t pick the “finest people” and actually is a stunningly poor judge of character, given the scope and breadth of former Trump people who speak extremely ill of him? And what of the current crop, who realize they’re merely one step removed from last term’s “finest people,” and could well end up where most people who become involved with Trump eventually end up?