You cannot say that Donald Trump does not make the routine of naming cabinet choices interesting. He zigzags between naming fairly mainstream figures like Scott Bessent for Treasury Secretary to the unorthodox Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be Secretary of Health and Human Services. Up to now, Trump has been skillful in averting a showdown — Matt Goetz quickly avoided controversy by pulling his name from consideration over his appointment as Attorney General. But apparently bored with too much stability, he took a supreme gamble by naming Kash Patel to succeed Christopher Wray at the FBI.

Patel is a MAGA favorite, a close associate of Stephen K. Bannon, and a fiery critic of the “Deep State.” He is particularly acerbic in his remarks regarding those agencies dealing with National Security. When Trump spoke of the “enemy within” he was channeling Patel. And it is not like Patel has not expressed his views and disseminated his opinions widely. In 2023 he published a book titled “Government Gangsters; The Deep State, The Truth and the Battle for our Democracy.” The subtitle says it all. The release of the work was held up by those in government. Patel was a member of the National Security Council and for a time U.S. Defense Secretary. Ostensibly the reason for holding up his book was he might reveal secrets. Compared to Patel, Pete Hegseth, Trump’s choice for Defense Secretary, is fairly easy.

For Trump, this nomination is bold and risky. When Richard Nixon appointed L. Patrick Gray to succeed J. Edgar Hoover in 1972, he ruffled quite a few feathers among agency functionaries who did not like an outsider being appointed director. Mark Felt became highly suspicious of Nixon and was no ally after the Watergate burglary. Indeed, Felt later became famous as Bob Woodward’s chief source. Gray lasted until July 1973 and only as an interim director. History has not been kind to mavericks in the FBI.

Now it’s not that Patel’s suspicions of the “deep state” are totally unfounded. When he was selected, the reaction among the former members of the fraternity was harsh. John Bolton, Trump’s former head of the NSC. compared him to Joseph Stalin’s former head of the Secret Police. Bolton stated on Meet the Press that “Trump has nominated Kash Patel to be his Lavrentiy Beria.” One must remember that after Stalin drew his last breath, his colleagues had Beria quickly executed.

Bolton and his ilk are not to be trifled with. They have a certain view of the world and they do not like change. They also fear that Patel might be on to something and might clean house. Institutional change is never easy in the U.S. government. Franklin Roosevelt stubbed his toes when he tried to add justices to the Supreme Court. Nixon’s attempt to restructure the U.S. government ended before it started.

The reaction of neo-cons to differing approaches to national security only proves that Trump is challenging the last buttress of the establishment. The Patel selection is the equivalent of throwing down the gauntlet. It certainly makes the days before Trump’s inauguration seem spicier than they would otherwise.