Authoritarian Theater: Kash Patel Defends Trump-Ordered Comey Indictment
James Comey’s indictment landed like a thunderclap, immediately reigniting debate over whether the Justice Department is acting independently or following the whims of a former president.
So quickly did the question arise that Kash Patel, FBI director and longtime Trump loyalist, took to X.com to defend his agency. Career agents had “called the balls and strikes,” Patel wrote. Critics were “hypocrites on steroids.” Mission First. The message: the FBI is professional, apolitical, and incorruptible.
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Context matters. On Sept. 20, a week before the indictment, President Donald Trump posted what read less like commentary and more like a presidential marching order. He excoriated a “woke RINO” U.S. Attorney in Virginia, browbeat AG Pam Bondi, and pushed Lindsey Halligan to take over — all to ensure Comey’s indictment.
“JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!!” Trump wrote, linking legal action explicitly to personal grievance and political revenge. This was Trump micromanaging the DOJ, breaking norms, and signaling that justice would be delivered on his timetable.
After the indictment, Trump returned to Truth Social with a second post, this time more celebratory than directive. He labeled Comey a “Dirty Cop,” accused him of a “very serious and far reaching lie,” and mocked the judge assigned to the case as a Biden appointee.
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The message is clear: the indictment was a personal victory, a public performance of retribution, and a spectacle of authority in action.
Patel’s post, which came in the same post-indictment window, now reads like damage control. While Trump celebrates and personalizes the outcome, Patel assures the public that career agents acted professionally, that the process was impartial, and that law — not loyalty — guided the investigation. The juxtaposition is stark: law and spectacle, independence and authoritarian performance, coexist in tension.
But this public spectacle also creates a legal paradox: the indictment may satisfy political impulses, but Trump’s open meddling in DOJ business undermines its legitimacy. Should Comey face trial, the shadow of a president publicly directing DOJ action could make conviction nearly impossible. Justice is served, but as performance.
This is performative authoritarianism at work. Trump performs his power openly, while Patel’s post attempts to sanitize it after the fact. In Trumpworld, the appearance of independence is as crucial as the law itself, because perception underwrites legitimacy, even when authority is wielded without restraint.
The Comey indictment, then, is a masterclass in authoritarian theater: a president flaunts control, a loyalist hails independence, and the public watches the line between law and loyalty blur.
This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.
