Donald Trump Could Name the Worst Possible Candidate to Replace James Comey at the FBI

It’s hard to know what the next big dramatic turn in President Donald Trump’s reality series will be. He’s always got a surprise or two up his sleeve. The casting of the new FBI director certainly has everyone on the edge of their seats. Remember that Trump does indeed “audition” people for these jobs, rather than vet them, and chooses them for their looks and personality rather than their experience or qualifications. So some of the people on his supposed list are very unlikely choices. I would guess that a woman, for instance, wouldn’t have the image he seeks in an FBI director.

James Comey is a tough act to follow. He looked like the quintessential G-man, although his 6-foot-8 height may have contributed to his demise — Trump likes to be the tallest man in the room. And Comey made the mistake of failing to personally pledge fealty to Trump and even going so far as not doing his bidding. He may have looked the part, but on the Trump Administration Reality Show, people must prove their loyalty to the boss.

Of course, the FBI director doesn’t actually work for the president. Like all members of the U.S. government, including Trump, he works for the American people. While the person in that position may serve “at the pleasure” of the president, up until now it’s been understood that it’s a different sort of job. It has a 10-year term specifically to take it out of the realm of the regular election cycle, so the director could be assured of having an independent, nonpartisan role.

From what we can gather, Trump has decided that he does not consider being independent and apolitical to be important requirements for this job. We know this because he has put former GOP Rep. Mike Rogers (a member of the Trump transition team under Chris Christie), Benghazi witch-hunt leader Rep. Trey Gowdy and Sen. John Cornyn of Texas on the short list for the job. There are some other names — retired judges and attorneys along with a couple of women — but those three are the names that have lit up the political establishment, which makes Trump more likely to go for them.

For instance:

Rubio’s colleague, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, disagreed, suggesting that Trump pick someone from within the ranks instead. Recent history shows that both of those pieces of advice can be a bad idea.

Back in 2004, after the tumultuous term of CIA Director George Tenet, President George W. Bush appointed Rep. Porter Goss of Florida, a former CIA agent, to run the agency. Salon reported at the time that he had a mission:

The White House has ordered the new CIA director, Porter Goss, to purge the agency of officers believed to have been disloyal to President George W. Bush or of leaking damaging information to the media about the conduct of the Iraq war and the hunt for Osama bin Laden, according to knowledgeable sources.

Many veterans of the agency did quit, complaining that Goss was little more than a political puppet and he was a disaster of epic proportions as director, whining about the workload and generally failing at the basic functions of leadership. He abruptly resigned without explanation in 2006.

There’s no way of knowing whether Mike Rogers would be similarly inept but he fits the profile: Rogers is a former government agent (in his case FBI) who became a Republican congressman and served as the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. If Rogers were to follow the Goss model, quite a few G-men will be retiring early.

It goes without saying that after his disastrous performance as chair of the Benghazi committee, Trey Gowdy is an unlikely choice. He just doesn’t look the part. The only reason one can imagine Trump would choose him is if he is serious about reopening the investigation of Hillary Clinton, which is unlikely but not completely out of the realm of possibility.

But by far the worst of these political choices would be Texas Sen. John Cornyn. In fact, it’s simply unthinkable. On paper he looks like a natural choice: former Texas Supreme Court justice turned state attorney general turned U.S. senator. In practice, there has rarely been a more nakedly partisan public servant.

Some of the highlights of Cornyn’s career include his tenure as Texas attorney general, where he was best known for his political ambition and his unwillingness to investigate the notorious false drug convictions of African-Americans in Trulia, Texas, until he was absolutely forced to do it. One of his most memorably odious moments as a senator came when a spate of judges were murdered. Cornyn went on the floor of the Senate and explained: