Deadline Poet / April 7, 2026

Kash Patel

Calvin Trillin
Man waring a suit sits in a courtroom.
Kash Patel testifies during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on his nomination to be FBI director, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, January 30, 2025.(Mandel Ngan / AFP / Getty Images)

He knows the MAGA playbook well.
Investigate Trump’s foes? That’s swell,
And makes a story Trump can tell
Re FBI boss Kash Patel.

Calvin Trillin

Calvin Trillin is The Nation’s “deadline poet.”

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