Giving Back-Selfless Service-Making A Difference-Taking Care Of The People’s Business: Not Just Bumper Stickers
For any who have followed the career of Dan Bongino over the past near two decades or so, it was one of the least surprising and most anticipated announcements ever when he declared on his daily Podcast that he was returning to federal government service as the Federal Bureau of Investigation Deputy Director.
That may not mean what you think it does. Our nation has a history replete with stories of citizens who throughout their lives answered the call of service, whether in defense of our country in the military, in local government or on the national level in elected office or federal civilian service.
Dan describes himself in terms of judging people-but in particular, politicians-as a transactional, spreadsheet guy: pluses and minuses. Passionate but not emotional. Issues focused, but outcome based.
He often waits on a breaking story-no matter how newsworthy or sensational-“Podcast-worthy”-for several days under a self-imposed “Bongino-Rule” because he would rather be right than first.
Bongino’s background is well known to many as a result of his Podcast and radio show, which announces daily “from the NYPD, to the Secret Service to behind the microphone, you are listening to the Dan Bongino Show.” He has been a daily staple of hundreds of thousands of people’s lives since he humbly accepted the impossible task of stepping into the radio slot of Rush Limbaugh (RIP) after his death February 17, 2021.
Dan advised from the start-and as he closed out this chapter of his life last week-that he was no Rush Limbaugh and that nobody could replace the man who basically invented the genre of conservative talk radio for the masses.
Rush Limbaugh was to political-conservative-talk radio what Les Paul was to the electric guitar. When you are the inventor or creator of something big there are only “others.”
But Bongino put his own stamp on the genre and has been one of the top Podcasters in America for a long time now. His books have also been well received, chronicling the lawfare attacks against President Trump (Spygate: The attempted Sabotage of Donald J. Trump, and Exonerated: The Failed Takedown of President Trump by the Swamp,) and documenting the deep state swamp connections (Follow the Money,) as well as some five others.
Understanding what a sacrifice Bongino is making to return to government service can only be appreciated by those who have faced similar decisions in their lives. You would think a self-described “transactional guy” would be a hard no on a decision like this based on the monetary aspects alone.
At least two decades or so ago (judging by the fact that I was commuting up to Bethesda, Maryland from Manassas, Virginia at the time,) I was listening to Rush Limbaugh on XM radio, and he was announcing one of his many annual fund-raising efforts. Rush did an extended intro in his own inimitable style as only “Rushbo” could do (with the sound effects, shuffling of papers….) on what sounded like a very worthy cause for sick children.
He said he would get the donations started, announcing that he was going to donate $500,000 dollars to “kick things off”: a staggering amount of money in 2004.
There is money in this Podcast /radio talk show business. Bongino has become a force of nature marketing genius and an unbelievably popular radio personality. The listener and subscriber numbers are incredible, as evidenced by his election night efforts where he eclipsed 500K listeners on the live stream. He had grown to well over several million followers over the years.
His story is really an interesting one, an American success story that belies the notion that you “can’t pull yourself up by your own bootstraps.” Since he left the Secret Service, failing to gain elected office in the swampy democrat dominated Maryland politics, did guest hosting stints on WMAL in Virginia filling in for-among others-Larry O’Connor and Brian “gravy not dressing” Wilson, before going out on a limb with his Podcast beginning when he and wife Paula (the lovely Paulita) were basically down to credit cards after grinding and disappointing political campaigns.
Gaining listeners a thousand at a time and momentum just as COVID was emerging as a thing, he was eventually deplatformed by You Tube over COVID mask stupidity, blazing a path to alternative conservative platforms and ultimately being torpedoed by the big tech swampies in his Parler venture, subsequently making the leap to Rumble.
It has been a helluva ride these last two decades. And it was only getting better as he emerged from the above trials and tribulations at the top of his game. And poised for an even more incredible run during the Trump presidency where his lifestyle had become near celebrity-like between relationships with country music stars and his access to politicians in and around the Trump orbit.
None of which showed any signs of slowing down. Especially at a time when being in the business of conservative talk radio riding a tidal wave of popularity in terms of followers that he built one unrelenting Podcast at a time was going to do nothing but explode.
With the promise of near unlimited LSMBTGA fodder provided daily as grist for talk radio. All representing the cherry on top of the success built over the last decade, but particularly the last 4 years.
Giving all of that up to return to federal government civilian service seems like a cra-cra move: insane in the membrane. Its not only the money, or the success he’s built up. The followers, the production team he’s assembled and the routine he’s perfected, or the freedom to say whatever you want, whenever you want. Or the time he’s put in to make it possible, to put your own stamp on a brand and ride it to success.
Senior Executives in the federal government are what we jokingly refer to as “on the schedule.” The “general services” wage scale employees are not ordinarily-except in extraordinary circumstances-expected to work beyond an eight-hour day without overtime compensation.
While with seniors, the sky is generally the limit on hours, and you work until the job is done or you run out of energy. You are the definition of-in the government-a “highly compensated employee.” Which is very nice and not something one would normally complain about-unless you gave up a job paying 10X as much for the privilege.
When you run things-are the boss-there is no Freddy Flintstone-like whistle pulling you off the dinosaur at the end of the day. At these very senior levels it is not unlike military command: on call 24x7x365. The type of job where the momentum, emotions and constant demands result in a void when you move on that can’t be filled or explained except in terms of something like the work equivalent of the Kubla-Ross stages of grief.
The government provides incredible opportunities in terms of responsibility, training, education, basically unlimited potential for upward mobility and the chance to make a difference for our country and our citizens along a proportionate scale that widens as you climb the responsibility and leadership ladder: great potential to make a difference.
With such opportunities comes the potential for mischief making, particularly for those who don’t consider their oaths of office and service binding or confining. Or who have a loose relationship with the truth, ethics, morals and integrity, as well as the core values of selfless-service and public service and servant leadership.
I feel somewhat silly relating some of the above, but one of the things I found surprising in civilian service-particularly when it came to Pentagon senior leadership nominative and congressionally approved positions-the Deputy Under Secretaries of Defense and the Deputy Assistant Secretaries of Defense leadership, was the pure political nature of just about everything they did.
Which should not have been a surprise since DUSDs and DASDs typically are picked based on political contributions to the new administration. This is really a system “feature” and not a “flaw.”
Our otherwise pretty decent system has myriad anomalies like the above construct that are 180 out from what the public should expect from senior executives in federal government service charged with overseeing programs-and therefore-expenditure of taxpayer dollars.
Who would be willing to change such a system while in charge-as all the expected benefit is to those in charge?
But federal government civilian servants-and moreso their bosses-must be held accountable for their actions and stewardship of taxpayer dollars.
Which creates somewhat of a conundrum wrapped in an enigma-my fav, a “conegma”-when you have a senior government official-or a cabinet member-who testifies to congress under oath that the border is secure when we are averaging over 5,000 encounters a day-with many being released into our country-while hundreds or thousands more are being flown in to our country without ever seeing the border.
And yet the cabinet member is all sparkles, rainbows and unicorns positive about our border security. Congress has to have the will and stones to go after the boss, in this case the president of the United States (Joe Biden.)
In an earlier article I described doing Saturday morning meetings with my boss for nearly three years, the first year of which I was literally (the Bongino hated literally) the “lowest paid guy in the room” as a general services grade employee. I didn’t complain or put in for overtime, as it was somewhat of a unique situation and a privilege to be in the room at all and briefing the “elephants” of our government on our projects every few weeks.
I returned to government from a contract position in April 2002 after making the somewhat easy decision after 9-11 to rejoin federal government service after a five-year break. At the time I was leading a government Integrated Product Team as a contractor (which was a bit unusual) which I delivered for signature by NIMA Dir Clapper and USAF A-2 Maj Gen Schaeffer just in time for my government Entrance On Duty the following Monday.
My wife thought I was crazy at the time, giving up nearly $35K a year and the somewhat “cushy” life of leaving work by 1600 everyday like the aforementioned Freddy, unless something really bad was happening in the world.
It would have been even worse had she known it was actually over 50K with all compensation considered. Neither of us imagined or knew that I would make senior executive within 17 months and overcome the “stupidity” of giving up the money to start with.
Albeit that was nowhere near the sacrifice Bongino is making, but my larger point is it was a very easy decision to make in my case simply because I felt I could make a difference and owed our government the service. Mainly because the work I was doing as a contractor had to be implemented by the government and I got to the point where I couldn’t stand the stupidity and idjiotcy any longer.
Much of it was being done in support of a new business unit that was established to overcome problems with many of the acquisition issues that were a legacy of heritage organizations that integrated to form NIMA in 1996. There was more than the usual amount of government shenanigans fighting against ideas that were “not invented here.”
A contractor can only do so much in these types of situations, and it often gets hard to abide by the “conventions.” Particularly when leading a group of government employees held together largely by the threat of failing to deliver one of the boss’s top priority projects.
I’m running long on this article.
Bongino is going to excel in this position. The Deputy Director is typically the one making the trains run and running the staff: daily operations. While a much bigger task than he has ever faced before, being disciplined with the experience to get hours of shows put together, writing unbelievably detailed books and focusing on the “detes” will come in handy working through staff work and deadlines.
I’m reminded of when I was approved to go to Officer Candidate School and one of the Warrant Officers in our unit told me that “every time one of our top enlisted troops goes to OCS it is one less top-quality NCO available to run the Army.” To which I replied, “What are you suggesting???”
The point being that in government you have to get really good, real fast about who you can depend upon and who can answer the mail. With his background in the NYPD and Secret Service, relying on your gut becomes instinctual-second nature: that will come in handy in today’s FBI.
Good luck, best wishes and God speed to Dan as he embarks on this new venture. Just know that he won’t find very many soldiers out there like him: and that’s OK, all the more chance to mentor and grow the force.
For me, it means I can finally change my article archive from “FBI Malfeasance” to just “FBI.” We should finally start seeing some positive outcomes out of this group that has been an embarrassment for decades.
Now this doesn’t get the FBI a total pass at this point going forward. I mean, they still suck at intelligence until something good happens to change it.
But it does mean that when I look at my father’s going away FBI pen set and congratulatory note from J. Edgar Hoover close by my desk, I can finally go a little bit easier on them in the future for the right reasons. My Dad (RIP) would no doubt appreciate the break…
To the future!
Max Dribbler
20 March 2025
LSMBTGA: Lamestream media echo chamber (LMEC-L) social media (SM) big tech tyrants (BT,) government (G) and academia (A)
If you enjoyed this article, then please REPOST or SHARE with others; encourage them to follow AFNN. If you’d like to become a citizen contributor for AFNN, contact us at managingeditor@afnn.us Help keep us ad-free by donating here.
Substack: American Free News Network Substack
Truth Social: @AFNN_USA
Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/afnnusa
Telegram: https://t.me/joinchat/2_-GAzcXmIRjODNh
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AfnnUsa
GETTR: https://gettr.com/user/AFNN_USA
CloutHub: @AFNN_USA