Rep. Matt Gaetz’s recent withdrawal as President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general represented a significant early setback for Trump’s nascent effort to wreck shop in American government — and possibly seek his promised retribution against his political foes and the “enemy within.”

Powerful MAGA voices are hailing him as their No. 1 avenger to hunt down and decapitate the modern-day Hydra known as the “deep state,” a central villain of the conspiracy theory that gained momentum during Trump’s first term in office.

The FBI has long been accused of becoming mired in politics, long before President-elect Trump nominated Kash Patel to FBI director, sparking concern among Democrats.