Countless Americans who voted for Donald Trump last November did so with the expectation that he would begin the work of purging woke ideology from all corners of the federal government, and if recent news from the FBI is any indication, progress on that front is already underway.

As the Associated Press reports, the FBI, under the direction of Kash Patel, has reassigned multiple agents who were memorably seen kneeling during a D.C. protest held in the aftermath of the 2020 police-involved death of George Floyd.

Taking a knee

The incident that led to the reassignments -- which many agency insiders likened to demotions -- occurred back in June of 2020, when protests of Floyd's death were taking place across the nation.

This particular march occurred in Washington, D.C., and that is where a group of agents with FBI-identifying gear on full display, were seen -- and photographed -- taking a knee, arguably in solidarity with those protesting for what they said was social justice.

According to the New York Post, the agents seen kneeling were subsequently honored with $100 gift cards, courtesy of the FBI Agents Association.

In 2023, now-former Congressman Matt Gaetz said he was told that certain of the agents involved received “plum personnel opportunities and promotions and advancements” from FBI hierarchy,” and he condemned the notion of celebrating federal employees “kneeling in surrender to people who were at times violent.”

Gaetz added at the time, “To climb the ladder in federal employment, you shouldn't have to shimmy up the woke totem pole.”

Conflicting viewpoints emerge

Not everyone agrees with the criticism leveled by Gaetz, with some inside the FBI suggesting that the decision to kneel was made as a way to help de-escalate the heated demonstration.

A former agent opined, “Those agents were not ever trained to be in that situation. Riot control is not our mission. We are trained to de-escalate.”

Another former official with the agency said, according to CNN, that the reassignment is sparking debate about whether the FBI is sidestepping its own disciplinary processes, adding, “This notion that the bureau would go after these people, it's just disgusting.”

The individual further noted, “What the bureau asked those agents to do is to go out on foot patrol, something they were never trained to do. They were being asked to be police officers. In no way were they making a political statement.”

Removing the rot

The specifics of the kneeling controversy aside, FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino recently posted on X to reassure Americans that he and Patel are “working on a number of significant initiatives to ensure that the mistakes of the past are never repeated,” though he did not offer further details of what those were.

Notably, investigations, reassignments, and dismissals of individuals involved in the Jan. 6 investigations and the infamous raid on Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate have reportedly commenced, evincing a determination on the part of the administration to remove potentially bad actors from the FBI once and for all.

If it is the case that the 2020 actions of the recently reassigned agents were emblematic of an influx of woke indoctrination at the FBI and were not simply the exercise of de-escalation tactics, Patel's effort to restore focus to the agency's core function is likely one that will be welcomed by millions.