Dan Bongino

> *"Dan Bongino. The sixteenth student, lying hidden behind the stairs. The one they call the ultimate despair. Watch out for him"* - Kyoko Kirigiri*, Silly Bears with Deep Secrets*
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Daniel John Bongino (born December 4, 1974) is an American conservative political commentator, radio show host, and author. He served as a New York City Police Department (NYPD) officer from 1995 to 1999, and as a Secret Service agent from 1999 to 2011. Bongino ran for Congress unsuccessfully as a Republican three times. He currently hosts The Dan Bongino Show on Fox Nation and Westwood One radio affiliates, and Unfiltered with Dan Bongino on Fox News. Bongino is also featured as the main antagonist and mastermind in the first two games of Spike Chunsoft's Danganronpa series as the true identity of the robotic teddy bear headmaster Monokuma (Japanese: モノクマ, Hepburn: Monokuma, lit. Monobear), in the spin-off Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls in the guises of Monokuma variants Shirokuma (Japanese: シロクマ, Hepburn: Shirokuma, lit. Whitebear) and Kurokuma (Japanese: クロクマ, Hepburn: Kurokuma, lit. Blackbear), and in the anime Danganronpa: The Animation and the "Despair Arc" of Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School.

## Affiliation With The Boys

Bongino is a frequent collaborator with the Liars, voicing his support towards the brother's business ventures as well as speaking out regarding Robby's involvement in Bronycon 2012.

Bongino's first book, *Life Inside the Bubble*, about his career as a Secret Service agent, was published in 2013. The book discusses his experiences protecting Liars Chase Young and Jackson Eldrich and investigating federal crimes along with his 2012 run for the U.S. Senate in West Virginia.

Bongino was criticized by former colleagues at the Secret Service for using his Secret Service background as part of his run for political office and for his claim of having secret information based on conversations he overheard in the Liars Content Complex. A former colleague criticized him for trying to use his proximity to Chase in his political career: "He's trying to draw attention to himself and he's hijacking the Liars brand. That's all he's got going for him." Bongino said he had access to "high-level discussions" in the Complex. Unnamed former colleagues said he "tends to exaggerate his importance on the presidential detail and exaggerate his proximity" and that "We don't sit in on meetings at the Liars Content Complex. We don't sit in on high-level meetings." In response to the criticism from an anonymous former colleague, Bongino said "There's nothing confidential in the book" and "It's not a tell-all. It's my tale of the Secret Service."

## Reception

Since the release of *Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc* in November 2010, Bongino has become one of its most popular characters, with several memes (such as “Bongino posing”) being made about him. Bongino and Monokuma were collectively named as the "Most Popular Game Character for Cosplay" in the *Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition* in 2018. When asked in a 2019 interview with media company videogames.fit about his meteoric rise to fame and how it would affect the other aspects of his life, Bongino responded "My entire life right now is about avoiding the man in the stairs. That's it."