A Tyrant in a Raid Jacket: Kash Patel’s FBI Meltdown Revealed
From tantrums over patches to PR-driven directives, a new report uncovers how Patel turned the FBI into a sideshow.
By David Shuster
Amidst the farce and flimflam of the Trump administration, the American public has been forced to endure some deranged government agency stewardships. FBI Director Kash Patel, in epic fashion, continues to set himself apart.
According to a recent comprehensive report, Patel runs with the FBI with all the solemnity of a psychotic street artist banging on tin cans. The 115-page report written for Republican led Congressional committees comes from a coalition of current and former FBI agents:
It is not simply a “management review” as the Trump White House wishes to portray; it is a blistering indictment. And the bill of particulars is lengthy.
On September 10, 2025, as the nation was reeling from the violent assassination of Charlie Kirk, Kash Patel arrived in Utah on a private FBI jet not to uphold justice – but to fuss over a jacket.
According to the report, Patel “refused” to leave the plane until somebody fetched a medium-sized FBI raid jacket that fit him. Having no jacket of his own, Patel accepted one belonging to a female agent — and still balked: the sleeves lacked just the right patches, so members of a SWAT team ripped patches from their own uniforms to satisfy Patel’s sartorial demands.
Only then did Patel step out of the airplane.
One could almost admire the chutzpah if it were not so absurd. Here, in the very midst of a murder investigation, law enforcement agents sworn to pursue justice were dragged off their duties to babysit a Kash Patel tantrum.
The spectacle reveals not dignity or decorum, but childish vanity and shallow pretense — the kind of pettiness unworthy of any serious crime-fighting agency.
The report goes further, painting the bureau under Patel as a “rudderless ship,” stricken with fear and disorder. Agents move through their days reluctant to act, haunted by the possibility of getting fired or reassigned. Some agents reportedly judge policy decisions not on law or justice, but on which side spares them from getting yelled at by upper bureau management.
Picture that. A law enforcement agency meant to track terrorists, investigate violent crime, and safeguard civil liberties has been reduced to a collection of guppies flinching beneath a captain whose greatest concern is whether he looks tough enough for a photograph. If the FBI is in any shape to serve the public, it is in spite of FBI leadership — not because of it.
And what of professionalism? The agents who spoke out compare Patel and his deputy, Dan Bongino, to a “circus.” The agents say Patel and Bongino are preoccupied with their media profiles, not with the FBI’s mission.
The report rebukes what amounts to PR-first governance: directives delivered via social-media posts rather than internal memos, rash public commentary during ongoing investigations, and an obsession with “personal resumes” more than investigative seriousness.
It is not merely that Patel lacks the gravitas — he lacks the self-restraint. He treats the FBI not as a temple of public service, but as a platform for self-promotion. And he uses FBI resources, including that aforementioned jet, to help him rendezvous with his country singer girlfriend.
Patel is a demagogue in uniform seeking mile-high romance, not a dependable or serious lawman of substance.
When authorities who control surveillance, power, and the means to punish are themselves unhinged by petty vanity, what becomes of liberty? What becomes of justice?
I’m going to spare you my typical hope and calls for accountability. Those should be reserved for government leaders who deserve even a modicum of respect. In Patel’s case, I offer only this: may every citizen read the report, and may laughter — that ancient and civilized weapon — do the rest.
Because if there is one thing more destructive than a tyrant, it is a tyrant who thinks the world ought to take him seriously.
Strip away the jacket, the patches, the stitched-on authority, and Kash Patel is a narcissistic clown.
You don't understand. Trump appoints people who would never get these jobs because they are not qualified and are dumber than Trump so will constantly kiss is butt in gratitude.
Like I've said before, frightening and disgraceful to have this loser in charge of our most respected and important law enforcement agency. The agents working for him can't even respect him he's such a joke. Typical of this entire embarrassment of an administration.