Before being entrusted to lead the FBI, 46-year-old Kashyap Pramod Patel was best known for a self-published children’s book series, “The Plot Against the King,” where a Trump-like figure is falsely accused & ultimately saved by a wizard named “Kash.”
Not satire. Not subtle. Sycophantic, & telling. Also, a window into Patel’s childlike understanding of power.
The books make the hierarchy clear: loyalty is paramount, independence is optional. That might work in a story. It’s the opposite of how the FBI is supposed to function.
The FBI is an institution built on investigative distance, not personal allegiance. Directors don’t exist to protect figures. They exist to scrutinize them when necessary. James Comey’s tenure became a public tug-of-war between Bureau & White House. Christopher Wray’s departure came after open pressure from a president who made clear he wanted someone more aligned. That pattern isn’t subtle. Trump detests anyone with investigative authority willing to publicly rap him on the discolored knuckles he tries so hard to cover with foundation.
Patel doesn’t break the pattern because he is unburdened by principle; a willingness to treat institutions as instruments rather than guardrails is what happens when people running critical institutions see themselves as accountable to individuals rather than rules. Supporters may call that efficiency. Others see erosion.
The Atlantic allegations Patel is now suing over don’t misalign with his alcohol-soaked behavior at the Olympics, the high turnover rate in field officers, usage of government resources to go after political/personal enemies, FBI jet visits to see his fame-hungry country music singer girlfriend (20 years his junior), or hanging out at nightclubs in Vegas. All of this is to be expected of him at this point in an administration that has seen a revolving door of piss-poorly behaved agency heads ushered from a Trump rally parking lot to the Oval Office and back to private life before the midterms even occur.
If J. Edgar Hoover could see what was happening with the organization he helped found & direct, he’d turn over in his closet.
Sources:
Kash Patel’s Maga Kids’ Book Is Embarrassing. I Should Know – I’m A Children’s Author, The Guardian, 1/7/25
The Plot Against the King by Kash Patel (Author), Laura Vincent (Illustrator)
The Plot Against the King 2 by Kash Patel (Author), James Scrawl (Illustrator)
The Plot Against the King 3 by Kash Patel (Author), James Scrawl (Illustrator)
The FBI Director Is MIA, Atlantic, 4/17/26
Christopher Wray Says He’ll Step Down As F.B.I. Director, New York Times, 12/13/24