Even if it's true that Patel never touched a drop of alcohol in his life (sure...) it basically does not matter in that what he exhibited was over-emotional, out-of-control, inability to respect decorum or respond appropriately to the setting.
Even if every allegation reported his false, he has no place in that position - in fact, I do psych Fitness for Duty evaluations on law enforcement personnel (just finished one this morning - a San Diego County Deputy) - and I can tell you with no doubt that if anything close to that happened in an interview (and I would clearly need to ask the questions Patel was asked) - my CLINICAL response would be to: 1) order removal of access to all firearms; 2) immediate medical suspension to total disability status; 3) prognosis for return to work in law enforcement (even with mental health treatment) would be technically, less than 5% (for all practical purposes, zero).
Dr. David...thank you for this...your clinical perspective adds exactly the kind of weight this conversation needs.
The point you're making is the one that keeps getting lost in the noise: it isn't about whether any SINGLE allegation is provable...it's about what the conduct ITSELF revealed in real time...in front of everyone...under conditions where someone in that role should be at their most composed.
The fact that your professional response would be removal of firearm access...medical suspension...and a near-zero prognosis for return to law enforcement work...that's not a partisan take...that's a standard-of-care assessment.
And...it underscores how extraordinary it is...that the standard being applied here...is so much LOWER than the one you'd apply to a county deputy!
Really appreciate you sharing this. It's the kind of insight I can't offer from my own chair... and it makes the piece stronger.
Exactly. Just as when I'm doing a "fitness for duty", it's not the diagnosis that is most important, it's the behavior and the judgement. Many people with serious diagnoses may still be fit for duty; and some with seemingly mild diagnoses can be wholly - and even permanently - unfit.
Jack…Kash Patel’s behaviour during yesterday’s hearings was a lesson in how NOT to testify before a Senate hearing…and also proving how unqualified he truly is! It is truly frightening to know this is who is leading America’s premiere law enforcement agency, after years of quiet, steady leadership from the likes of Robert Mueller to now have this unqualified, loose cannon sitting in that chair! Senator Chris Van Hollen’s questioning was on target and proved Patel to be in service not of the American people, but of one person…that all important audience of one! Patel could not answer the questions that were asked, instead attacking Van Hollen and possibly slandering Kilmar Abrago Garcia, by referring to him as a “gang banger and rapist,” neither of which he has been convicted of! Patel fired the FBI agents who had been charged with tracking Iranian terrorists right before the attack on Iran, endangering our country again! Patel has and is firing the most experienced agents across the board for political reasons, now he’s administering polygraph tests to agents to find the “leakers”! Over 2800 agents have left since Patel came on board…moral is in the dumps from everything I have heard and read! Kash Patel has lied to Congress/Senate and that is a felony…Patel needs to go and he needs to go now!
Christie...you've catalogued it well...and the Mueller comparison is the right frame.
The FBI Director's chair is supposed to be occupied by someone whose name you rarely HEAR...doing work you rarely SEE. When the Director becomes the spectacle...the institution is already in deep sh*t.
Van Hollen didn't need to perform; the questions did the work...and the answers (or absence of them)...spoke for themselves.
The Abrego Garcia characterization...UNDER OATH...was genuinely shocking...throwing unconvicted accusations from that seat...is NOT a misstep...it's a TELL.
And...the attrition figures are the story UNDERNEATH the story: 2,800 agents walking OUT the door...takes institutional memory with them that does NOT come back.
KEEP holding fast. The fact that you're tracking the details this closely...is EXACTLY what's needed right now, Christie.
Jack - very helpful analysis making the connection how problematic leaders endanger and corrode institutional stability. I better appreciate why my frustration with Patel’s antics is of greater concern than I realized. Jay
It is the erosion of norms, decorum, a lack of seriousness, respect for the sanctity of our democracy that is disturbing and dangerous. The whole current regime is based on spectacle, vindictiveness, pettiness and grift. It is like watching a bunch of toddlers with flamethrowers. How long to reestablish norms? May be never but, I remain cautiously hopeful that we can claw back some of the worst precedents set by this current regime. #Holdfast
Patel is just mirroring what Noem, Gabbard, Bondi, and drumpf acted like especially the 3 women. But I believe ultimately that all of this criminal clown car are imitating our pedo chief. This will not change until they are all gone and it will not happen overnight.
Culture in any organization flows from the top...and a Cabinet full of people performing for an audience of ONE.... is going to behave like people performing for an audience of ONE.
The mirroring isn't coincidence; it's the job description as they understand it.
And...you're correct that the unwinding of all this will NOT be fast. Institutions break quickly...and...rebuild.....slowly. The work...is keeping the lights on until there's something to rebuild WITH. Appreciate you reading, Teri!
Great article Jack.. They are always "just the facts". You are absolutely correct. It doesn't have to do with his drinking. It has to do with his character. Such disrespect.
I'm a senior citizen and remember J Edgar Hoover. I also remember the tv show "The FBI" with Ephrem Zimbalist Jr. as "Inspector Lew Erskine" so I looked it up on Wikipedia.
" Zimbalist maintained a strong personal relationship with FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, who requested that the show be technically accurate and portray his agents in the best possible light, and he insisted actors playing FBI employees undergo a background check.[19] Zimbalist subsequently spent a week in contact with Hoover in Washington, D.C., and at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia. The men remained mutual admirers for the rest of Hoover's life.[19] Hoover held up Zimbalist as a model for FBI employees' personal appearance.[20]
The Society of Former Special Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation[21] honored the character of Lewis Erskine in 1985 with a set of retired credentials,[22] and on June 8, 2009, FBI Director Robert Mueller presented Zimbalist with a plaque honoring him for his work on the series.[22][23]"
"Actors playing F.B.I. agents, and other participants, were given background checks to guarantee that no "criminals, subversives, or Communists" were associated with the show".
A TV show did a better job of vetting the actors than our own gov't did vetting anyone in our gov't! I know Hoover was a horrible person, but when I was growing up we did have role models on TV to look up to and respect for these institutions even if we didn't know what was going on behind the scenes. Now look where we are.
My favorite word in your article was DISCOVERY! He will never survive it. I happen to love "The Atlantic" and have a sub. Laurene Powell Jobs, widow of Steve is the owner. I would bet my last $5 that she had that article and writer vetted by the best lawyers her billions could buy. Just like with Jeffrey Goldberg and Signalgate.
#Hold Fast (hanging on for dear life to tell you the truth).
I watched the back-and-forth between Van Hollen and Patel. It was so clear that the Senator was trying to get under Patel's skin. Based on Patel's behavior at the Olympics with the hockey team, I was surprised that Patel didn't jump over the table and try to physically attack the Senator. Fwiw, I think that Patel has a bigger problem than just alcohol. It wouldn't surprise me if he's using steroids as well. If you look at Patel's physique, especially his neck, combined with his outbursts and anger issues, you'll understand.
A person like Patel places ALL of us in a really bad spot, and it's becoming increasingly clear that destruction of America from the inside out is their only plan. By making this country look like a reality TV show, which is really what's happening based on the "central casting" comments. And that is one of the most shameful things of all.
Chris...thank you for watching closely and sharing this.
You're nailed it. Van Hollen was clearly probing for a reaction...and...the fact that the probing worked...in front of the cameras...in a confirmation-level setting... is the WHOLE point.
Someone in that role should be unbaitable. That's not a high bar; it's the baseline.
I'll stay agnostic on the steroid question since I can't assess it from the outside, but the broader pattern you're describing...the affect, the volatility, the inability to absorb pressure without combusting...is observable and is the thing that matters.
The "central casting" framing you flagged is EXACTLY the rot: governance treated as performance...with the performance graded on dominance...rather than competence.
That's NOT a serious country...running itself seriously.
This !!! The Administration as a whole is one big reality tv show because that is all Trump knows how to do for his lust of ratings and power. His “best” people are unqualified for the jobs. Outside influences and monies are taking advantage of it all to further their agendas. Patel is just one drop of ineptness in the big picture.
Filing that lawsuit against The Atlantic was the absolute worst thing he could have done. Civil Procedure 101 talks about a little thing called "discovery." If The Atlantic doesn't dispatch him with a Motion for Summary Judgement, the next thing they'll do is submit a discovery request for his credit card bills, monthly statements from that private club he belongs to, as well as take the depositions of bartenders and waitresses. Given his performance before the Senate when he was theoretically sober, I can only imagine what a horrific boor he is when he drinks. Since truth is an absolute defense to libel, he will not be able to collect if the evidence is as The Atlantic stated. Additionally, it is pretty hard to prove "actual malice" (the standard applied to public figures) when you've behaved like a jackass on national television for all the world to see (i.e. the gold medal celebration with the US men's hockey team).
Trust in any part of the government is in very short supply, performances like Patel's, RFK, Jr.'s, and others are eating away at what little is left.
Jack is correct that the most dangerous element of this hearing was not the allegation. It was the response to the allegation.
File the date. May 13, 2026. The Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation — the institution built to investigate threats to the republic — sat before the United States Senate and responded to oversight the way a man responds when he believes oversight no longer applies to him.
Students of history will recognize the pattern. Institutions do not collapse because their leaders are accused of misconduct. They collapse when leaders treat the accusation of misconduct as the real offense. When accountability becomes aggression. When the question becomes the enemy.
Jack is correct that this is bigger than Kash Patel. Patel is a symptom of a framework that has been spreading across the executive branch for two years now — the framework that treats every institution as a tool, every norm as a weakness, and every senator with a subpoena as an adversary to be destroyed rather than a co-equal branch to be answered.
Note which precedent is being set. Note which behavior is being normalized. Note what it means when the man who controls the FBI’s investigative power, its surveillance capabilities, its counterintelligence operations — responds to Senate questioning not with composure, but with a public sobriety-test challenge.
The $250 million lawsuit against The Atlantic deserves particular attention. Public figures in America almost never win defamation cases. The standard — actual malice — is nearly impossible to meet. What lawsuits do accomplish is something else entirely: they force discovery. They generate depositions. They keep stories alive for months, sometimes years, while reporters and lawyers find sources the original investigation missed.
Note who filed that suit. Note what it will require him to defend. Note what the discovery process tends to surface.
History does not always announce what it is recording. But it records everything.
Dignity and Integrity. Missing. It is only seen in those who are taught by parents who model. Spoiled, rich kids advance on daddy's dollar and a self-provided business.
What I have found interesting is what makes a person take a job that they know they are completely unqualified for? Patel, Hegseth, Bondi, etc., etc. They are all relatively young and may have destroyed their professional futures. Then I think of Trump voters, the Senate, SCOTUS. How do they think this is going to end for them? Then, of course, Trump himself. Enough said.
Kash Patel is incompetent, defensive, reactive, has no self control, & is easily provoked. Add his lack of experience. It’s a recipe for disaster. I can’t imagine what the FBI professionals think about him.
100%
Even if it's true that Patel never touched a drop of alcohol in his life (sure...) it basically does not matter in that what he exhibited was over-emotional, out-of-control, inability to respect decorum or respond appropriately to the setting.
Even if every allegation reported his false, he has no place in that position - in fact, I do psych Fitness for Duty evaluations on law enforcement personnel (just finished one this morning - a San Diego County Deputy) - and I can tell you with no doubt that if anything close to that happened in an interview (and I would clearly need to ask the questions Patel was asked) - my CLINICAL response would be to: 1) order removal of access to all firearms; 2) immediate medical suspension to total disability status; 3) prognosis for return to work in law enforcement (even with mental health treatment) would be technically, less than 5% (for all practical purposes, zero).
Dr. David...thank you for this...your clinical perspective adds exactly the kind of weight this conversation needs.
The point you're making is the one that keeps getting lost in the noise: it isn't about whether any SINGLE allegation is provable...it's about what the conduct ITSELF revealed in real time...in front of everyone...under conditions where someone in that role should be at their most composed.
The fact that your professional response would be removal of firearm access...medical suspension...and a near-zero prognosis for return to law enforcement work...that's not a partisan take...that's a standard-of-care assessment.
And...it underscores how extraordinary it is...that the standard being applied here...is so much LOWER than the one you'd apply to a county deputy!
Really appreciate you sharing this. It's the kind of insight I can't offer from my own chair... and it makes the piece stronger.
-Jack
Yes… agree.
Exactly. Just as when I'm doing a "fitness for duty", it's not the diagnosis that is most important, it's the behavior and the judgement. Many people with serious diagnoses may still be fit for duty; and some with seemingly mild diagnoses can be wholly - and even permanently - unfit.
Thank you for this post a Dr. David.
Absolutely that would be expected.
Yet those are the type of employees our president chose. Hmmm….
Jack…Kash Patel’s behaviour during yesterday’s hearings was a lesson in how NOT to testify before a Senate hearing…and also proving how unqualified he truly is! It is truly frightening to know this is who is leading America’s premiere law enforcement agency, after years of quiet, steady leadership from the likes of Robert Mueller to now have this unqualified, loose cannon sitting in that chair! Senator Chris Van Hollen’s questioning was on target and proved Patel to be in service not of the American people, but of one person…that all important audience of one! Patel could not answer the questions that were asked, instead attacking Van Hollen and possibly slandering Kilmar Abrago Garcia, by referring to him as a “gang banger and rapist,” neither of which he has been convicted of! Patel fired the FBI agents who had been charged with tracking Iranian terrorists right before the attack on Iran, endangering our country again! Patel has and is firing the most experienced agents across the board for political reasons, now he’s administering polygraph tests to agents to find the “leakers”! Over 2800 agents have left since Patel came on board…moral is in the dumps from everything I have heard and read! Kash Patel has lied to Congress/Senate and that is a felony…Patel needs to go and he needs to go now!
Trying very hard to #HoldFast
Christie...you've catalogued it well...and the Mueller comparison is the right frame.
The FBI Director's chair is supposed to be occupied by someone whose name you rarely HEAR...doing work you rarely SEE. When the Director becomes the spectacle...the institution is already in deep sh*t.
Van Hollen didn't need to perform; the questions did the work...and the answers (or absence of them)...spoke for themselves.
The Abrego Garcia characterization...UNDER OATH...was genuinely shocking...throwing unconvicted accusations from that seat...is NOT a misstep...it's a TELL.
And...the attrition figures are the story UNDERNEATH the story: 2,800 agents walking OUT the door...takes institutional memory with them that does NOT come back.
KEEP holding fast. The fact that you're tracking the details this closely...is EXACTLY what's needed right now, Christie.
-Jack
The corrosion of institutional stability is spot on Jack.. thank you for this..
Morgan...it is. You're most welcome.
-Jack
Jack - very helpful analysis making the connection how problematic leaders endanger and corrode institutional stability. I better appreciate why my frustration with Patel’s antics is of greater concern than I realized. Jay
Thank you, Jay.
That reaction is EXACTLY the one I was hoping the piece would land.
The antics are the visible part...but...the REAL damage...is happening underneath... in the slow erosion of norms...and capacity that nobody films.
Glad it was useful!
-Jack
It is the erosion of norms, decorum, a lack of seriousness, respect for the sanctity of our democracy that is disturbing and dangerous. The whole current regime is based on spectacle, vindictiveness, pettiness and grift. It is like watching a bunch of toddlers with flamethrowers. How long to reestablish norms? May be never but, I remain cautiously hopeful that we can claw back some of the worst precedents set by this current regime. #Holdfast
In history classes, this, along with the entire administration, will become a master class of how to destroy a country from within.
Sue P...it could be an entire degree program!
-Jack
Patel is just mirroring what Noem, Gabbard, Bondi, and drumpf acted like especially the 3 women. But I believe ultimately that all of this criminal clown car are imitating our pedo chief. This will not change until they are all gone and it will not happen overnight.
Teri...you're pointing at something real.
Culture in any organization flows from the top...and a Cabinet full of people performing for an audience of ONE.... is going to behave like people performing for an audience of ONE.
The mirroring isn't coincidence; it's the job description as they understand it.
And...you're correct that the unwinding of all this will NOT be fast. Institutions break quickly...and...rebuild.....slowly. The work...is keeping the lights on until there's something to rebuild WITH. Appreciate you reading, Teri!
-Jack
Great article Jack.. They are always "just the facts". You are absolutely correct. It doesn't have to do with his drinking. It has to do with his character. Such disrespect.
I'm a senior citizen and remember J Edgar Hoover. I also remember the tv show "The FBI" with Ephrem Zimbalist Jr. as "Inspector Lew Erskine" so I looked it up on Wikipedia.
" Zimbalist maintained a strong personal relationship with FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, who requested that the show be technically accurate and portray his agents in the best possible light, and he insisted actors playing FBI employees undergo a background check.[19] Zimbalist subsequently spent a week in contact with Hoover in Washington, D.C., and at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia. The men remained mutual admirers for the rest of Hoover's life.[19] Hoover held up Zimbalist as a model for FBI employees' personal appearance.[20]
The Society of Former Special Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation[21] honored the character of Lewis Erskine in 1985 with a set of retired credentials,[22] and on June 8, 2009, FBI Director Robert Mueller presented Zimbalist with a plaque honoring him for his work on the series.[22][23]"
"Actors playing F.B.I. agents, and other participants, were given background checks to guarantee that no "criminals, subversives, or Communists" were associated with the show".
A TV show did a better job of vetting the actors than our own gov't did vetting anyone in our gov't! I know Hoover was a horrible person, but when I was growing up we did have role models on TV to look up to and respect for these institutions even if we didn't know what was going on behind the scenes. Now look where we are.
My favorite word in your article was DISCOVERY! He will never survive it. I happen to love "The Atlantic" and have a sub. Laurene Powell Jobs, widow of Steve is the owner. I would bet my last $5 that she had that article and writer vetted by the best lawyers her billions could buy. Just like with Jeffrey Goldberg and Signalgate.
#Hold Fast (hanging on for dear life to tell you the truth).
Robin D...what a wonderful comment...the Zimbalist detail is perfect.
A television production held a higher vetting bar than the United States government currently does. That sentence...ALONE...is the WHOLE indictment.
And...yes, you can take it to the bank that The Atlantic lawyered EVERY comma of that piece before it ran.
Discovery is going to be a very long week for a LOT of people. Keep hanging on...you're not hanging on alone. That, I assure you, Robin!
-Jack
Jack, I love you ❤
I watched the back-and-forth between Van Hollen and Patel. It was so clear that the Senator was trying to get under Patel's skin. Based on Patel's behavior at the Olympics with the hockey team, I was surprised that Patel didn't jump over the table and try to physically attack the Senator. Fwiw, I think that Patel has a bigger problem than just alcohol. It wouldn't surprise me if he's using steroids as well. If you look at Patel's physique, especially his neck, combined with his outbursts and anger issues, you'll understand.
A person like Patel places ALL of us in a really bad spot, and it's becoming increasingly clear that destruction of America from the inside out is their only plan. By making this country look like a reality TV show, which is really what's happening based on the "central casting" comments. And that is one of the most shameful things of all.
Another great piece, Jack. #HoldFast
Chris...thank you for watching closely and sharing this.
You're nailed it. Van Hollen was clearly probing for a reaction...and...the fact that the probing worked...in front of the cameras...in a confirmation-level setting... is the WHOLE point.
Someone in that role should be unbaitable. That's not a high bar; it's the baseline.
I'll stay agnostic on the steroid question since I can't assess it from the outside, but the broader pattern you're describing...the affect, the volatility, the inability to absorb pressure without combusting...is observable and is the thing that matters.
The "central casting" framing you flagged is EXACTLY the rot: governance treated as performance...with the performance graded on dominance...rather than competence.
That's NOT a serious country...running itself seriously.
Grateful to have you reading, Chris.
#HoldFast
-Jack
This !!! The Administration as a whole is one big reality tv show because that is all Trump knows how to do for his lust of ratings and power. His “best” people are unqualified for the jobs. Outside influences and monies are taking advantage of it all to further their agendas. Patel is just one drop of ineptness in the big picture.
This is so very bad.
HE MUST BE KICKED TO THE CURB!
Filing that lawsuit against The Atlantic was the absolute worst thing he could have done. Civil Procedure 101 talks about a little thing called "discovery." If The Atlantic doesn't dispatch him with a Motion for Summary Judgement, the next thing they'll do is submit a discovery request for his credit card bills, monthly statements from that private club he belongs to, as well as take the depositions of bartenders and waitresses. Given his performance before the Senate when he was theoretically sober, I can only imagine what a horrific boor he is when he drinks. Since truth is an absolute defense to libel, he will not be able to collect if the evidence is as The Atlantic stated. Additionally, it is pretty hard to prove "actual malice" (the standard applied to public figures) when you've behaved like a jackass on national television for all the world to see (i.e. the gold medal celebration with the US men's hockey team).
Trust in any part of the government is in very short supply, performances like Patel's, RFK, Jr.'s, and others are eating away at what little is left.
Jack is correct that the most dangerous element of this hearing was not the allegation. It was the response to the allegation.
File the date. May 13, 2026. The Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation — the institution built to investigate threats to the republic — sat before the United States Senate and responded to oversight the way a man responds when he believes oversight no longer applies to him.
Students of history will recognize the pattern. Institutions do not collapse because their leaders are accused of misconduct. They collapse when leaders treat the accusation of misconduct as the real offense. When accountability becomes aggression. When the question becomes the enemy.
Jack is correct that this is bigger than Kash Patel. Patel is a symptom of a framework that has been spreading across the executive branch for two years now — the framework that treats every institution as a tool, every norm as a weakness, and every senator with a subpoena as an adversary to be destroyed rather than a co-equal branch to be answered.
Note which precedent is being set. Note which behavior is being normalized. Note what it means when the man who controls the FBI’s investigative power, its surveillance capabilities, its counterintelligence operations — responds to Senate questioning not with composure, but with a public sobriety-test challenge.
The $250 million lawsuit against The Atlantic deserves particular attention. Public figures in America almost never win defamation cases. The standard — actual malice — is nearly impossible to meet. What lawsuits do accomplish is something else entirely: they force discovery. They generate depositions. They keep stories alive for months, sometimes years, while reporters and lawyers find sources the original investigation missed.
Note who filed that suit. Note what it will require him to defend. Note what the discovery process tends to surface.
History does not always announce what it is recording. But it records everything.
#HOLDFAST
Dignity and Integrity. Missing. It is only seen in those who are taught by parents who model. Spoiled, rich kids advance on daddy's dollar and a self-provided business.
Tax the wealthy.
And eat the rich..
What I have found interesting is what makes a person take a job that they know they are completely unqualified for? Patel, Hegseth, Bondi, etc., etc. They are all relatively young and may have destroyed their professional futures. Then I think of Trump voters, the Senate, SCOTUS. How do they think this is going to end for them? Then, of course, Trump himself. Enough said.
Eloquent and intelligent analysis, Jack.
Kash Patel is incompetent, defensive, reactive, has no self control, & is easily provoked. Add his lack of experience. It’s a recipe for disaster. I can’t imagine what the FBI professionals think about him.