You probably know that last year, Kash Patel, QAnon promoter and Donald Trump's pick to run the FBI, published what the Washington Post calls an "enemies list centered on grievance" that includes dozens of Republicans and Democrats that he believes are part of the "Deep State." The list was included in his 2023 book, Government Gangsters: The Deep State, the Truth, and the Battle for our Democracy. Patel is not only targeting politicians, he's also focusing on people in the media, as, Mother Jones reports, he stated last year on Steve Bannon's podcast:
"We will go and find the conspirators—not just in government, but in the media. Yes, we're going to come after the people in the media who lied about American citizens to help Joe Biden rig presidential elections. We're going to come after you, whether it's criminally or civilly."
What you might not be aware of—although it will surely come as no surprise—is that in between threatening "Deep State" politicians and journalists, conspiracy theorist Patel has a long history of grifting.
Menswear writer Derek Guy (aka "Die, Workwear") recently posted about Patel's "American First" clothing line, which asks potential customers: "Tired of seeing your money go overseas?" and then positions itself as American-made when it states, "Support your fellow Americans by purchasing our t-shirt." Derek Guy did a bit of research and found that the shirts in question seem to be printed on blank t-shirts made by the company "Next Level," which are produced in Central America and Haiti.
And Rolling Stone just published a terrific article covering the history of Patel's "pitchman approach to politics" via his "MAGA money grabs." Here are some of the grifts he's been involved with just in the past two years:
- A conspiracy-peddling children's book fairytale trilogy starring "Hillary Queenton" as an election-stealing villain and a wizard named "Kash, the Distinguished Discovered" who uncovers the evil plot and saves the day.
- "Based Apparel," a merch shop selling t-shirts (like the ones mentioned by Derek Guy), hoodies, hats, socks, flags, "rally gear," and more.
- Wine (who buys this?!)
- Warrior Essentials LLC's "Spike Protein Recovery Support," which Patel promoted on his Truth Social page (along with a discount code) as an "mRNA detox" that can "reverse the vaxx" and help you "get healthy." This supplement is made of ingredients like chromium, magnesium, selenium, zinc, vitamin D, and probiotics. As investigative journalist Jacqueline Sweet, who recently took an illuminating deep dive into Warrior Essentials LLC—which is run by David and Nancy Flynn, who previously ran an MLM business that sold probiotic chocolates, and before that a keto diet pill company that was named in a class-action lawsuit—argues, "None of these ingredients have been proven to do what the company claims, obviously and are available all over."
These grifts have nothing to do with successfully running the FBI, of course, but that clearly doesn't matter to Trump, who seems much more interested in surrounding himself with like-minded and like-acting conspiracy grifters. In the end, it always seems to come back to making a buck on crappy products. When thinking about grifters like Trump and Patel, I always return to one of my favorite sayings by Conspirituality Podcast host Derek Beres—which he repeatedly demonstrates can apply to all sorts of wellness, conspiracy, and conspirituality grifters—"Watch what they say and then watch what they sell."
Read the entire Rolling Stone article about Patel's conspiracy-driven grifting here.
