You know what’s a great thing to do when you’re visiting a foreign country in a diplomatic role as part of a joint effort to fight crime? Bring some illegal weapons.
At least that’s what FBI Director Kash Patel apparently believes.
When visiting New Zealand to open the FBI’s first office earlier this year, Patel brought “inoperable plastic 3D-printed replica” pistols and gave them to at least three high-level police, security, and intelligence officials.
That would be a super weird thing to take to any country, to be honest. But bringing them to New Zealand is a special kind of stupid.
While inoperable, the pistols could be modified to be operable, which is illegal in New Zealand. In fact, even if someone has a regular gun license, they need an additional permit for a pistol in the country. Violating that law can result in a prison sentence of up to three years or a fine of up to 4,000 New Zealand dollars.
To be fair, given that Patel lives in the United States, it’s entirely foreign to him that a country would act swiftly and decisively to restrict access to guns after a terrible mass shooting.
Patel’s reaction to gun violence, of course, is to hit social media in real time, facts be damned.
You’ll recall that, after the Charlie Kirk shooting, Patel embarrassed himself by posting that there was a “subject” in custody and then, whoopsie-daisy, having to walk that back a couple of hours later. Yet when appearing before the Senate, he insisted that this was not a mistake. Sure, buddy.
Similarly, after a gunman shot multiple detainees at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility, Patel decided to post photos from an active crime scene in an attempt to prove that the suspect held anti-ICE views.
To be scrupulously fair to Patel, he doesn’t just suck at diplomatic relations or dealing with mass shootings. He sucks much more comprehensively.
This is the guy who, in his first week on the job, spent his time creating an alliance between the FBI and the UFC, the mixed martial arts organization run by Trump supporter Dana White.
Another early priority of Patel’s was to name the equally unqualified Dan Bongino deputy director—or, rather, co-deputy director, since former Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey is also there to serve as Bongino’s babysitter.
Patel has also threatened his workforce with polygraphs and forced out a longtime agent simply for being friends with Peter Strzok, who has long been a fixation of Trump’s.
He’s purging anyone who isn’t fully on board with every mangled thought that has ever lodged in Trump’s head, leading to truly disgraceful things like firing 15 agents for participating in protests following the murder of George Floyd.
And when questioned about pretty much anything, all Patel can do is bluster. For example, when he recently appeared before the Senate, Patel spent most of his time melting down, yelling at Democratic Sens. Adam Schiff and Corey Booker.
Patel has tried to cover up his numerous shortcomings with a sort of violent bluster, but it’s clear that he’s spinning out. There are rumblings that Patel might be replaced over his complete bungling of the Kirk shooting investigation.
At least it will give us all a chance to find out what constitutes as too embarrassing—even for this administration.
Lisa Needham October 01, 2025 at 12:00AM From Daily Kos
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