Internet erupts over explosive Kash Patel report: 'They really got Bluto in charge'

FBI Director Kash Patel was the subject of an explosive article in The Atlantic on Friday, accused of being a problem drinker, frequently absent from his duties, whose paranoid outbursts border on being a threat to national security. Patel has broadly denied these allegations, and an FBI communications official threatened to sue over the story.

But the effect elsewhere on the internet was swift, as commenters reacted to the colorful details.

"This story is well worth your time. They really got Bluto in charge of the FBI," wrote fellow Atlantic reporter Jemele Hill.

"FBI Director Kash Patel should already have been fired for his lies about the Epstein investigation; for flying on taxpayer’s dime to party at places like the Olympics; and for gross mismanagement," wrote Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA). "If the allegations in this article are true, Patel should be fired immediately."

"Let’s be clear: half of Trump’s cabinet is a national security vulnerability. Trump himself included," wrote Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-AZ).

"From extramarital affairs to wasting millions on luxury jets to drunken escapades to corrupt business dealings this is an administration of corrupt, unqualified & incompetent clowns," wrote former Democratic National Committee chair Jaime Harrison.

Podcaster Kyle Seraphin focused in on the detail that FBI officials reportedly tried to requisition SWAT "breaching equipment" to access offices Patel had drunkenly locked himself inside, saying, "A subpoena to the TL of the security detail would make that hearing worth watching."

"Drunk Podcasters shouldn’t be leading the FBI," wrote Leaders We Deserve director David Hogg.

"Kash Patel got so drunk that his security team requested breaching equipment because he was unresponsive behind locked doors," wrote policy consultant Adam Cochran. "The man is not only incompetent and under qualified but a massive national security risk. At a time when top scientists with clearances are disappearing we’ve got this clown binge drinking and partying!"

"Sounds like an ideal appointment if the goal is to reduce America to a second rate power so autocracies can thrive," wrote authoritarianism expert Ruth Ben-Ghiat.