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Ka$h Patel’s Bourbon Swag Is Part of a Larger Branding Disaster

The FBI director is targeting reporters and his own agents to stop embarrassing leaks.

Kash Patel at a press conference on April 28, 2026, at the Department of Justice in Washington, DC.

Under Donald Trump, people go into public service not to do good or administer the state competently but rather to boost their personal brands and make a quick buck. In his pre-presidential days, Trump famously, and lucratively, leased out his name to dubious products, whether it be Trump steaks, Trump University, Trump dolls, or Trump pom-poms. Elevation to the highest elected office in the land has not stopped this cornucopia of kitsch. At the official Trump store you can buy all sorts of merchandise, including hats, golf accessories, and bathrobes.

Trump’s closest political allies have followed his lead. Many of his cabinet team, notably Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, emerged from the world of cable news punditry. They are well-practiced in the art of self-promotion and side hustles such as writing books.

But few in Trump’s circle have so avidly tried to profit from their proximity to power as the appropriately named FBI director Kash Patel. In the many products that bear his name, Patel likes to style himself as Ka$h, with the dollar sign “s” echoing Walt Disney’s money-loving mallard, Uncle $crooge. As Sarah Fitzpatrick, writing in The Atlantic, reports, “Even before he was confirmed as FBI director, Patel sent out Ka$h-branded merch boxes that included hats, socks, and other items depicting the comic-book character the Punisher.” A Department of Justice employee described Patel as “very merch forward.”

In his current position, it would be unseemly for Patel to make money directly from merch. That’s why Ka$h-branded merchandise is now sold by the nonprofit Kash Foundation. But that’s where Patel’s commitment to probity, such as it is, ends. He has created branded mememtos, including a challenge coin and personalized bourbon, that he gives away to people he meets in his line of duty.

As The Atlantic details:

it is not unusual for him to travel with a supply of personalized branded bourbon. The bottles bear the imprint of the Kentucky distillery Woodford Reserve, and are engraved with the words “Kash Patel FBI Director,” as well as a rendering of an FBI shield. Surrounding the shield is a band of text featuring Patel’s director title and his favored spelling of his first name: Ka$h. An eagle holds the shield in its talons, along with the number 9, presumably a reference to Patel’s place in the history of FBI directors.........

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