President Trump wasn’t the only administration figure who came in for extraneous mockery on PBS’s Washington Week with The Atlantic on May 8. Trump’s FBI director Kash Patel turn in the (bourbon] barrel came complete with a prop, making for a jarring image for the generally more conventional-looking broadcast. Atlantic editor-in-chief and show moderator Jeffrey Goldberg kept the hits coming, after his magazine’s April 17 hit piece on Patel painting the FBI director as often drunk on the job, an article that fueled hostile congressional budget hearings from Democrats.
Goldberg enjoyed a little prop gag at the expense of Patel's reputation.
Washington Week moderator (and Atlantic editor) Jeffrey Goldberg: "This is something that we acquired. This is the first use of a prop on Washington Week in approximately 60 years, by the way. No, we are not discussing where this came from, but it is real." pic.twitter.com/0OBbvAnoSp
— Clay Waters (@claywaters44) May 13, 2026
Moderator Jeffrey Goldberg: ….As you all know, The Atlantic has been reporting on Kash Patel, the head of the FBI, for the past several weeks, raising concerns -- people around Patel, people in the FBI are raising concerns about erratic behavior, about excessive drinking, charges he's denied, obviously. He's also filed suit against us. And this week our reporter, Sarah Fitzpatrick, reported that Patel has been commissioning and distributing Kash Patel-branded bourbon bottles. And here's one of them actually. This is something that we acquired. This is the first use of a prop on Washington Week in approximately 60 years, by the way. No, we are not discussing where this came from, but it is real. It is absolutely real. And, Jon, let's talk about how this sort of behavior and these kind of stories in another kind of administration would be dealt with.
Jonathan Lemire, The Atlantic: Oh, I mean, he would've been gone long ago, I mean, for the -- and not just well beyond we got to this particular moment, and it is a magnificent prop there in front of you, Jeff.
Goldberg: Thank you very much.
This is why Goldberg has his own employees on the program, to gush over his "magnificent prop."
Lemire claimed Trump would have dumped Patel if it was his first term, but the first year of the second term "was very much the no-scalps policy. Don't let the media get a win."
This tells you exactly who the media elites are -- people who are out to ruin Trump and anyone he's appointed. But Biden appointees were never going to pressured to quit or be fired. They could have a disastrous exit from Afghanistan, or a dangerous policy of mass immigration, but it was all fine.
This show would defend Biden's Justice Department as they tried to put Trump in jail. They claimed "the Justice Department has been extremely careful to show how independent they are." In a later show, they argued "there's not evidence of systemic weaponization of the Department of Justice." This show could be called Weaponized Week.
