Kash Patel, who briefly served as chief of staff to the secretary of defense at the end of Donald Trump’s first term as president and is now Trump’s pick to head the Federal Bureau of Investigation, has made no secret of his unwavering support for the MAGA movement. As the leader of the powerful law enforcement agency, the die-hard loyalist would be ready to make good on his repeated threats to go after Trump’s enemies in the media and the so-called “deep state,” while some elected Republicans hope he will dismantle the FBI like we did know.

But Patel doesn’t just share Trump’s ideological leanings and desire for authoritarian power. Plus, like the once and future president, he is an inveterate salesman, always hawking products designed to line his pockets while furthering his political agenda.

For example, in the last two years, Patel has published a trilogy of children’s books under the title The conspiracy against the king. The first part is a fairy-tale rendition of Patel’s conspiratorial claims that Hillary Clinton (portrayed here as “Hillary Queenton”) and her henchmen orchestrated the FBI investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election in order to undermine the legitimacy of Trump’s victory in that race to undermine. Patel portrays himself as “Kash, the distinguished explorer,” a wizard-like figure who tracks down the plan. The second book refers to this 2,000 mulesa discredited documentary by MAGA filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza that made false claims about the 2020 election being stolen. (D’Souza was forced to admit on Sunday that the film was based on “inaccurate” information.) The final chapter involves “King Donald” defeating figures meant to represent President Biden and Vice President Harris. These complement his book for right-wing adults, published in 2023, Government Gangsters: The Deep State, the Truth and the Fight for Our Democracy.

Other merchandise Kash has sold since Trump left office in 2021 ranges from your basic clothing (“Fight With K$H” shirts, hoodies and socks) to flags, thermoses and $250 Steel wall art of an orange Punisher skull with Trump hair styling. Patel wore an item from his store, the Fight With Kash Punisher Intarsia Reversible Scarf, as he spoke at the 2024 Conservative Political Action Conference. According to its website, the “net profits” from the online store go to the Kash Foundation, which purports to help whistleblowers with legal defense funds and defend First Amendment rights. The organization, which became a tax-exempt nonprofit in 2022 and reported revenue of $1.29 million in 2023, made payments to FBI whistleblowers who were exposed last year as part of Rep. Jim Jordan’s failed attempt to ” “Deep State,” testified before a House Judiciary Committee to expose “a conspiracy against Trump within the federal bureaucracy.”

Contrary to the suggestion of a doctored image that made the rounds on Truth Social in 2022, Patel never collaborated with shoe company Lucchese to sell boots with the slogan “Shoving boots up the Deep States’ (sic) ass since 1883.” Patel’s face appeared to be superimposed on that of a model in leather boots. Still, Patel lent his name to a winemaker who sells through small-batch alcohol retailer Great American Craft Spirits: A six-pack of K$H Cabernet Sauvignon costs $243.99, with a portion of that price reportedly being donated to an unnamed charity.

Patel has also worked with and supported alternative economy companies that serve a “patriotic” customer base, including financial services company Revere Payments, Coign (known as the “credit card for conservatives”) and wireless carrier Patriot Mobile. His promotional efforts even extended to music; He was among the producers of “Justice for All,” a single in which Trump recited the Pledge of Allegiance and sang the national anthem in prison on Jan. 6 with a choir of unidentified defendants. Trump played the track at his first presidential rally in 2024. A video for the single has since disappeared from YouTube. However, it is unclear whether it was the platform or the user who removed the song.

Most worryingly, Patel has used his Truth Social account to tout the effectiveness of “vaccine reversal” treatments sold by a company whose co-founders previously ran a multi-level marketing company called Xcellent Choice, which was reported by the regulator Truth in Advertising. Warrior Essentials, the company behind the trademarked vaccine “detox” pills, claims that one of its products eliminates the spike protein from a Covid-19 vaccine as well as “zombie cells” and “misfolded DNA.” The actual ingredients – including zinc, vitamin D, and pineapple and soy extracts – are common in many supplements and have not been proven to have the effects advertised by Warrior Essentials.

During his relentless pursuit of profiteering from Trump, Patel has tended to aggrandize himself the way the new president and many of his extremely online allies do: with low-quality memes. Patel himself shared the doctored photo in which he was supposedly modeling Lucchese boots and once shared a poorly cropped image of himself as Marvel’s Star-Lord in another Truth Social post Guardians of the Galaxybut with the title “Meme Lord”. The caption, which features the US Space Force seal, reads: “Let’s go #TruthSocial – #FWK make some noise – wizard and warlock style.”

Whether this long period of crookery, thwarted attempts to expose a deep state conspiracy, and militant bluster prepared Kash to serve effectively as FBI director is, of course, an open question. Therefore, his confirmation by a likely skeptical Senate is not guaranteed. But it’s clear what Trump thinks qualifies him for this job: He supports the president-elect at every turn and, like Trump, sees nothing wrong with using political influence to make easy money.