Former FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino recently returned to podcasting and has been taking the words of his critics way too personally. The host had a meltdown on social media after a lightweight Q&A session with his most recent guest, FBI Director Kash Patel.
Patel, Bongino’s former FBI boss, appeared as a guest on the latest episode of The Dan Bongino Show. Before the interview began, the FBI Director praised him, saying, “Dan, we miss you. Congratulations on the relaunch of your epic show. America needs it.”
During their 23-minute interview, Bongino posed easy-to-answer questions to his guest and even reminisced about their days with the FBI.
The former Deputy Director of the FBI stated that back in the day, they did a “pretty good job, and it was easy when they focused on the bad guys.”
“It’s not hard to do the job you signed up for when you’re allowed to do the job you signed up for,” Patel said in response.
Looking at the ingratiating nature of the interview, CNN host Jake Tapper took to X to comment on the conversation between Bongino and Patel. “The director of the FBI interviewed by his own former deputy director of the FBI,” he wrote.
The director of the FBI interviewed by his own former deputy director of the FBI. https://t.co/9Ef6dUKr6N
— Jake Tapper 🦅 (@jaketapper) February 18, 2026
However, Bongino did not take the comment too kindly and replied with a post of his own without dropping names. In the post, he shared how elated he feels that his interview with Kash Patel has angered the “right media people.”
Bongino also expressed his satisfaction in watching these people “rage out and claw at your own faces, along with your daily burning sessions of me in effigy.”
The podcaster further promised that he will destroy their “b——- narratives.” Dan Bongino also acknowledged that schadenfreude is wrong, but said he hopes that going forward, his interviews cause people anguish.
“I know schadenfreude is probably wrong, but I gently hope that all of my shows moving forward cause you the same anguish and intestinal distress,” he wrote.
The post went viral on social media, inviting netizens to share their opinion on what they thought of the host’s unhinged tweet. An X user wrote, “Who even watches your show anymore? Israel props your numbers.”
Another wrote, “I had high hopes for you both. But not one person from the deep state has been held accountable. What was the point?”
Integrity? Dan Bongino? Kash Patel?
NOPE. NA-AH. NADA.
Not the slightest shred.
ZERO POINT ZERO pic.twitter.com/BRgiM03EQF
— JFKvibe (@JFKvibes) February 19, 2026
A third user added, “Viewership declining rapidly, it seems no matter who you have on. Hard to see why you’re elated.” A user lambasted Bongino’s career, writing, “You’re a quitter.. And you spent a whole interview carrying water for the administration and acting like you and Kash were the unstoppable crime fighting duo, when all you did was quit.”
Lastly, another user added, “We can see the shame in your eyes, Dan. Be courageous, lay down your life, and tell us what you know.”
What made the public outrage all the more potent was that both he and Patel seemed to avoid any discussion of the Epstein files. The duo kept their conversation related to their work, even ignoring the audience’s demands to disclose more about the controversial files.
