Outside the Beltway

Source: Screenshot of Tweet

In Front of Our Noses: Patel’s Challenge Coin

A Punisheresque skull.

Steven L. Taylor
10

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Source: Screenshot of Tweet

This story is a couple of weeks old, but I am finally getting around to it.

This is some combination of juvenile and disturbing.

The symbolism derives from the Marvel Comics vigilante, The Punisher, known for his un-hero-like deployment of fatal violence. It is the kind of thing a 13-year-old would think is cool if used by law enforcement (or LEOs with the mentality of a 13-year-old). There is also the longstanding association of skulls with Nazi symbology (although not just).

Tom Nichols wrote about all of this at the time, Kash Patel’s Challenge Coin Is Perfect for Him.

The coins are, to put it gently, ridiculous. On one side, they have what appears to be the symbol of the Punisher, a Marvel character. The Punisher is a vigilante who does … well, vigilante stuff, killing evildoers at will as revenge for the death of his family. The symbol is popular with a lot of people, including criminals, law-enforcement officers, soldiers, and some extremist groups such as the anti-government Three Percenters. None of this is good, especially because the character’s creator long ago admitted that the symbol was partly inspired by the Nazi SS’s Totenkopf,or “Death’s Head,” uniform insignia. (The author of the series also notes that the Punisher hates cops, something the police officers wearing the mark don’t seem to get.)

If you’re not a comic-book fan, the front of the coin looks more like a depiction of a space alien, or maybe a skull—or maybe a space alien’s skull—with spiders in the eye sockets and K$H on the forehead. (“Kash.” Get it? So edgy.) The face has a Greek or Roman helmet under the nose, and a pistol on each side, and together, it looks like a key or maybe a bottle opener. The other side carries Patel’s signature, the FBI seal, and a depiction of a tommy gun, perhaps as a romantic reminder of the days of J. Edgar Hoover hunting down John Dillinger or something.

This is not a challenge coin: It is something kids use to pop the caps off beer bottles at a gaming meetup or a cosplay convention. 

Indeed.

This administration continues to signal that it is populated by dangerously unserious people.

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10 responses to “In Front of Our Noses: Patel’s Challenge Coin”

  1. Charley in Cleveland Avatar
    Charley in Cleveland

    Likely the least important aspect of this, but still worth consideration – who is paying for this crap? Just as I wonder who is paying for all of the gold in the Mar-a-Oval office, the new oversized flag poles, the conversion of the Rose Garden into a bar patio, and of course, the biggest expense of them all – the ballroom. Funny how the Trump administration has money for every tacky thing it wants to do.

    9
  2. Chris Avatar
    Chris

    The President’s administration is aiming for loathsome.

    7
  3. Tony W Avatar
    Tony W

    @Charley in Cleveland: Plus two Gulfstreams for Noem – and Kash using his private jet for personal stuff.

    6
  4. al Ameda Avatar
    al Ameda

    All of this – the open sewer of corruption, Kash Patel’s Comicon cosplay, the Scarface gold styling interior re-decoration of the White House to Trump’s liking – is right out in the open.

    There are no hidden motivations, no cover-up (except for the Trump-Epstein stuff) this is ‘in your face’ taunting. These people believe that there is nothing anyone can do about it, and so far … they’re right.

    9
  5. Charley in Cleveland Avatar
    Charley in Cleveland

    @al Ameda: Any time Karoline Leavitt is asked about blatant Trump corruption her snarky response boils down to, “it can’t be corrupt because no one is hiding anything.” The verbal gymnastics from Leavitt and JD Vance dismissing Homan’s bribe taking is nothing short of astounding – decent people would be embarrassed to recite such patent bullshit – yet it registers as just another day that ends in Y for the Trumpers and the cowed media.

    5
  6. Kathy Avatar
    Kathy

    I think both Marvel and Cthulhu should sue.

    6
  7. Richard Gardner Avatar
    Richard Gardner

    Challenge coins typically are round (as in “coins”) and are slipped into the recipient’s pocket, but this one would rip a hole (in the fabric or leg), so instead must be carried about screaming look at what I was given. The odd shape also means higher per unit cost. Not being overly familiar with the Marvel-world my first thought was Cthulhu.

    3
  8. Rob1 Avatar
    Rob1

    @Richard Gardner:

    Challenge coins typically are round (as in “coins”) and are slipped into the recipient’s pocket,

    Not to worry, someone in the regime will figure out to attach these to a chain and they will wear them around the collar of their uniforms, reminiscent of the Third Reich.

    3
  9. Erik Avatar
    Erik

    Does anyone know what the “9” on the back symbolizes? I’m guessing it’s because he is the 9th FBI director but that doesn’t seem sufficiently edge lord so I wonder it if I’m missing something

    1
  10. Jay L. Gischer Avatar
    Jay L. Gischer

    There is an air of ridiculousness that, as a comic book/superhero fan, has struck me immediately.

    Frank Castle became The Punisher to seek revenge/justice on a dirty cop that killed his family and tried to kill him. In both the comics and the recent Netflix season of Daredevil, Frank confronts a band of NYPD officers who have taken to wearing his symbol and mocks them roundly. “You guys are a bunch of clowns!” As far as Frank is concerned, they don’t get it at all.

    Meanwhile, in both an earlier season of Daredevil and in the books, when Matt Murdoch (Daredevil) voices his sense of doubt as to whether he should stick to his code against killing, Frank tells him to not, under any circumstances, become more like The Punisher.

    So, these guys don’t know anything, they just like wearing skulls and guns. They never even ask the question of “are we the baddies”. They want to be scary. They want to be baddies. While manning a keyboard and phone in Las Vegas.

    4

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