Kash Patel, Vivek Ramaswamy Face Racism from Fellow US Conservatives
Kash Patel asked to go back to India apparently by MAGA supporters commenting on Patel’s Diwali post
(Image: courtesy Wikimedia Commons.)
October 26, 2025
Earlier this month, POLITICO reported that a member of a Young Republican online private chat group talked about a mutual friend who “dated this very obese Indian woman.” Samuel Douglass responded, “She just didn’t bathe often.” Douglass was an elected member of the Senate in Vermont and Chair of the state’s Young Republicans Committee.
Last week, Kash Patel posted Diwali greetings on X/Twitter. Earlier this year, Patel was appointed director of the Federal Bureau of Investigations by President Donald Trump.
Patel’s post has gotten more than 3,700 comments. Many of the comments, The New Republic reported, “were repulsed by Patel’s religion. They chastised paganism and condemned him for not choosing Jesus Christ…” The story’s headline: “Go Back”: MAGA Floods Kash Patel’s Diwali Post With Racism.
Gabriel Rench, the host of the CrossPolitic podcast, offered Patel a choice: “Here is the deal. Either go back to your home country or assimilate into Christian America, Thank you for your attention to this matter.”
A story in the Times of India, about comments to Patel’s post, carried the headline: Pastor asks Kash Patel to ‘go back home and worship sand demons. The story was referring to this comment by Joel Webbon: “ Go back home and worship your sand demons. Get out of my country.”
“We need to deport all Hindus,” was another comment to Patel’s post, India’s LiveMint reported.
Earlier, Kashyap (Kash) Pramod Patel served as the Chief of Staff of Defense Secretary Chris Miller during part of the last Trump Administration, 2016-2020. Patel served as the Deputy Assistant to President Trump and Senior Director for Counterterrorism at the National Security Council. He also served as Principal Deputy to the Acting Director of National Intelligence.
Before joining the Trump Administration, Patel was the National Security Advisor and Senior Counsel for the U.S. House of Representatives Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Earlier, Patel was a terrorism prosecutor at the Department of Justice and its Liaison Officer to Joint Special Operations Command. He began his career as a public defender, trying cases ranging from murder, to narco-trafficking and financial crimes in jury trials in state and federal courts.
A native of New York, Patel completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Richmond, in Virginia, before earning his law degree from Pace University, New York. Patel was born and raised in Garden City, Long Island, New York. His parents have family ties in Gujarat, India. Patel’s mother is from Tanzania and father from Uganda, NDTV reported. In 1970, his parents immigrated to the U.S. via Canada.
In another story on October 21, POLITICO reported that Paul Ingrassia, in a private online group chat with fellow Republicans, wrote “Never trust a chinaman or Indian” and then added: “NEVER.” Ingrassia reportedly wrote this in January 2024 referring to former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. A son of Indian immigrants, Ramaswamy declined to comment, reported POLITICO. He is running to be elected the Governor of Ohio.
In June, Ingrassia, of New York, was nominated by the Trump Administration to lead the office of the Special Counsel, a government watchdog agency. Following the POLITICO report, he posted that he had withdrawn from consideration for the post. He added that he “will continue to serve President Trump and the administration to Make America Great Again!” Ingrassia is the White House liaison for the Department of Homeland Security.
This year, hatred on social media towards Diwali in the US has increased, the Times of India noted, as the Trump “administration has taken a strong stand to minimize immigration and save jobs for Americans.”