‘Hahaha’: Trump’s Inner Circle Takes Another Hit After Kash Patel’s Slip-Up as Pete Hegseth Keeps Getting Lumped Into the Same Habit
Donald Trump may run a dry White House, but his administration has all the makings of a reality show, equipped with drama, scandalous rumors, and […] ‘Hahaha’: Trump’s Inner Circle Takes Another Hit After Kash Patel’s Slip-Up as Pete Hegseth Keeps Getting Lumped Into the Same Habit
Black News 
Donald Trump may run a dry White House, but his administration has all the makings of a reality show, equipped with drama, scandalous rumors, and break time for naps and happy hour.
The president has long made his aversion to alcohol part of his public identity — a personal discipline he mentions with pride.
Yet as cameras follow more of Trump’s team through press briefings, holiday gatherings, and Capitol Hill testimony, an increasingly vocal slice of the internet has started to wonder whether sobriety and honesty extend beyond the Oval Office.
Two individuals from Trump’s administration have intentionally stayed out of the public eye in recent weeks.
One being Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who was seen holding plastic cups with his wife at a White House event earlier this month.
Most recently, FBI director Kash Patel lost a lawsuit he filed against former FBI counterintelligence assistant director Frank Figliuzzi. Figliuzzi claimed Patel spent more time at nightclubs than in his office during a morning radio show.
A new lawsuit against The Atlantic also cites similar claims about his priorities and off-duty behavior. It claims his time spent at private clubs in D.C. reportedly involved “excessive drinking and unexplained absences.”
Patel is also pursuing defamation claims against the writer, Sarah Fitzpatrick, over her descriptions of “alcohol-fueled nights.”
“Several officials told me that Patel’s drinking has been a recurring source of concern across the government,” wrote Fitzpatrick.
“They said that he is known to drink to the point of obvious intoxication, in many cases at the private club Ned’s in Washington, D.C., while in the presence of White House and other administration staff.”
Those allegations didn’t stay confined to whispers in political circles for long. Once they collided with social media, the conversation took on a far more mocking life of its own.
At the heart of the mockery are new nicknames that have taken on a life of their own: “Liquor Cabinet” and “Booze Brothers.”
The Booze Brothers pic.twitter.com/Yh4hKgiFfR
— Bonkerbwoy Fella 9000(@dumbw0y) April 20, 2026
The first recasts Trump’s circle of advisers with a different kind of “cabinet” label. The second nods to The Blues Brothers, casting Hegseth and Patel as a chaotic duo.
Leaning into the embarrassment, one person shared a side-by-side of Pete Hegseth chugging champagne on live Fox News in Nashville next to Kash Patel guzzling beer with the U.S. men’s Olympic team in Paris, mocking what they called a pattern of frat-boy excess.
“They got rid of DEI and hired these guys based on ‘merit,'” said one X user. Another joked, “They are forming their own AA Chapter with meetings being held at the White House.”
A third social media laughed, “Hahaha It’s time to clean the White House and move the liquor cabinet back into the neighborhood bars.”
Meme creators on X crafted posts that pulled in other administration figures into the same orbit of speculation and satire.
— Anthony Tifa(@MikeDelaney1971) April 20, 2026
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent arrived next, effectively widening the circle that had first formed around Pete and Patel.
“We might add Scott Bessent in to that with his “Straits of Vermouth,” said another individual, still triggered by the Treasury Secretary’s slurring his speech.
Earlier this month, Bessent held a briefing to discuss rising fuel costs tied to the waterway. But the moment he misnamed the Strait of Hormuz as the “Strait of Vermouth” the backlash was immediate.
Viewers questioned whether he botched his notes or sipped a cocktail before stepping to the microphone. Plenty of people wondered if he was drunk during the briefing.
“Good one,” said one person while another added, “Im stealing this. Hahahah.”
Social media users quickly widened the circle, pointing at Secretary of Health and Human Service Robert Kennedy, Jr.
Pointing to his bold confessions, one person declared: “There’s a ‘Drug Cabinet’ too.”
Even former judge and U.S. Attorney for DC Jeanine Pirro, among the candidates floated as former attorney general Pam Bondi’s potential successor, took a hit.
Viewers also resurfaced on-air images of Jeanine Pirro following past accusations that she appeared “drunk” on a live Fox broadcast, which she denied.
lol
— I’m Not That Short (@SheBleedsHipHop) April 20, 2026
“Funny how people say that, but completely ignored Nancy Pelosi being so drunk she could hardly speak,” another added, pointing out the irony.
The thread found its sharpest edge in a question that circulated widely. “Trump is always saying, ‘I don’t drink.’ Why is he surrounding himself with alcoholics and drug users?”
Hegseth, for his part, seemed to give the internet exactly what it needed in clips from the 2025 White House Easter Egg Roll. With his mortified sons assembled around him, he went on a Trump-style rant targeting reporters and Democrats.
“This is why we’re fighting slash-and-burn Democrats,” he declared, gesturing at his own children as he spoke. The cup stayed in his hand throughout his rant, while his children nervously looked around.
If Hegseth was the founding member of the so-called “Booze Brothers,” Patel was branded as an equally scrutinized sidekick.
The internet quickly decided the duo was not operating alone. What began as jokes started to look, to online observers, like a growing cast of characters.
Some pointed to Marco Rubio slipping a white pill into his mouth during a January 2026 hearing. The Secretary of State then washed it down with water during live feed as if no one else would notice.
The internet, predictably, embraced the more entertaining interpretation of Trump’s so-called club “Liquor Cabinet.”
