That’s just the cross between the self aggrandizing liar and the demented confused fool. Tell him he’s great and he’ll do whatever you want because he’s a narcissist and an idiot, so he completely believes them

He has 4 modes: mob boss cliche, bigotted old asshole, self aggrandizing liar, and demented confused fool. They are not all distinct and he does like to mix and match. But they are all equally pathetic.

Keep in mind he’s not just a moron, monster, asshole, he’s also a clinical narcissist. He actually does think that he deserves both the Nobel Prize and the Medal of Honor, because he thinks he’s literally better than everyone else. So if anyone deserves it, surely he also does too because he’s better than the people who do deserve it.

He’s a hardware guy at Apple. The company that once removed everything from their physical interface but one button. The company that created a proprietary screw shape and licensed the companion driver to prevent users or small time repair shops from fixing their phones. The company that removed the independent headphone jack and replaced it with a lightning to aux adapter (that you had to buy separately) that hogged the only charging port instead. The company that put a glass plate on the back of the phone so that you had two surfaces to shatter and leave sharp edges to cut your hand on. Yeah… I don’t expect great things from him.

As a public figure, the bar to successfully win a defamation lawsuit requires proof of actual malice. This means that he has to prove by clear and convincing evidence that either the reporter knew the information was absolutely false, or had very good reason to suspect the information was false and still recklessly report it as fact. It’s a pretty high bar.

They weren’t making statements of fact as a witness themselves, there were people interviewed about things they claimed to witness themselves. Statements in the article that seems to have rattled him go like this:

But Patel, according to multiple current officials, as well as former officials who have stayed close to him, is deeply concerned that his job is in jeopardy. He has good reasons to think so—including some having to do with what witnesses described to me as bouts of excessive drinking.

and this:

“We’re all just waiting for the word” that Patel is officially out of the top job, an FBI official told me this week, and a former official told my colleague Jonathan Lemire that Patel was “rightly paranoid.” Senior members of the Trump administration are already discussing who might replace him, according to an administration official and two people close to the White House who were familiar with the conversations.

They also report Patels response to the claims:

The FBI responded with a statement, attributed to Patel: “Print it, all false, I’ll see you in court—bring your checkbook.”

I mean, it seems like they did a lot of interviewing, found a lot of sources, gave the opportunity for a response, etc. You know… good journalism. Unless the claim is that the Atlantic reporters made up these claims wholecloth or that they had good reason to distrust what seems to be a dozen plus sources from multiple government departments, it doesn’t seem like this lawsuit has a leg to stand on.

This is giving strong Don Hertzfeldt’s Rejected Cartoon vibes .

The original Aladdin story in One Thousand and One Nights is set in China (Aladdin is also Chinese), is based on a middle eastern folk tale, and was written and added to the book by a Frenchman. And then it’s most recognizable incarnation (at least to a western audience) migrates the setting and characters to a fictional Arabic kingdom and gives him an American white guy voice. The character, Aladdin’s, cultural identity as we know it is a little all over the place.

If he weren’t in such a powerful position where his shallow childishness was harmless, it would be hilarious how sad this dude is. This medal doesn’t matter, ultimately. But apparently the thought that he might get an undeserving Nobel prize was all that held him back from starting multiple wars. He needs a full time ass kisser that praises him when he’s not a complete psychopath to reinforce that behavior.