President Trump fired FBI Director James Comey citing his handling of the investigation into Clinton's emails. Here's what he said in 2016. pic.twitter.com/xJiGylkfgt— FRONTLINE (@frontlinepbs) May 10, 2017
There's one thing I think we can all agree on--Trump is not firing former FBI Director Jim Comey over his handling of the email investigation. I don't think the president cares what it looks like. He was apparently casting about for reasons for a little while to rid himself of this guy, but for all people want to talk about whether Comey was failing to win friends and influence people in Washington with his clay-footed approach to handling investigations with a political angle, he himself was caught off-guard by the news, reportedly.
I feel like that's some kind of failure to notice details on Comey's part.
I'm not going to defend Comey's job performance, because I've suggested that he probably should be thinking about tendering his resignation over his October Surprise. I understood why Obama didn't force him out (it would look like politics) and basically thought the same thing would stay Trump from doing it (because it would look seriously Nixon/Watergate-ish). And yet...
Dana Bash reported WH people were saying they didn't think this would be that big a deal.
Source w knowledge of wh discussions tells me senior officials did not think firing james comey would be a big political explosion.— Dana Bash (@DanaBashCNN) May 9, 2017
Really? Are they out of their minds? They just didn't notice how people responded to the firing of Sally Yates and Preet Bharara? Or to be more truthful--they are lying, because this is what everyone around Trump just automatically does now?
See, I think the second choice is the right one. I know I don't trust Kellyanne Conway when she says something like "This is not a coverup." Mostly because, when a thing looks like a coverup, you call it something else and don't just say "This is not a coverup." This is not a Jedi mind-trick. Call it a quilt, a bedspread, or a security blanket. Don't repeat the word "coverup"! (God! She is so awful!) And I feel like Sarah Huckabee Sanders is playing it very close to the line when she says that this means it's time to end the Trump/Russia investigation. Obvious flack is obvious, much?
Since many of us can pay attention to more than one thing at a time, I am going to suppose this had a little more to do with a sense that maybe current events suggested the Trump investigations were going places he preferred they did not, and he was sending a message. After all, he sent his bodyguard to deliver the letter (wrapped around a fish, reports do not add, much as I would dearly like them to) giving Comey the axe, and it is a predictable trip to read things written by Trump in his own voice, such as the gratuitous reference to assurances three times (before the cock crowed, dear?) that Trump wasn't under investigation himself.
Somehow, this may actually result in an independent investigation--and I surely do hope so. Being this obvious might be Trump's cry for help.
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To people who remember Watergate, or even saw the movie, it seems obvious. To people who grasp basics of politics, it seems obvious. To people who understand about separation of powers, it seems obvious. If Trump fit any of those categories, it might be a plea for help. But he does not and never has had any interest in any of the above. He's always been able to do whatever he wanted, one way or another, and thinks he can do the same in and with the presidency.
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