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What Has Me Bothered About James Comey Getting Fired?
If you ask me if I’m bothered about James Comey being fired by President Trump, I would have to ask you, “What do you mean by being bothered?”
Am I bothered the president fired the FBI director? The answer is no. The president can fire whomever he chooses to fire whenever he chooses to fire them. Now, it is unusual for an FBI director to be fired during a term instead of at the start of a term or during the transition. The last time it happened was to William Sessions in 1993 by then-President Bill Clinton.
Am I bothered that Comey is fired during an investigation into possible Russian influence in the presidential election? Well, no. As Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) said, quite beautifully, the FBI wasn’t fired. The FBI director was fired. So if we believe the FBI is an organization of professionals, why wouldn’t an investigation — or all investigations they’re working on — continue?
Investigations, too often, are about politics and not truth. One must understand this to understand that Democrats don’t want any one specific investigation, what they want is any investigation. Whether or not there is collusion between President Trump or his top team and Russia regarding the election is almost secondary to what the Democrats really desire.
Time and again we have learned there is no collusion between President Trump, his top team, and the Russians. We have the former DNI director James Clapper saying no collusion. We have Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) saying no collusion. We have others, time and again, telling us there is no collusion between Trump and the Russians trying to influence the election.
Even the conversation about former NSA director Michael Flynn falls away because he’s already been fired. It’s obvious that Flynn didn’t properly report his dealings with foreign nations. But he was fired. It’s over. Democrats can make the claim that it shows bad judgement by Trump, but not that there was collusion.
Democrats would love to prove this collusion. But what they really want is for an investigation to continue into Trump so they can say Trump is being investigated; the power of the investigation is more important to them then the results of the investigation. This is what happens when government agencies are used as cudgels against the American people. See, IRS vs. Tea Party (2009-2017).
This is why it’s hard to accept that the Democratic Party is bothered by the firing of James Comey, when just a few months earlier aides were desperate for then-President Obama to fire him. Look at the words of Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) asking why Comey wasn’t fired going back to November. Or the words of Rep. Maxine Waters, in January 2017:
And if going back just a few months is “ancient history” for you, let’s go back to just a week ago when 2016 presidential election loser Hillary Clinton was on her, “It’s Not My Fault I Lost The Election” tour; blaming the FBI and Comey for re-opening an investigation 11 days before the election regarding emails between long-time Clinton aide Huma Abedin and her husband, disgraced former Congressman Anthony Weiner. Abedin sent Weiner classified emails to print off for Hillary. Weiner had no security clearance.
Democrats were infuriated with Comey, and wanted him gone. They couldn’t believe that he “threw” the election. We heard Comey himself during his testimony talk about the great pains this caused him — it made him “mildly nauseous.” But he felt he had no choice. He could conceal, or he could reveal. He chose reveal.
That pain meant nothing to the Democrats just a week ago. A week later, President Trump has created a constitutional issue, according to Sens. Dick Durbin(D-IL) and Brian Schatz (D-HI):
We are in a full-fledged constitutional crisis.
— Brian Schatz (@brianschatz) May 9, 2017
Sen. Schumer advised President Trump not to fire him, calling it a “big mistake.” The Progressive Intelligentsia on Twitter exploded in a chorus of “cover up” and comparisons to former President Richard Nixon. More on the “comparisons” in a bit.
Republicans as well were not happy. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) said there was “not sufficient rationale” for firing Comey. Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) stated, “I’ve spent the last several hours trying to find an acceptable rationale for the timing of Comey’s firing. I just can’t do it.” Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) said he was, “…troubled by the timing and reasoning of Director Comey’s termination.”
The President doesn’t have to worry about whether the senators from Arizona accept his “rationale” in firing anyone. Sun stroke, you know, is a real condition.
I can’t tell you whether or not James Comey is a good or decent man. I would only assume that he is, but then again I always assume that most people are good and decent until they truly prove otherwise.
Which brings us to President Trump. I’m not a fan of the letter he sent to Comey where he made sure to say I appreciate you exonerating me, but get your stuff and get out!
Focusing on being exonerated when firing a guy? That wasn’t smart. It seems like the paragraph is forced, because it is forced. Jonah Goldberg of National Review described it as akin to saying, “It’s not about the money.”
That’s how it looks. It looks like President Trump fired Comey because he wasn’t going to do what Trump wanted done; putting an end to this nonsense idea of investigations regarding collusion between Trump and his team and the Russians and the election. For a guy who is very into optics, to not notice these are bad optics, is very strange indeed.
But bad optics, and a bungled roll-out of the announcement, does not make for criminal activity. Bad optics does not make for criminal intent. Bad optics does not make one a criminal. And, bad optics does not make the action any less valid. I can’t tell you whether President Trump is a good or decent man, but I can tell you that he had every right to fire James Comey, and certainly had every reason to do so. To say otherwise is just untrue.
As for those Trump-Nixon “comparisons,” let’s just put down that book of cliches. The people screaming about Nixon on Twitter don’t know what they’re talking about. They’re the same people who were experts on Emmanuel Macron after the French election, and experts on Middle East warfare when Trump bombed Syria. They scream about Nixon the same way they scream about a Kendall Jenner Pepsi Ad, the myth of white privilege and how Steve Bannon is a nazi. (He’s not.)
Even the Nixon presidential library tweeted out that President Richard Nixon never fired the FBI director. (You’ve got to admit, that’s kind of funny. The Nixon Library wants to distance themselves from Donald Trump.)
FUN FACT: President Nixon never fired the Director of the FBI #FBIDirector #notNixonian pic.twitter.com/PatArKOZlk
— RichardNixonLibrary (@NixonLibrary) May 9, 2017
What has me bothered? Bad optics … a bit. Democrats who want a charge but don’t care about the crime, definitely. And, without a doubt, a media that won’t clearly speak the truth that there is no proof of collusion between President Trump and Russia.
But what has me bothered most? Americans don’t trust the most “trustworthy” institutions. The issue isn’t Trump or Comey, nor the firing nor the inane responses and reaction. It’s one question: Do Americans trust any part of government anymore? The FBI, the intelligence community, the people who gather the information: Do Americans believe that any of these organizations are beyond politics and above partisanship?
The answer, horrifically, is no. That bothers me. They don’t trust the FBI, and they don’t trust the CIA. They don’t trust the Administration, they don’t trust Congress and you can bet all the money in your pocket they don’t trust the media. And until they do again, even to some degree, all the investigations and firings in the world will mean nothing, no matter how loud the screams.
Cross-posted from WIBC.com.
Published in General, Politics
I dunno. I think we’re still at the beginning of the term. There’s still a lot of firing to do.
Great post. This observation is a very funny illustration of the bothersome aspect to it all.
In keeping with your conclusion, the thing that bothers me as well is that our government is not trustworthy any longer. Not a single part of it.
However, I would suggest that it is not President Donald Trump that the Nixon Presidential Library is wanting to distance themselves from. I would suggest that it is this entire partisan Government (and captive media), undeserving of our trust. Donald Trump is just a symptom of that underlying disease, not the disease itself. Now that’s not funny. But it is ironic.
The empirical correlation to the Nixon admin in 1974 is, of course, nonsense….however, it is quite clear that the anecdotal connection is quite real.
What is an anecdotal connection? How does it relate to facts?
Agreed. The swamp is still stagnant, and smelly. This isn’t even a good start.
Huh?
Expound on this please.
Don’t forget the bilderbergs and the illuminati.
I vote for no expounding. It’s like asking to watch a train wreck.
I remember a fight I saw in 3 rd grade. One guy charged across the field toward a kid who held his arm out. The dude charging ran right in to the kids fist. Funniest thing imaginable.
Including Jared “Swampwater” Kushner.
Yes. This loss of trust in government is a serious thing. It didn’t happen with the election of Donald Trump. It’s been a slow-motion trainwreck for years, as politicians create rules and regulations that benefit themselves and their pals, while leaving regular Americans out in the cold. As we watch politicians walk free from crimes that would send regular Americans to prison. As we see the federal bureaucracy politicized and weaponized to destroy anyone who might even meekly suggest the government is too powerful and abuse citizens who are just trying to make ends meet.
And that is why so many people voted to send a wrecking ball to Washington.
It’s been long overdue.
Back in the mid 60s I was surprised to hear from a distant “uncle” that he trusted the government to regulate food safety — that if certain foods that were being denounced were so bad the government wouldn’t allow them. I had not expected to hear such trust in government from someone in our own family. I had heard there were people who trusted the government, but to actually talk to one up close and personal? This is something I’ve not forgotten.
‘They don’t trust the FBI, and they don’t trust the CIA. They don’t trust the Administration, they don’t trust Congress and you can bet all the money in your pocket they don’t trust the media.”
Please give me one reason why my family, friends and I should trust the FBI, the CIA, the Administration, Congress and the media. We’re not stupid.
I’m with Drew. I want a wrecking ball in Washington DC. Or a MOAB. Or a flood of Biblical proportions.
I thought that was why we invented the Neutron Bomb, a device that saves infrastructure but removes irritating biomass.
No, that would be stupid.
Is it possible that Comey was fired because he wasn’t doing what he should have been? Like going after leakers in the federal agencies. I mean, sure Trump may have made some optical mistakes here, but do we really assume the worst?
Just out of curiosity, do we extend that same level of distrust and cynicism toward the military and VA? The military tends to score at the top of Gallup’s Most-Trusted organizations polls.
How can we get the Clinton crimes back in the headlines again? Or maybe a whistleblower from the Obama years? Too on the nose?
I made that joke once among leftists. They were not amused. But are they ever?
I suspect the dysfunction at the VA over the last 8 years didn’t help their reputation. The military still tends to be trusted because people recognize that there’s discipline and training at the lower levels. However, the Pentagon has been filled with political appointments, and the stupid social justice nonsense that is infecting the military is not going to help keep their reputation up.
Fact 1: Richard Nixon eeeevvvvviiiiiillllll!
Fact 2: Donald Trump eeeevvvvvviiiiillllll!
Connection of these two dots is left as an exercise to the reader.
At least this is how it was explained to me over lunch in San Francisco!
VA no.
Military – its complicated. But sort of and not really.
I was an NCO and brother is an office-sir.
Well I just …wait there’s a knock
Sundance over at Conservative Treehouse observed that the Dems are making such a stink about Comey being fired that you’d think they had just lost an extremely important operative:
Thanks for the post, its something I’ve been puzzling over since this started… this all seems pretty standard fare for Washington in general.
Wasn’t this behavior shown with the sainted ‘O’ from day one? “Elections have consequences’, which means I’m in charge and he proceeded to mete out as he saw fit: IRS, State, Military, Little Sisters of the Poor.
The lefts and MSM’s shrieks in the night aside what’s different?
My trust extends up to about the level of O-5 or O-6. Exceptions would be anyone in the JAG corps and a few CPOs I harbor a personal grudge against.
For those of us who were within the age of sentience in 1974, the underlying characteristic of the Nixon Administration was paranoia. Some anectdotal connections to a paranoid environment might be, for example, references to, “this entire partisan Government (and captive media)”, which is, “undeserving of our trust”, or obsessions with, “the deep state”, “globalist elites”, “the establishment”, and the “swamp”.
I guess I am paranoid in your eyes, then, since I believe that those things exist and are real problems. (Except for the globalist “elites”part. I prefer globalist ‘troublemakers”.)
OK, I get it; you don’t like Trump.