James Comey better hope that there are no "tapes" of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 12, 2017
We can't take this story as a series of beads on a string; connected, but discrete. It isn't that Trump keeps throwing kerosene on the fire (well, it isn't just that!), it's that each utterance reveals the limitations of his thought again. For example, Comey's response to that tweet:
A source close to Comey told me this morning: “He hopes there are tapes. That would be perfect.”— Ken Dilanian (@KenDilanianNBC) May 12, 2017
And if there are tapes, maybe we'll hear them soon:
@KenDilanianNBC They've been requested, and Trump is known to record employees- the whole loyalty thing. pic.twitter.com/NCxveqkKp3— NYEMSMom (@rehtaeh1628) May 12, 2017
Trump doesn't think things through; he just blusters. Granted that's not a good look for a President (as we've mentioned before). Buried in the nonsense is the assertion: the concept of such a dinner, where Comey would beg to keep his job, why would that happen? The FBI director has a job for 10 years, regardless of who the President is. Yes, he/she can be fired by the President, but it isn't a job that where his resignation is requested with the change of administrations. That's the whole point of the 10-year appointment. And not only do prosecutors NOT tell the target of their investigations that they are targets (when has Trump ever been the target of a criminal investigation?), FBI directors don't meet with the new President and beg not to be fired or tell him about grand jury proceedings.
Yeah, we're pretty much down to internet memes now. Basically, if Trump says it, it's a lie. The man has been lying since he bragged about the size of his inaugural audience. Nothing he's said since has made him any more reliable.
And it has the rest of us feeling pretty much like that. Not just because of Trump, but because of this stuff:
One thing I learned at DOJ about Comey: he leaves a protective paper trail whenever he deems something inappropriate happened. Stay tuned. https://t.co/sENlYyhL5B— Matthew Miller (@matthewamiller) May 12, 2017
Which sounds just a little like the days of J. Edgar, except Comey wasn't keeping files to blackmail government officials, but to document his actions. At least, I'll take it that way for now. Which means we are going to see a gen-u-wine shitstorm (maybe not a "Constitutional crisis." A rather dull law professor and Cato Institute adjunct on NPR yesterday insisted this was not a "Constitutional crisis." Fair enough. But it ain't good for the Republic, either.)
There's no question Trump is a danger to the republic. There's also no question the republic will survive him. Damage, however, will be done. We lost some of our national innocence with Nixon; perhaps this time we'll lose some of our national ignorance about why elections matter.
We could take the advice of ex-CIA official Philip Mudd:
“Believe me, I know this is going to sound facetious but I’m breathing a sigh of relief. You can’t take this seriously,” Mudd replied. ” “You could have taken this seriously from President Bush or President Obama, from President Bush’s father, from President Clinton. You can’t take this seriously.”
“You feel like you’ve got to give the president of the United States a pacifier and a rattle and put him in the crib. You’re threatening the FBI, who’s in the midst of an investigation of presidential aides?” Mudd added sarcastically. “The FBI’s been around since 1908. The president of the United States has been around for three and a half months. If you think you’re going to intimidate the former FBI director and the dozens of people in the workforce who are conducting this investigation with the Department of Justice, you’ve got another thing [sic] coming.”
We could. We'll see. In the meantime, I'm getting tired of all the crazy pills.
No comments:
Post a Comment