
FBI Director James Comey, Flickr, labeled for re-use
Anybody waiting for me to feel sorry for FBI Director Comey’s fate can wait long. He. Did. This. To Himself. when he flouted FBI/DOJ protocols to spank Hillary Clinton in public for a non-crime while keeping his powder dry on the exponentially more serious situation with #TrumpRussia. And while I, and other Democrats, are appalled by Trump’s firing of Comey for getting too close, the now former FBI Director allowed his ego to make him think he could lie down with a rabid dog and not be covered in fleas and mange at the end of the exchange.
No, I will not let go of this. We are at a constitutional crisis that did not have to happen. We are here because of the #EgotisticalWhiteMale. (A subset of men, white or otherwise, obviously). Those on both sides of the aisle and in the Press who used a woman as a punching bag had an obligation to their country and to all of us to tell the truth about the authoritarian, crooked Trump when it counted. And not to subject Hillary Clinton to a standard no man ever had to meet. They did no such thing. They promoted Trump and humored him, allowing the cancer of his xenophobic campaign to grow unfettered.
Perhaps those who were attracted to Trump’s faux strong man bluster would have voted for him anyway, and in equal number. But it’s a sure bet Comey and the Press eroded the numbers of his opponent. And now the Press has the gall to act fearful of what they hath – knowingly and consciously – wrought. I don’t care if I get crap for pointing this out. I’ve watched too many elections where those lacking self-awareness don’t get their noses rubbed in it only to push revisionist history with a straight face, and four years later, commit the same sins again.
That stated, I never have and never will bet against my country. I believe in my heart we will eventually right the ship. However, the scandal, pain, suffering and loss it will take to do so is going to cost many in a way that would not be necessary if power hungry, #EgotisticalWhiteMales like Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan, Jeff Sessions, NBC’s Chuck Todd, CNN’s Wolf Blitzer , Bernie Sanders (to name a few) and enabling women like NBC’s Andrea Mitchell and NYT’s Maggie Haberman hadn’t shown a willingness to burn this country to the ground rather than see a capable woman run it. Sadly, I have to include Jim Comey in this cabal. His imagining he could flagellate Hillary and still be able to conquer the erratic, enabled Trump was hubris and he gets no sympathy from me.
Now we have to trust that the (many) honorable apples in the Intelligence Community are so outraged by Trump’s behavior toward Mr. Comey (and Sally Yates and Preet Bhahara), that they will accelerate the exposure of his suspected misdeeds. I wish Godspeed to those brave men and women. They will face more obstruction from a GOP Congress, which means one thing – the case will have to be so big, the scandal so bad that Trump’s enablers finally realize they are “suiciding” themselves to keep up the charade.
Whatever the outcome of the investigation, James Comey damaged his venerated position. I can’t imagine how he thought he’d ever pull this off. He can only hope that his staff has less ego while doing their jobs and accomplishes what he couldn’t.
6 Comments
Comey will personally be better than fine unlike so many of us who have to face the consequences of Trump and this GOP Congress.
I also don’t feel sorry for him one bit.
And we all know even his firing, like everything else was not about the emails.
Agreed on all counts, Louann.
Excellent opinion piece as always Anita. Republicans can’t understand why we wanted to see him go under Obama who would have replaced him with someone capable of doing the job with fairness. At the same time we are sickened by his firing by trump who will no doubt try to replace him by Ruddy Giuliani or Chris Christie.
Excellent piece, Anita! It’s truly sad that America was depending on Comey who so many of us DO NOT TRUST to lead this investigation. James Comey is no hero, and Trump should not have fired him. It’s quite possible to believe both of those things at the same time. I personally believe that Comey’s behavior last year is strong evidence that he himself was trying to kneecap Hillary and help Trump. At some point, he realized this was suicide and started to do his job re Trump.
Lots of anger from many places. All I can add is OY!
Excellent article, as always Anita! I love, love loved it. I wrote a similar (but not anywhere near as eloquent as your article) response to the LA Times responding to an article written by Doyle McManus where he says it’s time for Hillary to “move on”…I was outraged to see this. Following is my response to this article:
“Dear Editor,
I read Mr. McManus’s article about Hillary “moving on” and was shocked to see another attempt by the media to shut her up! In the 2008 and 2016 presidential elections, Secretary Clinton won the popular vote. We all know very well how hard it is for a woman in the supposedly most advanced country in the world to ever reach the oval office because we have seen the lengths that men in power will go to block that entrance. Not because Secretary Clinton was not extraordinarily qualified over both Obama and Trump, but because it is clear she is a threat to the men in power who want to keep it that way. Mr. McManus needs to take a good look at how popular Secretary Clinton is before he suggests she move on (he should be telling that to Bernie Sanders who has done nothing but bloviate and with the help of the media, despite having no specifics). Our country needs her voice now more than ever because the media did not do it’s job in vetting Trump “before” the election instead of their ad nauseum reporting on her e-mails every day. It was reported that even Comey thinks Trump is crazy!
In a time when we are inundated with men in politics who do not have her grasp of domestic and foreign issues which are complex and require a mature, steady hand in dealing with them and not just talk in general (as Trump has done from day 1). McManus needs to focus on who we have in the oval office and leave Secretary Hillary alone. When are you guys in the media ever going to get over your fear of Secretary Clinton? I’m surprised that the media isn’t blaming her e-mails for the national nightmare we are now facing with Trump, who very well may have committed treason if it is found that he and his campaign colluded with the Russians to ensure his victory.
It’s long past time finding fault with Secretary Clinton because we have very real threat to our democracy in the White House and he is there today in large part because the male run media refused to give the same scrutiny to him than Secretary Clinton. It comes down to “you would rather destroy the village, rather than have a woman in charge of it!”
Anita, we need your voice too. It’s absolutely necessary to counter all of the lies being fed to the American people not only by the trump administration by even the media itself.
Thank you for what you to.