Trump Fires FBI Director James Comey

[Calliecake]

Just heard on CNN that GOP officials shrug off Trumps firing of Comey saying it's barely been mentioned at RNC gathering in California. Republicans are delusional.

 

[E B]

This was from the political editor at Fox News today:

DEFENDERS OR ENABLERS?

Let’s start at the beginning: The president of the United States said that part of his reason for firing the top federal investigator was his handling of a criminal probe into the president’s election campaign.

In the same interview with NBC News, President Trump even said that he had asked former FBI Director James Comey whether the investigation was targeted at the president himself.

No matter what, these are serious and significant developments. If you find yourself dismissing them or focusing on misplaced partisan reactions to them, you are doing no service to Trump or the country.

Full stop.

In life and in politics there is a line between defending someone and enabling them. What is happening these days with Trump and his core supporters is getting way past defense.

In the end, if Trump is proven right, and there was no information sharing or collusion between his campaign and Kremlin-allied entities, the president’s intemperate comments will not add up to much.

All this will have been is a sorry incident in which a frustrated commander in chief lashed out against his critics, making his reputation and his staff collateral damage in the process. Also harmed will have been Trump’s agenda and the already weak bonds of trust between him and his fellow Republicans in Congress.

And that’s the best case scenario.

The darker side of the street looks like this: Democrats retake the House in 2018, investigators find that one of Trump’s underlings had been in cahoots with Putinists and Trump’s remark to Lester Holt “when I decided to [fire Comey], I said to myself, you know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made up story,” would surely make it into the articles of impeachment.

This is deadly serious stuff. And many of the president’s supporters seem either unaware or unwilling to confront the situation as it exists. Just because one thinks that Democrats are hysterical in their responses to Trump does not mean that Trump is doing the right things.

His team had been, under the adverse conditions Trump created for them, working hard to offer the best rationale for firing Comey: That the former director’s mishandling of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s case left him unable to suitably lead the agency.

Whether Trump was frustrated by not getting adequate credit for toppling Comey, a man he clearly had come to despise, or if Trump did not understand the legal and communications necessities of the moment doesn’t matter. Whatever the reason, Trump harmed himself, his party and his agenda.

No matter how much his supporters want Trump to succeed, if they can’t be clear-eyed and plainspoken about the current situation things are going to get worse, not better.

The undisciplined, erratic approach to a scandal that represents mortal peril for this presidency is not primarily the fault of bad staff work, the “lying press” or Democrats. It is primarily the fault of a president who steadfastly refuses to empower his staff, show respect for the separation of powers or exhibit patience.

There will always be people who will tell the president that escapades like the one this week are a refreshing departure from stuffy old Washington and that all he really needs to do is keep kicking the walls of the barn down until he gets his way.

There will always be such people because there will always be, in any administration or organization, those willing to enable damaging behavior in order to gain power and access.

What Trump badly needs now is straight talk and honest appraisal from his advisers and supporters and desperation enough to be willing to listen.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/05/12/defenders-or-enablers.html

 

[redwood66]

Thanks for that EB. I had not seen it and I like Chris Stirewalt.

 

[redwood66]

I'm not sure you were around during the Obama days. Were you defending him with as much passion as you show Trump?? Honest question.

Obama was absolutely antithetical to everything I believe government should be. Yet I support the president, whomever holds the office at the time but that does not mean I have to support all his or her plans for the country.

Not sure where you see passion for Trump in my posts? Just because I am not ranting like a lunatic against EVERYTHING he does?

 

[katharath]

I was waiting and hoping for such a story and I'm wishing it comes to fruition. Take him down FBI, by any means necessary.
https://www.vox.com/world/2017/5/11/15624544/fbi-trump-comey-war

Yes, this is where my thinking has been as well - fingers crossed that the FBI comes through for us. Only an utter fool pisses off the intelligence community; I mean DAMN, how dumb do you have to be?!?

 

[telephone89]

Great article EB.
I see it so often, the supporters are just so blinded that they refuse to see what he's doing is detrimental and damaging. Their only retort is something about Hils!
*trump does horrible thing*
Trump supporters: Yeah, well, HILARY is worse!

 

[Calliecake]

Yes, this is where my thinking has been as well - fingers crossed that the FBI comes through for us. Only an utter fool pisses off the intelligence community; I mean DAMN, how dumb do you have to be?!?

I think you answered your own question Katharath. Trump is that dumb!!!

 

[AnnaH]

Neither I nor anyone I know has 100% confidence in (or approval of) President Trump. Yet I do approve of many of his actions--improving the economy, cabinet picks, Supreme Court choice.
HRC (our only other option) promised to continue the path of the last 8 years, which is not what I thought would be the right path for our country.
If Trump is guilty of a crime, he will be out, and Pence will be in. Fine by me.

 

[OreoRosies86]

I will never understand any woman (or man but especially women) who is okie dokie with Pence as the backup plan. Pass the barf bag.

 

[katharath]

I will never understand any woman (or man but especially women) who is okie dokie with Pence as the backup plan. Pass the barf bag.

When Trump was elected, I actually thought - well, this is bad, but Pence would be much worse. Long term, I still believe Pence is far worse, but I have a big fear of Trump beginning a massive war and killing us all (or just ending democracy since he thinks he's a king). So now for me it's kind of a toss up as far as which is worse. I think Trump is likelier to end us all quickly, whereas Pence is more likely to lead us towards a Handmaid's Tale scenario. It's all pretty horrifying.

The other thing for Pence is that I believe he cares much more about approval ratings, which could help keep him in line somewhat.

This whole thing is a nightmare though. A farce and a nightmare.

 

[Arkteia]

I will never understand any woman (or man but especially women) who is okie dokie with Pence as the backup plan. Pass the barf bag.

Pence has been in politics for a while, and he does not appear impulsive. His anti-gay and extremely conservative stance are unappealing, to put it mildly, but I think that as any career politician, he can show certain flexibility. Plus, while his members of his family are not well-known, they are not known for greedy, avaricious grabbers, either.

 

[House Cat]

Obama was absolutely antithetical to everything I believe government should be. Yet I support the president, whomever holds the office at the time but that does not mean I have to support all his or her plans for the country.

Not sure where you see passion for Trump in my posts? Just because I am not ranting like a lunatic against EVERYTHING he does?

I call you "passionate" because you seem to spend a majority of your day...here...defending Trump's actions. If that isn't passion, what is?

I haven't seen one person on this forum raving like a lunatic about Trump. I like that line of defense that you use, subtly calling the libs irrational, raving lunatics and referring to yourself as level headed. And you do this while defending the worst president of all time. That's good stuff Red.

I'm going to guess that you never defended Obama's actions in the way you defend Trump's. You are just hiding behind your reason of supporting the POTUS. This is where the problem lies. Partisanship is causing good people to support a terrible president no matter the cost to our country and its people.

What a shame.

 

[redwood66]

Ha! You have a nerve talking about partisanship and people spending their day here on PS talking politics. Good one. That is funny. I am not defending Trump on his idiot things he does but I am not falling into the partisan line of lunacy either. We can agree to disagree.

Edit - What does it mean to you to support the president? Because I can respect the office and disagree with what he does, there is not much I agreed on with Obama. But I wasn't ranting on a forum about it either. You have a different tact and that is fine.

 

[AGBF]

I will never understand any woman (or man but especially women) who is okie dokie with Pence as the backup plan. Pass the barf bag.

Pence is not OK. He looks better because he is not insane, but he is not only a right wing idealogue bent on taking away women's rights, he is also a liar, complicit in Trump's deceits.

Link...https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...e-615pm:homepage/story&utm_term=.1d84f0e436da

AGBF

 

[Tekate]

I believe Trump when he said, after the election, that he didn't want to go after HRC.
IMO, Trump fired Comey either because of general job performance or because Trump was frustrated because Comey wasn't clearing him quickly enough or coming up with conclusions regarding surveillance by the previous administration.
Either way, I don't expect Trump will get away with anything here. Has a President ever been so hated? I have my problems with him, but I hope he succeeds for our country.

I don't believe anything he says, he's said so many outlandish things that his credibility is non existent to me, and I want to see the republicans out of power for our country Anna, actually I would like to see bipartisan support, won't in my lifetime, but forgoing that, that we become a total democracy is okay

 

[smitcompton]

Hi,
It is not the office of the Presidency that is in question. It is about the man who sits in that office., I'm for some of his economic policies and hope they will still go thru. But a man who lies and lies about everything should not be in that office. He is a man who is too lazy to even understand what is in that health bill. How can anyone have confidence in him. He has no inner constraints on himself which in the end makes him dangerous.
George Bush was a Pres that was given bad advise and he got us into wars that were unnecessary. He accepts responsibility for them. I never thought he was a bad person as an individual. This is so different. Redd, Trump is not just a booby. He is mentally incompetent and irrational.

Liberals are always upset about everything. In this case they are right.
Annette

 

[redwood66]

I don't have confidence in his ability to be a rational person like we expect but like you said some of his actual policies are what I want. Shoulda woulda coulda but that is not what we got. Just because I don't nod in bobbing agreement with everyone here doesn't mean I am not concerned. Why is it that everyone is expected to be either 0 or 100 on the scale?

I have to add that I cannot imagine working for him. I like orderly with a specified reason for everything. He is definitely not that. I had a boss that was very disorganized and every situation was a crisis with his pants on fire, not normal engineer behavior. It drove me crazy.

 

[redwood66]

I don't believe anything he says, he's said so many outlandish things that his credibility is non existent to me, and I want to see the republicans out of power for our country Anna, actually I would like to see bipartisan support, won't in my lifetime, but forgoing that, that we become a total democracy is okay

I don't believe half of what he says. But I definitely do not want to see Dems in power again because this country cannot afford it. I would also love to have bipartisan support for someone with realistic goals that benefit the country first while not plunging us into further debt.

 

[AnnaH]

I will never understand any woman (or man but especially women) who is okie dokie with Pence as the backup plan. Pass the barf bag.

That lack of understanding partly explains why Democrats lost.

 

[AnnaH]

I don't believe anything he says, he's said so many outlandish things that his credibility is non existent to me, and I want to see the republicans out of power for our country Anna, actually I would like to see bipartisan support, won't in my lifetime, but forgoing that, that we become a total democracy is okay

Most, if not all, politicians lie or at least spin. Not so sure an honest person could be elected President. Trump's just not slick like the others.

 

[OreoRosies86]

Most, if not all, politicians lie or at least spin. Not so sure an honest person could be elected President. Trump's just not slick like the others.

And that attitude explains our bewilderment over people who endorse this sh!tshow.

 

[t-c]

I don't believe half of what he says. But I definitely do not want to see Dems in power again because this country cannot afford it. I would also love to have bipartisan support for someone with realistic goals that benefit the country first while not plunging us into further debt.

That's funny! With the exception of the two that went through the Great Depression and the Great Recession, the biggest deficits happened when Republicans are in office.

And before you blame a Dem-controlled Congress/Senate, please note W. Bush had a Republican-controlled congress and half the Senate during all but his last year. Reagan had the Senate. And both had Veto power.

As for the current administration, the tax cuts outlined by Trump's team aren't going to do that. Look towards Kansas as an example of what application of Republican trickle-down economic philosophy will look like. Hell, look toward Republicans' beloved Reagan to see what large tax cuts will do to the deficit. Ironically, both Kansas and Reagan ended up increasing taxes again and again. Kansas didn't experience any growth with the tax cuts and the Reagan era growth did not prevent deficits.

Combine the tax cuts Trump is proposing with the increased military funding. Where do you find the money?

So you might want to think twice about voting for Republicans if the national debt is the issue that is most important to you.

 

[t-c]

Most, if not all, politicians lie or at least spin. Not so sure an honest person could be elected President. Trump's just not slick like the others.

Do you really not see the difference between Trump's lies and every other Presidents'? I understand some presidents over-promise and under-deliver and spin like they've met their goal, but Trump is in a category all on his own.

Trump started lying, and telling his representatives to lie for him, from day one! Trump is not an artless liar; he doesn't get caught because he doesn't lie well. He gets caught because he makes shit up constantly and because he lies about things that are easily verified.

 

[Arkteia]

I call you "passionate" because you seem to spend a majority of your day...here...defending Trump's actions. If that isn't passion, what is?

I haven't seen one person on this forum raving like a lunatic about Trump. I like that line of defense that you use, subtly calling the libs irrational, raving lunatics and referring to yourself as level headed. And you do this while defending the worst president of all time. That's good stuff Red.

I'm going to guess that you never defended Obama's actions in the way you defend Trump's. You are just hiding behind your reason of supporting the POTUS. This is where the problem lies. Partisanship is causing good people to support a terrible president no matter the cost to our country and its people.

What a shame.

I bet many people feel this way about Trump.

There are times in history when people adopt almost messianic attitude towards the leaders. What is worse is what follows after that, when they realize they have been deceived.

I lived through it, once. Before the Soviet Union collapsed, folk legend touted Yeltsin as "the defender of common people, the one who suffered for them". I was always skeptical, but the degree of disappointment of people who trusted him was shocking. Many things that foreigners can not understand about today's Russia come from the fact that there was a generation who, for once, put their faith in an undeserving person.
The same is happening here. It may not be Trump's fault. Maybe some things simply can not be changed, or perhaps we had too many average people for politicians. Anyhow, I view Trump's phenomenon as the response to the previous ones, from both sides. It is not surprising that some of Sanders's supporters gave their voices to Trump, because Sanders represented the same "messiah" from slightly left.
I think that Trump is still supported by 96% of his electorate not because of him, but because they can not give up their hopes. Mostly, about jobs.
Redwood, probably, does not represent them, anyone who discusses diamonds on PS is not quite from the group of disenfranchised white folks. But I am concerned about their reaction when they lose faith in Trump. They were already angry when they voted for him. Angry and disappointed will be worse.
And Obama did a couple of good things, economically. Stimulus package was good, bailout of our banks was good. But he stood for TPP, for big monopolies, like all other presidents do, so, he was no saint either. Obamacare has many good points, but to be really effective, it has to be worked at, improved, several times over. So, far from ideal product.
Obama had great patience and did not drag us into any war, this was great. He also had a wonderful sense of humor, which we all miss...

 

[Arkteia]

I don't believe half of what he says. But I definitely do not want to see Dems in power again because this country cannot afford it. I would also love to have bipartisan support for someone with realistic goals that benefit the country first while not plunging us into further debt.

It is not like we all are in a debt, and no one else is not. Economy is tied up. Hitler was the result of US depression - just an example.
Asian market is facing the same crisis. For the same reason as we do, development of AI taking jobs away from people. But if Asian markets plummet, we shall suffer, too, we sell a lot of things to them.
Our debt is, probably, inevitable, and if there were a way of paying it out, it would have been done. It is not one evil president who spoils things. Nor one bad party.

 

[redwood66]

I should have said wasting money rather than debt. Our government wastes money hand over fist with no one doing anything about it. Just spend more. All these programs that are great ideas to help people, help industry, help research, but the waste in mismanaged implementation or coming up with money to fund it is non existent or an after thought. That is my biggest beef with the government. And all governments do it federal, state, and local. When you spend other people's money you don't care if you waste it.

Which is why I am more conservative than liberal because it aligns closer with those ideals. Not because I think others should have less, or aren't equal, or any other description liberals put on conservatives.

And all political stripes in government do it. Dem and Repub - its like a friggin slush fund for their localities and buddies. I'll admit it, I am a government hater because they don't do the right thing much of the time. I don't have much hope for any of them and don't plan on depending on them for anything.

 

[Tekate]

I don't believe half of what he says. But I definitely do not want to see Dems in power again because this country cannot afford it. I would also love to have bipartisan support for someone with realistic goals that benefit the country first while not plunging us into further debt.

I dislike the republicans in power beca

Most, if not all, politicians lie or at least spin. Not so sure an honest person could be elected President. Trump's just not slick like the others.

True that!

 

[Arkteia]

I should have said wasting money rather than debt. Our government wastes money hand over fist with no one doing anything about it. Just spend more. All these programs that are great ideas to help people, help industry, help research, but the waste in mismanaged implementation or coming up with money to fund it is non existent or an after thought. That is my biggest beef with the government. And all governments do it federal, state, and local. When you spend other people's money you don't care if you waste it.

Which is why I am more conservative than liberal because it aligns closer with those ideals. Not because I think others should have less, or aren't equal, or any other description liberals put on conservatives.

And all political stripes in government do it. Dem and Repub - its like a friggin slush fund for their localities and buddies. I'll admit it, I am a government hater because they don't do the right thing much of the time. I don't have much hope for any of them and don't plan on depending on them for anything.

I have a simple question. When I donated money to my son's school district, they sent me an itemized report of how it was spent. The same with Melbourne Art Gallery.
That was all. Be it donations or taxes, I never ever got an itemized report of how my money was spent.
Same with the government. How can we discuss their spending, if we do not even know their budget? At.least I do not. Perhaps if we do, we can talk about government spending? Take military budget. Everyone says it is extreme. I would like to know another issue, how many jobs does it create? Is there outsourcing? Are we donating to other countries and supporting useless regimes? Things like this. I suspect there are some parasites who we do not need to support (but support, at the expense of own people), but at the same time, figires are not published. So we can not talk about "expenses".

 

[Arkteia]

Isn't that the truth.

I believe it was Nicole Wallace (served under Bush, was part of McCain's campaign) who said something so true this morning: The most maddening thing isn't what Trump is doing-- he was as much a flaming moron as a candidate as he is now. It's the continued support he's getting for it. No matter what, he'll have an unshakable base that would literally excuse his shooting a man on 5th avenue, and he knew it all along. It truly is the Dunning-Kruger Presidency- both in title and support. You simply cannot reason someone out of a position s/he did not reason him/herself into.

You might have seen this article, too... - Steven Fry explains why some people believe everything Trump says

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...0ebe4b00f308cf4323c?ncid=engmodushpmg00000003

 

[t-c]

I should have said wasting money rather than debt. Our government wastes money hand over fist with no one doing anything about it. Just spend more. All these programs that are great ideas to help people, help industry, help research, but the waste in mismanaged implementation or coming up with money to fund it is non existent or an after thought. That is my biggest beef with the government. And all governments do it federal, state, and local. When you spend other people's money you don't care if you waste it.

Which is why I am more conservative than liberal because it aligns closer with those ideals. Not because I think others should have less, or aren't equal, or any other description liberals put on conservatives.

And all political stripes in government do it. Dem and Repub - its like a friggin slush fund for their localities and buddies. I'll admit it, I am a government hater because they don't do the right thing much of the time. I don't have much hope for any of them and don't plan on depending on them for anything.

So it's not debt, but waste. And how did you conclude that Democrats waste more money than Republicans? Have you seen the accounting over the years?