As I’ve said before, I no longer have the stomach for a steady cable news diet now that Emperor Baby Fists is in office. I just get too upset. But last night, in the wake of James Comey’s firing, I binged on MSNBC. Hardball, All In and The Rachel Maddow Show. There was talk of Richard Nixon’s Saturday Night Massacre. There was talk of how Sally Yates had really gotten under Trump’s skin. There was talk of the incompetence of this administration. And throughout the evening, reporters with sources deep in the White House kept coming on and saying variations of “Trump and his people are actually surprised that Comey’s firing is such a big story.” Like, they truly believed it would be a minor story that they could ride out and no one would mention it after 24 hours. They believed that Trump could “solve” the issue by tweeting about it too, apparently. This is the tweet Easy D sent last night, hours after Chuck Schumer made what I thought was a nuanced and correct statement about Comey’s firing:
Cryin' Chuck Schumer stated recently, "I do not have confidence in him (James Comey) any longer." Then acts so indignant. #draintheswamp
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 10, 2017
Then when – surprise! – Bigly figured out that this story is still being discussed, he decided to get up bright and early to tweet about it:
The Democrats have said some of the worst things about James Comey, including the fact that he should be fired, but now they play so sad!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 10, 2017
James Comey will be replaced by someone who will do a far better job, bringing back the spirit and prestige of the FBI.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 10, 2017
Comey lost the confidence of almost everyone in Washington, Republican and Democrat alike. When things calm down, they will be thanking me!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 10, 2017
Here’s the thing… just 24 hours ago, I was questioning whether Comey had been compromised too. Comey was a terrible FBI Director who, just in the past week, committed felony perjury before Congress and still seemingly felt the need to placate those Congressmen and “Trumpland” FBI agents about his continued hatred oof Hillary Clinton. If I honestly believed that Comey had been fired because of all of that, if I honestly believed that Trump had two brain cells to rub together, then I would actually say that maybe Trump is not 100% wrong here. But again, let’s be real: Trump fired Comey because the FBI investigation into Trump’s Russian ties was heating up.
As for who will replace Comey… a lot of people think Trump is going to try to give to Rudy Giuliani. It honestly sounds like something Trump would do.
And the only thing on Trump’s schedule today? A meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Photos courtesy of Getty.
That’s his best picture so far.
I hope he can find some time soon to touch up his roots.
Look at those hair plugs.
Look at that round melon under the plugs! lol! Picturing him bald amuses me.
Look at those soft little hands.
Look at the color contrast between his face and his hands.
Because he’s always wearing his golfing gloves
Sorry, Trump. People are not going to thank you for anything you do
Future generations will not say his name without spitting and cursing after.
Donald Trump is the best thing to ever happen to Richard Nixon’s presidency. Instead of learning about Nixon as the most corrupt president ever, future generations will now learn about Trump.
I know even the Nixon library was getting into it, tweeting Fun fact President Nixon never fired the Director of the FBI #notNixonian. Come on when you make Nixon and Watergate look not so bad you have jumped the shark.
I think about that too. The Trumps just might go down as one of the most hated celebrity or political families in American history.
Amen to that!!!!! People will start referring to him as “He, who shall not be named!!!”
I’ll thank him, because this will really get the special prosecution investigation and subsequent impeachment proceedings underway!
FFS. He’s meeting with the Russian Ambassador Kislyak today.
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/05/10/527755991/trump-meets-with-russias-lavrov-at-the-white-house-today
Giuliani being FBI director would just cement that Trump is trying to cover things up. Which means dummy boy Donnie will do it.
Or Christie.
Not Christie. Jared hates him, remember?
Christie send Jared’s father to jail. So yeah, not Christie.
But Mister Twitter said Giuliani’s in DC at the Trump hotel.
AG was supposed to be his original slot AND he’s in
cahoots with the NY FBI Field Office so he’s perfect.
And Christie got shut out of all things Trump once he was no longer useful. Christie got ghosted by Trump as a friend put it.
Sadly, my money is on Giuliani too.
https://zembla.vara.nl/dossier/uitzending/trump-business-partner-accused-of-involvement-in-dutch-based-money-laundering-scheme?ICID=ref_fark
Well, Giuliani has long-standing connections in providing shady, and potentially illegal, advice to #orangerapist, so it makes sense. Here’s to hoping they all go to jail though.
He could give Palin the role, after all she can see Russia from her back garden in Alaska.
It’s my understand that Giuliani is also being investigated.
Whatever happens, there will be Senate confirmation. That will be long and arduous (and likely not successful). Truthfully, I can see Giuliani being denied the clearance needed to do the job.
Yes, people named Putin, Lavrov, Flynn, Kushner, Manafort, Bannon, and Trump.
And somebody needs to tell these clowns that Burr is not a Democrat.
You can both think that Comey was a terrible FBI director, for his release of information about Hilary Clinton days before the election, while concealing info regrading the already ongoing Trump-Russia investigation or misleading Congress last week regarding email on Huma’s laptop or may other examples, AND believe strongly that President Donald Trump firing him while he’s investigating him is full-on Banana Republic, Third World Dictator Batcrap Crazy.
BOTH positions can be held at the same time with ZERO hypocrisy: Comey was bad at his job and deserved to be fired AND it’s bad that Donald Trump fired him, because that’s obstructing justice. Both things can be true.
Well said.
Just curious.. would you want someone who pretty much everyone agrees was bad at his job, investigating you?
Yes, actually. I wouldn’t want to be investigated by anyone smart or competent.
Then again if I didn’t do anything wrong, I wouldn’t have to worry either way.
If Comey was so bad, Trump should have been happy to keep him on.
Comey’s issue seems to have been weakness in controlling the field offices that were going after Clinton, especially the NY field office. Let’s hope he was stronger on counterintelligence and the truth will out. If Giuliani is named next AG then NY and other field offices won this internal war.
“If Comey was so bad, Trump should have been happy to keep him on.” Would you really want your president to do that? FYI, I didn’t vote for Trump, but these comments are really out there to me. It seems weird to keep someone in a high position even though both sides agree he’s incompetent.
FB- Trump did not fire Comey for incompetence. He fired him to silence an investigation. That’s what makes this angering. He’s not a President trying avoid a bad investigator. He’s avoiding investigation altogether. Period. This is why you’re argument doesn’t apply. Trump is being self serving. That changes things greatly.
Timing and context are everything here, and both sides did not agree that he’s incompetent. The Democrats were uncomfortable with his handling of the Emails but willing to give him the benefit of the doubt for the sake of the ongoing counter-intelligence investigations into Trump-Russia. The Republicans were thrilled with his handling of the Emails and uncomfortable with his counter-intelligence investigation but willing to let them proceed because a) they had no authority over him and b) it let them conduct their lame investigations at a slow crawl.
Internal FBI issues had a lot to do with this situation. Trump has no problem surrounding himself with rank incompetence, as judging by his press secretaries, special advisors, cabinet, and that former National Security Advisor he was only forced to fire, too late.
FBI directors serve single, 10-year terms for a reason. There is very little legal check on US presidents, the FBI and Congress are the only two bodies who can investigate the executive branch. This was done by design to prevent presidents from being constantly in court with petty complaints and thus unable to do their jobs, but it doesn’t anticipate someone like Trump, who is so morally bankrupt and ethically corrupt that he doesn’t care about, well, anything or anyone but himself. Well, actually, the framers did anticipate that, they just didn’t anticipate a Congress that was also utterly complicit with such a bad actor. They never guessed at the insane party loyalty that has been bred into our current system, or the gerrymandered districts that allow congresspeople almost unlimited abilities to thwart the will of the people with zero consequence. They felt the two houses could check and balance the executive, no matter how awful he was. They were wrong.
I don’t think Comey was incompetent. Obama chose him for a reason and he had a good reputation. I don’t agree with some things he said and did about the “emails” but I think in October especially he was between a rock and several hard places. He had told the committee that he would inform them about any new evidence. His letter sounded muted to me, as though he was trying to indicate there might be nothing new but he had to check it out (they had software to help with that). Both Giuliani and Trump were positively giddy and bursting to tell a secret before it went public, so I’m sure the rogue agents in the New York told Giuliani all about it. They were going to leak it to the media soon. I think that letter was an attempt to head them off at the pass, to get his “it’s probably nothing” message out first. It was the Republicans who publicized it with their own spin, not Comey. Hillary’s people responded immediately with a request to complete their investigation quickly, it was obvious to anybody sensible that they and Hillary weren’t at all worried about what was in those e-mails.
Comey should have stalled before notifying the Republicans, in line with the DoJ protocols, but I can see why he thought that wasn’t an option. He had to get his notification in before the rogue leakers acted. And maybe he was right, maybe the impact would have been worse if he had kept quiet. The story was going to come out that weekend, one way or another. I’m not sure that he was handling the agents badly either. He may not have been sure who the rogues were or there might have been limited options there also without clear evidence.
In any case, Comey was redeeming himself with his pursuit of the Russia/Trumpians connections. And that’s why he was fired. Trump nominated Sessions for AG because the perjurer Sessions is implicated in all this, a strong motivation to squash any investigation. (See Gilbert & Sullivan, The Mikado, the town of Titipu appointing the next prisoner in line to have his head chopped off as The Lord High Executioner). Must have annoyed Trump no end when Sessions was forced to recuse himself from that subject. To a Trumpian mind, the easy answer was to get rid of the FBI Director who refused to give up on the Russia investigation and was getting too close. The Grand Juries must have pushed Trump over the edge on this. The rush was because the law was closing in plus Trump needed a deflection. Something must be breaking very soon to do it so rushed.
Now Trump has to figure out a way to explain to the Russian government representative why he hasn’t lifted the sanctions yet…. Poor little guy has been kept too busy accomplishing nothing. Wonder if he has the Trump chocolate cake shipped in from Mar-a-Lago for the visit. It even has Trump’s name drizzled in icing. Not kidding, it really does. Saw a picture of a piece.
Agreed!
Yep, we can believe Comey should be dragged through the streets, tarred and feathered, on the way to his treason hearing for what he did to the election…and also believe orange emperor is unraveling quickly and firing Comey is a terrifying look into his petulant, tyrannical nature.
It’s a topsy turvy world like that.
Exactly.
Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence and owned slaves.
(George Washington led the army of revolution and was a thoughtful first president and owned slaves.)
Queen Elizabeth II is a rich and pampered relic of times past and a dutiful, deeply admired public figure.
Franklin Roosevelt helped America hold its head up in a Great Depression and led the Allies to victory in WWII while being a conniving liar, a cheating husband and at the end throwing Britain under the Cold War bus.
Winston Churchill’s force of personality guided England through its darkest hours and he was a misguided, antiquated imperialist in India and the Middle East.
Only tiny-brained immature narcissists like Trump can’t process human and situational complexity like an adult.
@who are the people
+100000
If anyone can access BBC radio iplayer, there’s an interesting documentary broadcast over 2 wks called “The Invention of the USA”. The 1st episode talks about how slavery was intertwined with the original constitution, the states were in near conflict, and the founding fathers made the constitution open to interpretation (hoping succeeding generations would iron out the issues).
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08pqypt
Well said, S.
It isn’t hypocrisy, but my opinion which I think is shared was Comey made huge mistakes i.e. the investigation and letter release against Hillary Clinton among other things, but not sure that meant he should have been fired, and certainly not by someone who he is investigating. The Director of the FBI is a 10 year appointment in order to not be swayed by politics. To be fired for a mistake especially one that had political implications no matter how large destroys the checks and balances of our democracy. The only FBI director to have been fired was for gross misconduct, and I don’t see how this happens especially when the supposed reason for firing occurred outside of the time Trump was President. If that was true why wouldn’t he have been fired at the beginning of Trump coming in.
This. He should have been fired, but the reasons why he’s being fired are what we’re having a problem with.
When Senator Blumenthal criticized his firing of Comey today or yesterday Trump got into a little twitter beef with him that was nothing but him deflecting the criticism with Blumenthal’s shady military history.
When will he get Impeached?
When Mitch McConnell tells Paul Ryan it’s time and VP Pence feels sufficiently protected from prosecution.
Oh, how I’m counting the minutes!
He will be impeached when he commits “high crimes and misdemeanors” Obstruction of justice may work out, but I have no idea.
Much more quickly now, one would hope. For which–well, yes–we must thank President Trump.
Well done, sir, well done.
Haha! I spoke similarly above ! High five on that.
Donald Trump: People will be ‘thanking me’ for firing FBI Director Comey……
OR ELSE!!!
It is scary to me that Trump has his cronies in the Justice Dept and now wants the FBI. Trump’s investigation into Russia is going to be a joke unless the Senate (and the spineless House) and public demand a special prosecutor who is fair and impartial. I fear that I underestimated the damage that Trump could do as Potus.
Midterms, midterms, midterms. Fvck that House up!
Sure, Jan. I will start writing that thank you card now.
Emperor Baby Fists was FINE with Comey going after Hillary’s e-mails. Only when Cheeto Mussolini realized that he could not completely control the investigation nor stop the FBI from investigating HIS ties to Russia did Comey become incompetent.
So much cognitive dissonance!
Black or white thinking for sure. Baby’s having a tantrum ’cause he can’t get his way!
No wonder his businesses always went broke: He’s a lousy manager.
They play sad because they know that the true reason he got fired was because of the inquiry into Russia. If it was because he didn’t prosecute Hillary for the emails, it should have happened when he went against the advice not how many months later?
I see he uses a flexible hold hairspray! Sad!
Right! All I thought of was old aqua net commercials.
Could we have one day, just one, when the Grifter-in-Chief’s administration is not running at DEFCON Orange?
F*ck you 45. If you actually cared about his handling of the Clinton emails you would have fired him A LONG TIME AGO! Miss me with the bullshit.
He sounds like a spoiled petulant child. “Mommy, they are picking on me again; I did the right thing, they even said it was the right thing and now they are all mad cause I did it.” Wah wah wah. Lord, please free us from this misery…
I never, ever again want to hear from Republicans that they’re good people. EVER.
If you have a VERY strong stomach read this thread. The Deplorables are drooling over trey gowdy or sherrif clarke for FBI Director. Look at their comments.
I no longer have compassion for these people and their many problems. These people are the enemy. They would destroy America out of spite. Before trump is either impeached or dead(preferable), I hope his policies inflict major hurt on his cultists.
http://twitter.com/ten_gop/status/862066938226388992
Dave Clarke!!!? The idea of the is like my worst anxiety-fueled nightmare come to life.
He’s the most wretched, reckless, dangerous and cold human I can think of for the position. God forbid ( I live in WI).
Another Wisconsinite here who wants that Sheriff Bart cosplayer out of Milwaukee, but preferably beaten at the polls next November. He’s absolutely unqualified for the FBI director position.
He’s cost the city of Milwaukee nearly a half million dollars in legal fees over the past decade. His office is now under investigation by the Milwaukee County DA, a real Democrat, for multiple suspicious deaths of inmates in the custody of the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office, including one by dehydration.
His antics are embarrassing, including using the department’s Facebook page to mock someone who asked him whom he was on a flight from Dallas to Milwaukee and had the nerve to shake his head in sad disgust. Clarke is a Cowboys fan and was flying first class to the Packers-Cowboys playoff games when it happened in January. Clarke then had six deputies meet him and question him, claiming that the man had made remarks against him.
Likely neither could get confirmed by the Senate. Sometimes separation of powers comes in handy. CNN has a speculative list, including Ray Kelly, former police commissioner of NYC. The article considers Gowdy unlikely to win approval. But I may just be clinging to hope for our great republic.
But they of course only require a simple majority of 51 to be confirmed in the Senate and the Republicans have a majority of 52, don’t they? So either of them could very likely be confirmed. Public outcry over decisions doesn’t seem to weight too heavily on Republicans in Congress (see AHCA). None of them seem too anxious to put country ahead of party.
This is incredibly disheartening. I do, unfortunately, believe that the next FBI Director will be a Trump loyalist.
Couldn’t make it through the whole thing because the searing rage took over.
I am so embarrassed for his pathetic, salivating, brainless supporters. I’d laugh if it wasn’t such a sad indictment of so-called American “patriots”.
Guys, you’ll never believe who Drumpf’s new director of FBI is…https://twitter.com/urbroyo/status/862070918331412485
Thank you for making me smile.
No one should be surprised that Trump underestimated the reaction to Comey’s firing, this is the same man who thought that Andrew Jackson was alive during the Civil War, had no clue what caused the Civil War, discovered that health care was complicated, that the relationship between North Korea and China wasn’t as easy as he thought, thought that Fredrick Douglas was still alive, and spent the first day of his presidency arguing that the crowd size at his inauguration was bigger than Obama’s in 2009. Trump’s tweets about Comey once again prove that Jared and Ivanka don’t have a positive impact on Trump. When is the enough going to be enough for these GOP senators? Trump is trying to turn this country into a dictatorship and because they love party more than the people, the GOP is sitting there letting it happen.
What does Trump mean by when things calm down? As in when he hires someone who will completely put a halt to the Trump Russian investigation? By far better job than Comey, does Trump mean someone who will do what Devin Nunes did? What I also find interesting is how Lindyset Graham was doing Trumps dirty work on Monday and the moment he stepped outside the limits that Trump placed on him(Lindsey Graham asked for Trumps’ financial information), Trump sent his lawyers after Lindsey Graham.
If Trump was so disappointed in Comey, why was Trump videotapped blowing kisses and winking at Comey? Every time Trump tweets something negative about Comey, the media needs to play that tape and hold him accountable. I wish the media would stop pushing Trumps lies. Trump wasn’t planning on Comey since he was elected, Trump only wanted to fire Comey after hearing Sally Yates testimony on Monday and when they learned that subpoenas had been issued against Flynn’s associates yesterday.
Now Trump is doing to Comey what he did to Sally Yates and we all saw that came back and hurt Trump on Monday.
Can Congress bring in the guy Trump fired in New York to organize a special investigation? He’s had plenty of experience, including with investigating The Trumpster.