Weighing In uninvited: thoughts on l'affaire Comey
A case can be made for the firing of James Comey. Deputy Attorney General Ron Rosenstein laid one out in a memo he sent to AG Jefferson Beauregard "Jeff" Sessions, who forthwith forwarded the damning document to the White House. Monsieur le President acted decisively and without further ado dispatched a lackey to hand-deliver a manila envelope with Comey's termination letter to FBI headquarters, no time for conventional niceties such as communicating the decision in person or offering an opportunity to resign.
This is the fairy tale VP Pence and other minions parroted until caught out in their lies when the president contradicted them. In a sense that mattered little because no one bought into this scenario to begin with except dead-enders who would stick by the jefe if he was caught in flagrante delicto with a covey of Russian ladies of the evening and an underage sheep. Yet the president is still defended by many members of a party that sold its collective soul last summer when Trump ran roughsod through the Republican primary. Moral fiber, political courage, and plain decency are not exactly the order of the day.
Rosenstein's memo will live on in infamy. Reports are that US Attorney for the District of Maryland was held in high regard by Democrats and Republicans alike. Now his reputation like so that of so many others drawn into Trump's orbit is in tatters. Reports have it that he is ticked off about being made the fall guy for the firing. Does he not follow the news? What else might he possibly have expected?
Is this what we have come to? It would seem that it is. As for what comes next, your guess is as good as mine, and mine may be about as good as that of professionals paid to opine on these matters. Stay tuned, I suppose, for the next episode as what was heretofore unthinkable just keeps coming.
Related Reading
Zack Beauchamp, Why the FBI might wage “war” on Trump — and how they would actually do it, Vox, May 11, 2017
Josh Marshall, They're Trapped in His Lies, Talking Points Memo, May 11, 2017
Michael Tomasky, It’s Up to These Five to Stop Trump—and Save America, The Daily Beast, May 10, 2017