The Chris Moeller Archives

The James Comey Affair

The Russian Federation and the United States of America are both well-established oligarchies so it was inevitable that the gangster capitalists at the top of our government would eventually be in business with theirs.

It’s curious, isn't it, how fired FBI director James Comey could graduate-- in such a short time-- from being the architect of Hillary Clinton’s electoral defeat to being the most public martyr of Donald Trump’s lust for power? I have in my hands this quote about Comey just a few weeks ago from Democratic Senator Charles Schumer: “I do not have confidence in him any longer.” And this from Democratic Congresswoman Maxine Waters: “The FBI director has no credibility.” Let's start there. These are the obstacles you put up for yourself when you traffic in partisanship over principle. It makes it difficult to maintain credibility. You're left hoping that you just have more than the other side.

The president has no business firing the man who’s leading an investigation into his alleged improprieties. The perceptions alone make it a terrible decision on Trump's part, and now word comes today that Trump had asked Comey to end his investigation into Trump's former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn and Comey refused. So, yes, this is something akin to Nixon's "Saturday Night Massacre" in 1973, when he fired the attorney general during the Watergate investigation. Trump may have been ignorant of his White House history. He's a plutocrat who believes that he can run government like a business, and many Americans agree with him that that's how it should be run. This is how that looks when it's put into practice.

Nearly everyone in Washington has wanted Comey out since last summer, so let’s not be disingenuous about this, and, as always, let’s not pretend that the FBI is immune from politics. Protecting us from liberty has been the overriding motivation of the Bureau since its creation 106 years ago. Their agents raided the offices of-- and arrested-- left-wing journalists that opposed the U.S.’s entry into World War I. Even dissidents that were American citizens were deported as part of the nation’s original “Red Scare.” They did it again to student anti-war groups during the 1960s, while simultaneously running a wiretap on Martin Luther King Jr., working to immerse him in scandal and discredit his movement. The Bureau is so permanently stained by the shit-smear that was J. Edgar Hoover that it warrants a disbandment of the entire organization. Every player in this current story is so corrupt that it’s hard to come away from it with any hopeful feelings at all or to maintain a durability in one’s stomach. The financial relationship between Trump, Inc. and the Russian oligarchs remains sketchy to the senses, but despite what you hear inferred, there is no evidence whatsoever that Russian action influenced the outcome of the 2016 presidential election in any way.

Whistleblower Edward Snowden, one of the planet’s most principled-- and courageous-- men, had the most notable quote of last week. He tweeted, "Set aside politics: every American should condemn such political influence in the Bureau's work... This FBI director has sought for years to jail me on account of my political activities. If I oppose his firing, so can you." Snowden is more of a man than I am, or than anybody is. Comey has referred to Snowden as a "fugitive," and said in 2014, "I'd love to apprehend him so he can enjoy the benefits of the freest and fairest criminal justice system in the world."

With those words "freest" and "fairest," he may have been describing waterboarding and torture. As Deputy Attorney General in 2005, Comey endorsed a memorandum approving the use of 13 "enhanced interrogation techniques," including waterboarding and sleep deprivation of up to 180 hours. He came in with the Bushes, was on an Obama short list for a Supreme Court nomination in 2009, was named FBI director by Obama, supposedly helped Trump beat Clinton in the election, and then got fired by Trump, angering Democrats. Tell me again the differences between the two parties?

They re-aired an interview with Comey on 60 Minutes Sunday night, one in which the director attempted to explain why the FBI needed unprecedented powers to intrude upon our electronic devices, why Google and Microsoft should be compelled to weaken encryption and share your data with the surveillance state, and why we should allow them, as we've seen transpire, to make our private information more vulnerable to hacking by foreign governments and criminals. I'm sure the rot is systemic at the Bureau, but I came away muttering to myself, is there any way we can possibly fire this guy a second time?

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Emmy’s Best Supporting Actor in a Dramatic Role this year should go to Michael McKean on Better Call Saul. You know McKean, the veteran of Christopher Guest movies, This is Spinal Tap, and if you go far enough back, “Lenny Kosnowski” on Laverne & Shirley. The episode that will be submitted for his nomination and win this year will be last week’s “Chicanery.” Masterful.

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It's only May 16th and the Cardinals are back in their familiar first-place position in the National League Central division. I use the word "only" because this lofty height has been reached despite a 3 and 9 start to this season, their worst in my lifetime. The Cubs are 3.5 games off the pace, in fourth place, under .500, with several of their well-promoted stars-- Rizzo, Schwarber, Russell, Baez, Zobrist, Arrieta, Lester-- flailing, and their anticipated dynasty looking more and more every day like that 1980’s New York Mets dynasty that the world now refers to as the “’86 Mets.”

posted by CM @ 6:57 PM