Thursday, May 02, 2019
Political Mayhem Thursday: Comey Strikes Back
Focusing on William Barr, whose testimony yesterday in the Senate was probably hailed within the White House and has been subject to much debate outside of it, is the primary target of Comey's op-ed, though he also loops in Rod Rosenstein and (more generously) Jim Mattis. His question, verbatim, is this: "What happened to these people?"
His conclusion is pretty stunning, and not just because he slips into the second person perspective. Let's face it-- eating souls is a fairly out-there allegation! Here is the ending, the uncoiling of the snake, where Comey includes himself among those who have gone along with it all:
Speaking rapid-fire with no spot for others to jump into the conversation, Mr. Trump makes everyone a co-conspirator to his preferred set of facts, or delusions. I have felt it — this president building with his words a web of alternative reality and busily wrapping it around all of us in the room.
I must have agreed that he had the largest inauguration crowd in history because I didn’t challenge that. Everyone must agree that he has been treated very unfairly. The web building never stops.
From the private circle of assent, it moves to public displays of personal fealty at places like cabinet meetings. While the entire world is watching, you do what everyone else around the table does — you talk about how amazing the leader is and what an honor it is to be associated with him.
Sure, you notice that Mr. Mattis never actually praises the president, always speaking instead of the honor of representing the men and women of our military. But he’s a special case, right? Former Marine general and all. No way the rest of us could get away with that. So you praise, while the world watches, and the web gets tighter.
Next comes Mr. Trump attacking institutions and values you hold dear — things you have always said must be protected and which you criticized past leaders for not supporting strongly enough. Yet you are silent. Because, after all, what are you supposed to say? He’s the president of the United States.
You feel this happening. It bothers you, at least to some extent. But his outrageous conduct convinces you that you simply must stay, to preserve and protect the people and institutions and values you hold dear. Along with Republican members of Congress, you tell yourself you are too important for this nation to lose, especially now.
You can’t say this out loud — maybe not even to your family — but in a time of emergency, with the nation led by a deeply unethical person, this will be your contribution, your personal sacrifice for America. You are smarter than Donald Trump, and you are playing a long game for your country, so you can pull it off where lesser leaders have failed and gotten fired by tweet.
Of course, to stay, you must be seen as on his team, so you make further compromises. You use his language, praise his leadership, tout his commitment to values.
And then you are lost. He has eaten your soul.
Comments:
<< Home
It is impossible to be close to a soul-eating manipulator like Trump without either becoming a part of his controlling actions or abandoning the institutions of government to his whims.
# posted by 
: 7:56 AM
: 7:56 AM
Wow. Comey is surely burning some bridges with that op-ed! But it's great to finally hear from someone in the room what it's like to be sucked in by Trump.
What I still don't understand, though, is how Barr and others can extend that self-delusion to misleading people in their public actions. I'm fascinated by Comey's inner dialogue and he must be largely right, but it's another thing to write a letter to the public, as Barr did about the Mueller report, and testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee as a mouthpiece for Trump instead of in his intended (impartial) role. I'm not sure it's inner strength Barr and others are lacking when doing that. It seems more like an arrogance -- a different type of strength, maybe -- and perhaps that's also what Trump's web engenders. Maybe, also, Trump's web lures otherwise reasonable people to become little tyrants in their own right.
What I still don't understand, though, is how Barr and others can extend that self-delusion to misleading people in their public actions. I'm fascinated by Comey's inner dialogue and he must be largely right, but it's another thing to write a letter to the public, as Barr did about the Mueller report, and testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee as a mouthpiece for Trump instead of in his intended (impartial) role. I'm not sure it's inner strength Barr and others are lacking when doing that. It seems more like an arrogance -- a different type of strength, maybe -- and perhaps that's also what Trump's web engenders. Maybe, also, Trump's web lures otherwise reasonable people to become little tyrants in their own right.
# posted by : 10:09 AM
: 10:09 AM
What confuses me about Barr is that he hasn't been in this role very long to have been corrupted by djt so quickly. Was he working with the administration prior to his appointment?
Also having been the AG before I would hope he understood he is not a mouthpiece for the President but for the American people. Do we need to review his past actions as he has lost credibility?
Also having been the AG before I would hope he understood he is not a mouthpiece for the President but for the American people. Do we need to review his past actions as he has lost credibility?
No doubt Comey is an honorable man. Just, like most of us, not nearly as honorable as he thinks he is. Comey's persistent hero complex, combined with his inability to grapple with or even acknowledge his own missteps--which in several cases have noting to do with Trump--read more like a man desperate to restore his bar-the-door-John-Ashcroft's-hospital-room legacy than a man interested in restoring the honor and dignity of the Office of the President. Trump his his delusions, Comey does too.
As for Barr, his press conference to release the Mueller report was silly. His audience was obviously 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., not the American people, which missed the entire point. I thought it both diminished his credibility and undermined his authority, not to mention raised questions about whether or not Rod Rosenstein is actually human. But outside of that, what exactly has Barr done wrong? His letter summarizing Mueller's conclusions was not inaccurate, even if it was a bit slanted. And sure, you can disagree with him about whether or not the president can be prosecuted while in office (Ken Starr does, for example), or whether Trump's "10 episodes" constitute obstruction, but those are both legal questions with non-obvious answers that are squarely within his discretion to decide. And it was Mueller, not Barr, who after two years and $25 million cleared Trump of Russian "collusion." The ongoing Barr v. Congressional Democrats feud is a disgrace.
To Comey's larger point--that Trump is a soul-sucking liar who ensnares those around him in a web of lies--well, yeah, duh. For anyone not (a) high on Chinese-made MAGA hat fumes, or (b) desperately scouring their Republican cousin's Twitter feed for Cyrillic influence, it has long been known that Trump is a lying sociopath with regard only for himself who just happened to get elected fair and square. The question is what to do about it. Impeachment was largely disposed of last November when Democrats failed to gain seats in the Senate, and that result was only buttressed by Mueller's finding. House Democrats can wave all the fried chicken they want (as actually happened this morning), but their powers are limited. The solution, it would seem, is an election. Whatever the case, we will all suffer as long as we insist that elections and investigations only mean something if we like the results.
Post a Comment
As for Barr, his press conference to release the Mueller report was silly. His audience was obviously 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., not the American people, which missed the entire point. I thought it both diminished his credibility and undermined his authority, not to mention raised questions about whether or not Rod Rosenstein is actually human. But outside of that, what exactly has Barr done wrong? His letter summarizing Mueller's conclusions was not inaccurate, even if it was a bit slanted. And sure, you can disagree with him about whether or not the president can be prosecuted while in office (Ken Starr does, for example), or whether Trump's "10 episodes" constitute obstruction, but those are both legal questions with non-obvious answers that are squarely within his discretion to decide. And it was Mueller, not Barr, who after two years and $25 million cleared Trump of Russian "collusion." The ongoing Barr v. Congressional Democrats feud is a disgrace.
To Comey's larger point--that Trump is a soul-sucking liar who ensnares those around him in a web of lies--well, yeah, duh. For anyone not (a) high on Chinese-made MAGA hat fumes, or (b) desperately scouring their Republican cousin's Twitter feed for Cyrillic influence, it has long been known that Trump is a lying sociopath with regard only for himself who just happened to get elected fair and square. The question is what to do about it. Impeachment was largely disposed of last November when Democrats failed to gain seats in the Senate, and that result was only buttressed by Mueller's finding. House Democrats can wave all the fried chicken they want (as actually happened this morning), but their powers are limited. The solution, it would seem, is an election. Whatever the case, we will all suffer as long as we insist that elections and investigations only mean something if we like the results.
<< Home
