Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Just because you believe it, that does not make it true.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

Also, are you sure you want people to rate your comments?

Live so that if you miss a day of work people aren’t hoping you’re dead.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

The arc of the moral universe does not bend itself. it is up to us to bend it.

They don’t have outfits that big. nor codpieces that small.

She burned that motherfucker down, and I am so here for it. Thank you, Caroline Kennedy.

Hey Washington Post, “Democracy Dies in Darkness” was supposed to be a warning, not a mission statement.

Boeing: repeatedly making the case for high speed rail.

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

The words do not have to be perfect.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

T R E 4 5 O N

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Trump should be leading, not lying.

You come for women, you’re gonna get your ass kicked.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires Republicans to act in good faith.

These days, even the boring Republicans are nuts.

Mediocre white men think RFK Jr’s pathetic midlife crisis is inspirational. The bar is set so low for them, it’s subterranean.

If you still can’t see these things even now, maybe politics isn’t your forte and you should stop writing about it.

You are here: Home / Democratic Response to Trump 2.0 / First They Came for Jim Comey and I Said Nothing Because He Has Caused So Much Damage In the Past

First They Came for Jim Comey and I Said Nothing Because He Has Caused So Much Damage In the Past

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Most of us here despise James Comey for the terrible damage he has caused.

But if we say he’s getting what he deserved, we are making a dangerous mistake.  Today it’s James Comey.  Tomorrow it’s Hillary or Andy McCabe (again) or Marc Elias or a Democrat who is running for office.

The chorus of all who believe in the rule of law should be the same –

This is abuse of power.   This is weaponization of government.   This is unacceptable.

This is a chance to unite.  Let’s take it.

 

Reader Interactions

136Comments

  1. 1.

    WaterGirl

    And because we can walk and chew gum at the same time, here’s a beautiful picture of the bride that Joelle sent me

  5. 5.

    WaterGirl

    This gives us an opening to talk with anyone in our life who voted for FFOTUS or stayed home.  There is no legitimate political argument that can be made for this.

    This isn’t a political issue where reasonable people can disagree.

    We cannot let this be made into a political issue.  This should be horrifying to anyone who loves our country or believes in the rule of law.

  6. 6.

    rb

    Good post.

    Personally I find it helpful not to let the discussion veer into considerations of what this or that person ‘deserves.’ It’s at best distraction, and often veers into the truly fetid (“these children don’t DESERVE school lunch.”)

    I am human and so I do have personal opinions about what Comey ‘deserves.’

    But on the more direct and admissible political consideration of whether he should face malicious and capricious prosecution: of course not. Such a thing is anathema to everything we hold dear. It’s not even a question on which we can reasonably disagree.

  8. 8.

    Shalimar

    If Comey were being punished for what he did wrong, I would be all for it.  Hell, if he were being punished for what Trump thinks he did wrong, investigating the Russia ties to the 2016 campaign, I would be all for litigating that in a criminal trial too.  Problem is, Comey is being punished for something that DoJ has no evidence he did, just because Trump wants him to hurt.  And that is some serious bullshit.

  9. 9.

    Bruce K in ATH-GR

    What Comey deserves has got nothing to do with it. No government should be allowed to haul someone off to prison just because people in charge of the government don’t like the victim’s opinions.

  14. 14.

    Anonymous At Work

    Most of us despise Comey because he refuses to acknowledge he was playing politics and that he effed up royally.

    I’d knot the jury for as long as possible and then vote to acquit on all charges, plus indict/convict the prosecution.

  17. 17.

    Derelict

    I’m waiting for Trump to declare the Democrat Party is a supporter of AntiFa and thus all its assets and funding must be stripped and closed down. He pretty much said this in his tweet the other day, so I fear it’s just a matter of time before he makes it official.

    With that as background, as much as I hate Comey, I love the rule of law even more. Comey’s indictment should never have happened, and I hope he’s not railroaded by Trump simply declaring any exculpatory evidence as classified and/or protected by executive privilege–including documents that have already been released to the public like the Senate Intelligence Committee Report.

  18. 18.

    Shalimar

    @Bruce K in ATH-GR: Comey is not going to prison.  When you balance the evidence to try to reach “beyond a reasonable doubt”, the government doesn’t even have evidence to balance.  Charging him was egregious, and every lawyer at DoJ other than Halligan knows it.  This will hurt Trump in the end for pushing this to the point where a judge will embarrass him by throwing it out.

    But yeah, even trying this take a hammer to the rule of law.

  19. 19.

    WaterGirl

    @Shalimar:

    Hell, if he were being punished for what Trump thinks he did wrong, investigating the Russia ties to the 2016 campaign, I would be all for litigating that in a criminal trial too.

    That, too, is abuse of power and weaponization of government and weaponization of the justice system.

    Would you really be good with that?

  20. 20.

    Shalimar

    @sherparick: I agree they are trying to criminalize being a member of the opposition.  It will be a long, sustained assault.  But I don’t agree this is part of it, because the case is so weak and they’re going to lose.  This is just kissing Trump’s ass to get him to stop whining.

  22. 22.

    Shalimar

    @WaterGirl: Would I be good with abuse of power far worse than anything Nixon did?  Absolutely not.  It is a horrible assault on American jurisprudence.  But it’s also a massive overreach on a terrible case, and I would rather let Comey litigate Russia all over again in a criminal trial than have them try something that they’re more likely to win.  We still have judges.  DoJ can’t just do whatever they want.

  25. 25.

    JML

    I just want all the defenses of Comey to be “even assholes like this smug jerk shouldn’t be targeted by the government”. We can slap down this disgusting and corrupt use of power without valorizing Comey.

    Good luck to The Bride!

  26. 26.

    No One of Consequence

    Good morning all. 2 seconds of song caught my ear this morning:

    youtu.be/RY7S6EgSlCI?t=77

    I think this is great actually. Who among us did not see overreach as the main means to The End? The way I look at it, Mangolini is advancing the timeline. Fantastic. Surely nothing can go wrong, seeing the tremendous leadership displayed by his chosen thus far.

    This is bluff and bluster. The Courts can either acquiesce, or not. The Supremes can either validate, or not. If either or both occur, again, this advances the timeline. These guys wanna go for broke.

    Literally.

    They want to break our system of government.

    Sit with that a moment.

    Now consider, how unlikely it is that enough of our fellow citizenry are going to be ok with that. Sure, we’ve failed in the past, but I like our track record when IMMINENT DEMISE is presented as an option to the survival of our country. (Assumes some facts not in evidence at this time.)

    Yeah yeah yeah, they’ve got Big Plans and the Levers of Power. But pain and suffering are coming, and the prices at the grocery store keep going up but not our paychecks. They don’t have that much circus, and bread is looking more and more sparse.

    So. The way I see it, they advance their own doom. Sure, lots of pain on the way. Hurting fellow citizens. I am sorry for what is coming, but I never reasonably thought that the pain was unavoidable. Too many of our fellow citizens couldn’t be bothered to lever their ass off the couch and vote Prevention.

    Let’s have a trial. Let’s get more information about The Fuckery into the public record via adjudication. This is why we have these institutions. Let’s test them. Many are failing, but they were specifically staffed and headed to fail. Let’s see how this plays out.

    Maybe Ma and Pa ‘Merka will come to realize that the comforting feel of the warm and wet begins to lose the appeal when their olfactory kicks in and they find themselves unable to countenance the smell.

    We can hope. I do anyway. (ETA: I think maybe Oct 18th will be pretty massive. Perhaps the largest thus far.)
    -NOoC

  28. 28.

    Shalimar

    @different-church-lady:

    6th Amendment
    In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.

    I agree with you that Scalia and Thomas would vote that this did not apply to Comey’s case if it came up on appeal, but I think that would be too much for the other 4 monarchists.

  30. 30.

    Doug R

    Could this be an implicit threat to James Comey’s daughter?
    IIRC she was a prosecutor in New York, she’s almost certainly seen some of the Epstein Files.

  31. 31.

    Almost Retired

    I’m sure no one at the DOJ really thinks Comey or any of the other democratic ham sandwiches they’re trying to indict will be convicted.  But forcing them to run up legal bills is good enough to stifle dissent.  The hourly rate top criminal defense attorneys charge shocks me (also mix in some envy).

    Also, whenever I see Comey, it always makes me wonder if those under-eye tighteners they advertise on cable TV are effective for eye bags.  I can be quite superficial.

  32. 32.

    chemiclord

    I think it’s possible to hold two thoughts concurrently.

    1) That no one should ever be railroaded by a fascist government pushing bullshit action to get revenge on people who slighted them.

    2) That if anyone should be among the first to face the consequences of enabling a fascist government in the United States, it might as well be James Comey, especially since to this day, he has not shown any signs that he thinks he fucked up.

    Sure, it’s fine to ask everyone to “come together.”  But it’s also reasonable to ask those we’re bringing in to demonstrate some goddamn self-reflection.

  33. 33.

    Shalimar

    @Baud: He shouldn’t vote that way.  Anyone taking an LSAT should know better even before they start law school.  But I think he knows he can’t be removed and no longer cares about consequences.

  40. 40.

    Socolofi

    Comey is the first kick of the mule, in that Trump is coming for Republicans too.

    Let’s see if they are willing to grow a spine, or if they just bend over for more mule kicks.

  42. 42.

    leeleeFL

    What’s being done by the current DOJ is a threat to all of us! Comey may have other crap to answer for, but this is a threat to DEMOCRACY, not one man! I hope we can all put aside the anger we feel about past BS, and focus on the current debacles. Time enough later to let Comey we still hate what he did in 2016.

  47. 47.

    WTFGhost

    Well, I don’t like James Comey, and I find it amusing to see him hoist by his own petard. He ignored blatant corruption by Republicans in 2016; if he goes broke defending himself against Republican corruption, or ends up in jail, that is not the part that’s going to stick in my gut like a pile of broken glass.

    NO ONE should have the right to wield the law like a weapon, to create bogus prosecutions. That was one of the great fears of the founders – that the executive would act in precisely this manner, which is why we have a Bill of Rights. The Fourth Amendment is supposed to say “you can’t even *hassle* a person, without a judicial warrant, or probable cause” and the Fifth Amendment says you can’t even *detain* someone (removing their freedom) without judicial – not executive – oversight. What the founders didn’t anticipate is that half of the governing power in this nation would go to people who don’t believe in truth, just, ways to shape public perceptions via the correct “alternative facts.” If they can write news releases that say Comey is guilty, Comey is guilty; he shouldn’t have made an enemy of “TRUMP”.

  49. 49.

    TurnItOffAndOnAgain

    @chemiclord: THIS. And I’m pretty sure a good amount of the posters here have been demonstrating the ability to hold both thoughts in their head at the same time.

    Plus, in times like these, you got to get your satisfaction where you can.

  50. 50.

    bjacques

    What a gorgeous photo!

    And the law protects a dumb, arrogant son-of-a-bitch with a stick jammed so far up his ass he can’t look around to see the damage he was going to do or it protects nobody

  51. 51.

    iKropoclast

    @trollhattan: Putting words in the mouths of enemies is a critical component of “Conservative” free speech. It would be crazy, but it wouldn’t shock me if the Supremes allowed Trump’s DOJ to base charges on falsely attributed statements.

    It can always be adjudicated at the fair trial the defendant is entitled to, after all..

    ETA: And terrible thing about Comey, but forgive me for not being as upset as I might be if it were almost anyone else.

  55. 55.

    RevRick

    @rb: If I were to assign to verbs the designation of “foul language”, “dirty words”, or “curses” there would be two sets of synonyms:

    1). Deserve, earn, merit;

    2). Should, ought, must.

    They are often used as weapons to demean people. Sadly, we often use them to demean ourselves.

  57. 57.

    Bupalos

    I appreciate this post, and I’ll add that the fact that it really is necessary is evidence of the way we have allowed ourselves to become part of the degeneration of democracy through internet brain-rot. Condemnation for a banana republic style show-trial should be reflexive, overwhelming, and not preceded or accompanied by various kinds of partisan throat-clearings and hat-tips to retribution and karmic justice. Solidarity means moving beyond your deep feelings of like and dislike and historic wrong. It doesn’t mean purging your ranks or enforcing conformity. It doesn’t mean accepting the help of people you don’t like while muttering under your breath that you don’t like them and hope they get wrecked in the end.

    There’s not much daylight between some of the stuff we see from the left on this and the way wingers talk about Trump as an imperfect vessel for divine justice.

  59. 59.

    brendancalling

    Obviously, I don’t think Comey *deserves* to be dragged into a show trial, just as I don’t think a balloon-headed, large-gummed, shit-talking, racist propagandist deserves to be murdered.

    But I’ll be goddamned if he gets an ounce of sympathy from me. I don’t have to feel sorry for him to know and acknowledge that what’s happening to him is wrong. Kind of like I can simultaneously believe that the charges against Larry Flynt for his (actually quite hilarious) parody of a Campari ad were total BS, while also believing that Larry Flynt was a complete and total scumbag.

  62. 62.

    Bupalos

    @different-church-lady: Actually what is happening is Trump is picking a weak link that the moralizing left, with its illiteracy regarding solidarity, is conflicted about defending. There have literally been more nasty words written about Comey over this in these kinds of spaces than about Trump.

  65. 65.

    RevRick

    @WaterGirl: Yes, this weaponization of the DOJ is unacceptable and a travesty of justice, but unless we sit on the jury there is little we can do about the Comey case.
    We can, however, voice our displeasure to our members of Congress. And there is a big nationwide demonstration taking place in October which we can promote and add our voices.
    Beyond that, we can express our outrage on various social media, especially those where the other side shows up.

  66. 66.

    WTFGhost

    @Just Some Fuckhead: EEEEEW. You’d *FUCK* him? I wouldn’t subject my penis to proximity to such toxic horror.

    @Marcopolo: And the air is that much more pleasant to breathe, now.

    @chemiclord: No one’s asking you to give him a medal, or even a firm handshake; you can hide your top-shelf booze the moment his face is positively identified; you can spit on his shoes, and say “good luck in the court case, we know it’s bullshit, but I gotta admit, you ain’t no ‘innocent victim’.”

    “Unite” means “We all agree, Trump doesn’t get to prosecute people on bogus charges, not even someone we dislike intensely.”

    Previously, “unite” meant “we, here, don’t celebrate political assassination, even if it was a scumsucker who died.”

    @different-church-lady: That’s a good way to put it.

    @Shalimar: “Comey is not going to prison…” can only be said with “we hope.” You’re right, unless the USA has gotten far more corrupt, far quicker than we realized, Comey will skate on the charges, having only lost a metric fuqueton of money paying for jail-prevention. I happen to agree with you that the facts of the case are not even tissue thin, they’re made up entirely. That doesn’t mean the courts won’t show “deference to the privileges of the executive,” and throw an innocent man in jail. The Fifth Amendment should have protected Kilmar Abrego Garcia, but he’s been to an El Salvador prison for the “crime” of being in the US without citizenship. Comey has advantages, being white and considered respectable (meaning he has a penis, and a white collar job, in addition to being white) – it doesn’t mean he’ll be safe, just that he has a much better chance of being safe, after being forced to defend himself.

  68. 68.

    Miss Bianca

    You know, I can think Comey is a smug, Republican-Establishment-humping piece of shit who literally did his bit to sow the wind that spawned the whirlwind he is currently reaping, and STILL think that what’s being done to him is wrong and look forward to his prevailing in court.

    Is that REALLY so fucking complicated or compromised as a moral position?

    @WaterGirl: also, too, that photo of Joelle is awesome.

  70. 70.

    Emily68

    @Shalimar: Comey has hired Patrick Fitzgerald to defend him. I’m betting that whoever gets to prosecute Comey will rue the day the indictment came down.

  72. 72.

    ExPatExDem

    I’m starting to wonder if Hegseth’s meeting of the Generals is going to be a Night of the Long Knives type event.

  74. 74.

    iKropoclast

    @Miss Bianca: Is that REALLY so fucking complicated or compromised as a moral position?

    Come to think of it, I’m not sure I’ve actually seen anyone on here outright celebrating the indictment.  Is this just more batting at nameless phantoms?

  77. 77.

    trollhattan

    From the No duh file.

    President Trump signaled that his administration will launch prosecutions against other political opponents, just hours after the justice department filed criminal charges against former FBI director James Comey, the Financial Times reports.

    Asked about the indictment on Friday morning, the US president said that he had no list of who will be targeted next, but “there will be others.”

    He added: “It’s about justice. Really, it’s not revenge. They went after me for four years.”

  78. 78.

    rikyrah

    SHOULD he have been charged?

    No.

    Period.

    But, that’s all I got.

    I’m STILL bitter about 2016.

    All he had to do is follow standard FBI Protocol…

    but, his azz wouldn’t do that

  80. 80.

    iKropoclast

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I know he’s dumb, but I think even Trump should recognize that he doesn’t want a faction of pissed-off generals about the country with a loss of livelihood, some shame, and endless time on their hands.

  82. 82.

    Miss Bianca

    @iKropoclast: I think different-church-lady @ 21 summed up how I feel far more pithily (as is her wont) than I did:

    “He’s not getting what he deserves, he’s paying for his mistake.”

  85. 85.

    Ghost of Joe Lebling’s Dog

    @Marcopolo: ​

    “Scalia has been 6 feet in the ground for a while now.”

    Well, it’s never too late to celebrate soberly reflect on his good works and praise them.

  86. 86.

    iKropoclast

    @CaseyL: Like when Generalissimo Conquistador Fantastico Bremer dissolved the army in Iraq. That worked out well, right?

    Yeah, pretty much like that, though I expect their response here in the US to play out more as a media and political phenomenon. Still, all the old Republican hits are new again. Destroy an organization you deemed evil, sure, but an organization is an abstract entity. The people are still around.

  89. 89.

    Dave

    @Miss Bianca: It is not at all.

    And I’m not apologizing for recognizing the dramatic irony of it either.

    Especially since I haven’t seen anyone say “good he deserves it”.

    Asking people to be on “my” message in the comments section of a top 10,000 political blog is silly.

  90. 90.

    frosty

    @iKropoclast: I know he’s dumb, but I think even Trump should recognize that he doesn’t want a faction of pissed-off generals about the country with a loss of livelihood, some shame, and endless time on their hands.

    I’m going to say, yes he’s that dumb. Or so narcissistic that he can’t believe anyone would be pissed off at him.​

  94. 94.

    trollhattan

    See, there are limits.

    “A federal immigration officer was ‘relieved of his duties’ and is under investigation after he shoved an Ecuadorean woman whose husband had been arrested and pushed her to the floor at an immigration courthouse in Manhattan,” the New York Times reports.

    And the kicker—”You know better than to do this, Thompson! On camera? We taught that first day!”

  95. 95.

    lou

    The New York Times speculates the next attempts at prosecution will be George Soros and Reid Hoffman since Trump has singled them out. Letitia James isn’t out of danger yet.

    The purpose of these prosecutions isn’t to send people to jail. It’s to quell dissent and chill support for Democrats and left-leaning causes. I wish people would understand that.

  96. 96.

    Bill Arnold

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    My guess is he wants them to swear loyalty to Trump

    That would be akin to the Hitler Oath starting in 1934 (roughly).
    Out of sequence a bit, the USA has already banned the small demonized trans minority from military service; in Nazi Germany Jews were banned from serving in the military in 1935.
    Let us hope it is just P. Hegseth flexing.

  97. 97.

    Fair Economist

    I think this is a walk and chew gum at the same time situation. We can oppose this trumped-up fake charge against Comey, while pointing out that this is what happens to people who help fascists into power. Even venal, evil people need to understand – don’t help facsistsl you’ll always suffer for it.

  100. 100.

    WaterGirl

    @RevRick: Agree!

    I think it’s more fruitful to contribute to the zeitgeist of the internet with “unacceptable, travesty, weaponization of government, etc” as opposed to “Comey is a piece of shit”.

    Which, of course, he is.

    Sometimes I think the internet is a bit like “the wave” at sporting events, and what we put out there has a ripple effect.  I was just thinking it would be good if wrong wrong wrong is what breaks through as opposed to talking about Comey in particular.

    Maybe I’m right and maybe I’m wrong, but that’s where I’m coming from.

  101. 101.

    WaterGirl

    @Captain C: Yeah.  We have to scare the lawyers by letting them know that even if T has immunity, the rest of them don’t.  Let them be afraid of the legal consequences they will face because of their role in things.

    The excuse of just being a good german doesn’t cut it.

  103. 103.

    WaterGirl

    @trollhattan: I assume that last part is your paraphrase?

    Since none of these cretins seem to think there’s anything wrong with what they are doing, it’s quite possible that it was a direct quote.  Sad times!

  104. 104.

    WaterGirl

    @Fair Economist:

    …while pointing out that this is what happens to people who help fascists into power.

    Did Comey help usher fascists into power?  YES

    Does that have anything to do with why he is being prosecuted?  NO

    So this isn’t what happens to people who help usher fascists into power.  This is what happens to people who piss T. off.

    edit: new record, at least recently, 5 comments, talking to myself!

  106. 106.

    HopefullyNotcassandra

    @Shalimar: after reading the indictment, I am unsure what words Mr. Comey said are at issue.   That is a humdinger of nonsense right there.

  107. 107.

    Omnes Omnibus

    It is a politically motivated prosecution.  It doesn’t matter who the defendant is.  It is a BAD thing.  FFS this is Judgement at Nuremberg shit.  In talking about this, I am not going to discuss Comey after this comment.  One of the reasons Comey is first is because a lot of people on our side harbor, shall we say, strong feelings about him.  It makes it easier.

  109. 109.

    Fair Economist

    @WaterGirl: The point is that once in power, fascists prosecute anybody they want. Without Comey’s intervention, Trump wouldn’t be in power. But Trump still goes after him. Same happens to most of Trump’s supporters.

    Supporting a fascist into power is like slitting your own throat.

  111. 111.

    HopefullyNotcassandra

    The lovely bride reminds us life goes on.  This regime’s constant poop flinging reminds us why we must fight.

    James Comey is more than one hideous press conference (which conference appeared to have been  a response to  Giuliani affiliated leakers).   He is also the guy in the hospital room with John Ashcroft stopping the continued vacuuming up of everybody’s data.   He is also everything else he has done in his life, which I am told does not include dancing.

     A cascade of horribles lead us to this moment.  That press conference was the icing on the cake.  “But her e-mails”, a fascination with strict security protocols our press no longer seems to have, was the flour, sugar and egg in that mudpie we all had to eat in 2016.  

    What led us here is yesterday   What we do today is what counts.  This Comey indictment is weak nonsense.  Scream it loud and scream it proud.

    Then ask when are we going to get to the bottom of Epstein’s sex trafficking?  The men and Maxwell, including our president, who filled those three (!!) birthday books think grooming girls and sexually abusing them is funny.   Let us teach them there is nothing funny about it!

  112. 112.

    WaterGirl

    @Baud: That may be true, and I’m sure it is if you’re saying it.

    But I also think they are smart enough to pick someone Democrats don’t like, which makes it more palatable to some and less horrifying than if he started with Hillary.

    The turned the heat way up on the pot quite awhile ago, and they are hoping we won’t notice that the water is boiling RIGHT NOW.

  113. 113.

    HopefullyNotcassandra

    @WaterGirl: such a trial likely would expose the truth of the matter investigated, or at the very least, the obstruction of justice committed by those who opposed the investigation.

    We have done all of this before too.  Remember the absurd Durham prosecutions.  Thank goodness for American jurors!

  117. 117.

    HopefullyNotcassandra

    @WaterGirl: I propose a constitutional amendment clarifying the president has no immunity, but Congress critters do

    exactly as the Constitution actually says right freaking now.

  118. 118.

    chemiclord

    @Miss Bianca: “Mistake” would imply that he didn’t intend to put his finger on the scale.

    He’s facing the consequences of his own shitty actions.  They aren’t the RIGHT consequences, but consequences nonetheless.

  121. 121.

    Smiling Happy Guy (aka boatboy_srq)

    I wonder whether pursuing Comey won’t backfire on the Fanta Menace. It will bring up “Russia, Russia, Russia” again, and doubtless Comey has the receipts on that. Comey could well use that investigation’s findings as his defense: assuming there is enough that he and Mueller found to to satisfy Reasonable Doubt on that score, it could do the maladministration more harm than good.

    +1 for the Joelle is amazing in that dress counter.

  122. 122.

    WaterGirl

    @HopefullyNotcassandra: Regardless of the outcome, the process is dangerous.

    It intimidates other people who want to stand up.

    It costs a fortune for the person being brought up on bogus charges.

    It sets a dangerous precedent.  At what point will it become the equivalent of “another school shooting today?”

    It adds a crazy amount of stress to the life of the person being persecuted and everyone around them.

  126. 126.

    jonas

    I’ll join the chorus of those saying “Fuck James Comey” and also that his indictment on these bullshit charges is absolutely outrageous and a huge blow to the rule of law in this country.

    IANAL, but my impression is that this whole thing isn’t going to last 5 minutes in contact with an actual courtroom or a federal judge unless it’s that Cannon idiot.

  127. 127.

    jonas

    @Geminid: Bolton’s appointment always had me scratching my head. Trump clearly had no idea who he was or what his agenda was, other than the fact that somehow he pissed off all the libs when he worked in the W administration and that seemed good enough. Why Bolton also took the job is also a mystery, given that Trump clearly had no interest in any of his foreign policy ideas (although now I guess he did finally get around to bombing Iran — a bit — now in his second term).

  128. 128.

    Frank Wilhoit

    Comey was a feather mite on a gull on the tip of the iceberg.  The infantilization of the American people would have followed the exact same trajectory irrespective of the outcomes of any election since 1968 (Goldwater was in a position to do some incremental harm, but it would have turned out not to be much).  Hillary Clinton, like every Democratic President since LBJ, might have held office, but not power.

  129. 129.

    Lynn Dee

    @WaterGirl:  I totally agree.

    I’ll add too — and not that this has anything to do with why I agree (that’s just on principle) — but I don’t really hate James Comey, even though I think what he did in the summer/fall of 2016 with the HRC investigation was inexcusable. In his own way, he’s principled to the point of having rigor mortis, which would be okay, I guess (at least for the rest of us), if he hadn’t been just flat out wrong when it came to flapping his gums before the 2016 election. I kinda view him as a flawed character who cannot see, or afford to see, his flaw. Oddly, that rigidity, whatever else it has cost him and the rest of us, may allow him to proceed with some serenity through his trial by Trump’s corrupt DOJ.

  130. 130.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @jonas: Even cases that get dismissed quickly can cost defendants tens of thousands of dollars.  They disrupt lives.  Potential witnesses will need to consult lawyers to make sure that they don’t get themselves into “legal” trouble.  A quick and decisive dismissal doesn’t mean that little to no harm happens to the individuals involved.

  131. 131.

    beckya57

    Totally agree, I’ve been concerned about this too.  I also suspect this is aimed at his daughter as well as him.

  132. 132.

    Tehanu

    @rb: ​
     

    I am human and so I do have personal opinions about what Comey ‘deserves.’

    But on the more direct and admissible political consideration of whether he should face malicious and capricious prosecution: of course not. Such a thing is anathema to everything we hold dear. It’s not even a question on which we can reasonably disagree.

    Hear, hear.

  133. 133.

    Geminid

    @jonas: I think Bolton helped Pompeo talk Trump into killing IRGC leader Solomeini, at a Baghdad airport in early 2020. That strike was out of character for Trump, who’d been very cautious with the Iranians until then.

  134. 134.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    Post #1 made me smile and that’s just fine with me! Happiness is contagious. :)

    As far as Comey, for me it’s like Charlie and his very bad day. I don’t think they deserve it but karma and all that…

    I hope Comey is able to beat this BS but I’m glad that he got sucked into the machinations of the monster he created. Maybe he will come out of it a changed man.

    Probably not, though.

    Finally, back to post #1: You look beautiful, Joelle. Much happiness to you both!

  135. 135.

    patrick II

    Obama is his ultimate goal.  Trump usually starts small to corrupt, find out what works, set precedents, and then work his way up.  Trump is still pissed at Obama over the Correspondent’s dinner.  Not to mention the Russian connection investigation before the 2016 elections.

    Not to mention that Obama is his biggest political danger.  If the Republicans in Congress change the law to allow Trump to run again, Obama should be able to run also, although I imagine reluctantly.  Currently, I would guess that Obama is considered the most formidable opponent.

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