News Burst: May 12, 2017

Hi!

The weekend is nearly here. Are you excited? I am! I’m going to do my best to take some downtime this weekend (at least on Saturday; gotta make Monday’s video on Sunday). I’ve only taken one full day off with no work whatsoever since I resigned two months ago (almost to the day, in fact), and am in great need of rest and relaxation. I’m kinda fried, like I know so many of you are out there as you go to work each day. Such is life!

Today’s News Burst is completely dominated by James Comey and Donald Trump. There’s not much else of consequence to talk about, at least from my perspective.

In anycase, I hope you enjoy your weekend. I’ll see you on Monday for an all-new episode of Colin’s Last Stand! =)

The Trump-Comey Dinner: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/11/us/politics/trump-comey-firing.html?mtrref=www.drudgereport.com&_r=0

My Take: This is apparently where the entire thing began falling apart for the Donald Trump-James Comey relationship, if the New York Times’ reporting is an accurate indication of reality. The synopsis of the event is basically that James Comey and Donald Trump dined in late January at the White House, and not surprisingly, it was an awkward dinner with an awkward demand made by Trump towards Comey: He wants loyalty.

Now, the FBI is an independent investigative and policing body, and nobody wags the dog there. In fact, for anyone who knows anything about the history of the FBI, it is a fiercely independent organization with a history of leadership that does the exact opposite of what Trump asked of Comey. The FBI has vast powers, tons of influence, and a population of agents fiercely loyal to the cause, each other, and their leadership. Donald Trump, as usual, doesn’t seem to be reading the situation very smartly. Either that, or he’s playing chess in such a way that it’s currently impossible for people like me (and many others, including most of you, I’m sure) to see what his true intentions are.

Instead of loyalty, Comey pledged to Trump honesty, which wasn’t good enough. There’s also dispute on who said what, who set the dinner up, and more. But it seems, if this background reporting is reliable, that this is where the fracture between James Comey and Donald Trump began, and where things started to unravel for both men in relation to one another.

Trump Escalates Unwinnable Fight With FBI, Claims He Recorded Comey: https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2017-05-12/trump-escalates-fbi-fight-with-comey-attack-the-fbi-fights-back

My Take: Okay, so now that we have the NYT article up and out there, it’s time to continue to take these stories in a certain order (including the two related stories below; I’m not going to get too deep into the weeds on this News Burst because I may dedicate Monday’s CLS episode to this). This is the next story on the list, because now Donald Trump has a lot to say about James Comey, disputing some of what was said and insinuated in that article (and elsewhere). He also seems completely willing to pick a fight with one of the governmental organizations that could very easily destroy his presidency, as well as him personally. I don’t know about you, but the FBI, NSA, CIA, and IRS are four acronym’d organizations I’d stay far away from poking. But this is Donald Trump we’re talking about, and all four organizations hate him.

Anyway, the big news here is a Tweet from Donald Trump made around 5:30a PT this morning, in which he basically confirms his fears that Comey is going to start leaking information about him, his presidency, and/or their interactions with one another, and that he might have some “tapes” (Trump’s words, not my own) of his own. This came in tandem with a threat from Trump -- which I feel is the first true authoritarian step he’s taken, if I may be so honest -- that he may cancel future press briefings (though, in fairness, he indicates he’d replace them with written releases and responses).

The plot thickens, though, because Andrew McCabe, who is taking over for James Comey, at least in a temporary fashion, apparently was quite fond of Comey, and moreover told Trump that he would get no updates and no information about the FBI’s investigation into him, which seems completely fair and reasonable. This on the back of Trump’s continued assurances that he’s done nothing wrong and has nothing to hide. This story is a complete fucking mess.

(Related Story | Comey Not Worried About Tapes: http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/12/politics/james-comey-dinner-trump/index.html)

(Related Story | Comey Feels Disrespected: http://abcnews.go.com/US/comey-furious-lack-respect-white-house-showed-sources/story?id=47367073)

The White House/Agencies Are Leaking Like Crazy: http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/333031-trumps-comey-firing-sets-off-new-round-of-leaks

My Take: This seems to be a logical place to sort of end this James Comey-athon. In short, the White House -- as in, the staff that works there, the government administration, people surrounding the people that surround Donald Trump, and maybe even some of those close to him -- appear to be actively sabotaging his presidency at this point. In a way, you can’t really blame them. With the talk of “tapes,” Trump has gone from Kind of Nixonian to Completely Nixonian, and I wouldn’t even want to work anywhere near him. But I guess some of these folks would rather be near the levers of power than further away.

If you read around Twitter (and glance at other stories) in addition to this one, you realize that the level of leaking coming out of the White House on pretty much every major story, development, and catastrophe is somewhat unprecedented. Remember: Even crooked Presidents like Richard Nixon had a fiercely loyal imperial guard, as it were. It took years for him to unravel, and it wasn’t, at first, because of his own people. Nixon ultimately fell because of his own actions coupled with extraneous shit happening both within and outside of his circle. Donald Trump seems to have few people around him who he could really trust. He isn’t six or seven years into his tenure. He’s like three and a half months in.

The leaks aren’t only coming from the White House, though. This story, in particular, notes that the Justice Department and (obviously) the FBI are in full leak mode, actively undermining the President’s credibility with those around him, the government at large, and -- most importantly -- the people, whether they voted for him or not. This situation isn’t good, and it’s only going to get worse. I have no idea how it ends, but, should I make the next CLS about this, I’m going to wait until after the Sunday Shows to record, because I bet this story takes on five different complexions between now and then.