--by Sebastian
I'm popping in because of all the crazy things going on with Trump, this may be the craziest one so far.
All of the obvious things about Comey's firing are being talked about all over the place. Rod Rosenstein's letter regarding Comey's firing is being treated as pretext, which is appropriate. The main focus of the pretextual understanding is as a troll for Democrats--i.e. you said he was so bad, how can you whine about him getting fired now? The main speculation for the reason behind the pretext involves the Russia investigations, which strikes me as appropriate too.
However there is a straight argument ties into the reason why this particular pretext was chosen over other possible pretexts. Trump more than almost any President could REALLY use a revival of the idea that you don't talk about politically valent investigations while they are ongoing...
True!
Posted by: Mooseking | May 10, 2017 at 02:59 PM
Welcome home, Seb.
Always nice to see you on the front page.
Or in the comments, for that matter.
pretext
Did you see the date on Rosenstein's letter?
Compare to the date of Comey's firing.
You said he was so bad
For a certain kind of conservative, it's all about tribal identity. The idea that anyone could be upset by the firing of a detested someone from the other tribe because the firing was done in bad faith, in violation of policy or applicable law, or in the least gracious possible way, just doesn't register.
Posted by: joel hanes | May 11, 2017 at 12:25 AM
Rosenstein is reportedly unhappy at being cast as the instigator of the firing (though if this report is correct, he provided the pretext at Trump's demand):
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/how-trumps-anger-and-impatience-prompted-him-to-fire-the-fbi-director/2017/05/10/d9642334-359c-11e7-b373-418f6849a004_story.html
Posted by: Nigel | May 11, 2017 at 12:40 AM
Trump has absolutely no concept of discretion. We're used to the idea that the President necessarily has to play a lot of things close to his chest, and that most of the things he says in public have been carefully vetted by his staff. With Trump, if he has a thought he sees no reason he shouldn't instantly broadcast it to the world on Twitter.
To his fans, it makes him seem refreshing and genuine--it's why he usually scored higher than Hillary Clinton on measures of honesty. It didn't mean that he didn't lie all the time, it meant that they felt he had no filter and that what you were seeing was the real Donald Trump.
It's also terrifying, because this is clearly the work of a careless man.
Posted by: Matt McIrvin | May 11, 2017 at 07:46 AM
"Rosenstein is reportedly unhappy at being cast as the instigator of the firing"
Rosenstein is about to find out that loyalty only flows in one direction with Trump.
Posted by: Snarki, child of Loki | May 11, 2017 at 07:57 AM
Rosenstein should never have been loyal to Trump. He was supposed to be loyal to his job, his nation, and the principle of rule by law.
Posted by: wonkie | May 11, 2017 at 09:21 PM
This violates the principle of Trump's Razor: the stupidest possible explanation that accounts for all the facts is correct.
Posted by: CJColucci | May 12, 2017 at 02:12 PM
When a leader demands personal fealty, and the signing of NDA's, there's a term for that type of government, but it isn't "democracy".
Posted by: Snarki, child of Loki | May 12, 2017 at 03:14 PM
is it a MAGAcracy ?
Posted by: cleek_with_a_fake_beard | May 12, 2017 at 04:18 PM
Perhaps a solution for dealing with scum of the political variety as well...?
http://pages.societyforscience.org/keep-germs-away
Posted by: wj | May 12, 2017 at 11:38 PM