The bias of the news media against President Donald John Trump cannot be exaggerated.
Former FBI Director James Comey, who was fired by Trump, claims that Trump tried to get him to stop an ongoing investigation. Even if you take what Comey says as the gospel truth, it doesn’t sound like Trump ordered him to do anything.
Comey doesn’t have a tape of the conversation or notes taken during the conversation, his proof are notes that he wrote down when he got back from the conversation and, to the best of his recollection, wrote down what Trump said.
Trump says that’s not what he said at all. But the mainstream media act as if Comey had taped the meeting and that his interpretation of what was said is the only one that counts.
It’s incredible but the mainstream media keep talking about impeachment. At best what you have is a he said, she said. First of all, there is no proof that Trump said what Comey says he said and, secondly, even if he did say it or something similar, there is no crime in what Trump supposedly said. But since Trump says that he didn’t say it, there is nothing there – except the testimony of a disgruntled former employee.
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The mainstream media and the Democrats continue to ignore the fact that Trump was Comey’s boss until he fired Comey. Most people understand that when they get fired, particularly if they get fired in a way to cause as much public humiliation as possible, they may have done something that didn’t please their boss.
The mainstream media seem intent on making something out of this “I hope” statement that Comey says Trump made and Trump says that he didn’t. It doesn’t really matter whether Trump said it or not because he had every right to say it.
Trump could have said, “I want you to halt all of these investigations of the Trump campaign immediately.” Trump is Comey’s boss; being someone’s boss means you get to tell them what to do. At that point Comey could have said, “I quit” or he could have halted the investigations or he could have continued the investigations in direct contravention of his boss’s orders, knowing that he would be fired.
What the mainstream media and Democrats can’t seem to get through their heads is that Trump is the president of the United States and, as such, is over every federal department including the FBI.
Comey, from his testimony, seemed to believe that the FBI was some sort of private organization that he ran, and he could do what he wanted regardless of the wishes of the attorney general or the president.
It would appear that Trump, a newcomer to Washington, knows a lot more about how the government works than Comey, a lifelong Washington bureaucrat.
Comey, according to the mainstream media, is some kind of hero for not taking a stand when he was having a private conversation with Trump.
If Comey actually thought that when Trump said “I hope,” that he was ordering Comey to stop the investigation, the right thing, the moral thing, the honest thing to do would be to say, “Mr. President, we intend to follow that investigation and see where it leads. I hope you’re right and Flynn did nothing wrong, but if he did, we are going to do our best to find out what he did and bring him to justice.”
The weaselly mealy-mouthed Comey didn’t do that. According to his testimony he simply agreed, “Yes, Flynn is a good guy.” But, according to Comey, he walked out of the room thinking that Trump was trying to stop the investigation, something that Trump had every legal right to do.
Trump doesn’t seem to have any problem saying what is on his mind, which is one of the reasons the Democrats can’t stand him. He says what he thinks, even when it is not in his best interest.
If Trump had wanted Comey to stop the investigation, he would have told Comey to stop the investigation, and later that evening he would have tweeted: “Ordered Comey to stop investigating Flynn. Good guy, doesn’t deserve it.”
The idea that this, the most outspoken of modern presidents, is hiding behind some obtuse statement is patently absurd.
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Is it possible that the former director of the FBI doesn’t understand the meaning of the word lie? Here is his testimony:
“The administration then chose to defame me and, more importantly, the FBI, by saying the organization was in disarray, that it was poorly led, that the workforce had lost confidence in its leader. Those were lies – lies plain and simple.”
Those aren’t lies; they are opinions.
Of course, Comey doesn’t think that the FBI was poorly led and that the workforce had lost confidence in its leader – he was the leader in question. But it was the opinion of the president, his boss, that the FBI was in disarray and poorly led.
I have fired many people in my career; rarely did any of them see the situation the way I did. In fact, I can’t think of a single case where the person being fired agreed with me about the reasons they were being fired.
But I wasn’t lying and, with some notable exceptions, neither were they. We had different opinions about the job they were doing. I thought they were doing such a poor job that they needed to be fired; they thought they were doing an adequate to superior job and should not be fired. It’s not a lie. It’s a difference of opinion.
To say that the president lied because he disagreed with Comey about the job Comey was doing as the FBI director shows that Comey is lying to himself. One would hope that Comey thought he was doing a good job leading the FBI. But one would also hope that he could comprehend that someone else might not agree with his own analysis of the job he was doing.
Firing Comey was exactly what Trump should have done if that was his opinion of how the FBI was being led.
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It appears the reason that Comey was fired is a common reason that people in charge of agencies, departments or divisions get fired – they forget they have a boss.
Comey, from his testimony, seemed to think he was answerable to no one. No wonder he was shocked when he was fired.
Comey did have a boss and that boss was the president. It meant that he was near the top, but not at the top. Comey apparently thought he was above the law and above the attorney general because the attorney general couldn’t fire him. But the attorney general’s boss could and did.
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Comey has testified repeatedly that he didn’t think that Attorney General Loretta Lynch, who was his superior, could handle the results of the Clinton email investigation.
Comey took it upon himself, without consulting Lynch, to do her job for her. According to Comey he didn’t consult Lynch and say, “Don’t you think it would be better for me to make this announcement?” Or even, “How do you want to handle the announcement that this investigation is over?”
What Comey could have done was his job, which was to turn the results of the investigation over to the Lynch and let her make the decision on whether charges should be brought against Hillary Clinton or any of her State Department, Clinton Foundation or personal employees.
It is certainly possible that Comey made the announcement because he did not want to see Hillary Clinton indicted and he knew there was ample evidence to indict her for her handling of classified material.
Comey might have been worried that Lynch did not appreciate being leaned on by Bill Clinton and had decided to throw the book at Hillary Clinton, Huma Abedin, Cheryl Mills and all the rest of the Clinton gang.
The problem there, and perhaps the outcome that Comey was trying to block, was that President Barack Obama knew about Hillary Clinton’s private email server, so he would be implicated.
If you look at Comey’s history as an FBI director and the investigations of wrongdoing by the Obama administration, Comey and Obama appear to be tight as ticks. Fast and Furious and the IRS scandal are just two investigations of serious matters that didn’t appear to go anywhere.
It would appear that Comey could have walked in the White House and found Obama in the Oval Office with a dead body on the floor and smoking gun in Obama’s hand and the investigation by Comey would be inconclusive.
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It would be an exaggeration to say that Attorney General Jeff Sessions appeared to be having fun when he testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee. But at times he seemed to be enjoying himself, and it did appear that he appreciated the opportunity to set the record straight.
The idea that he lied because he didn’t include shaking the hand of the Russian ambassador at a large event with hundreds of people as a meeting with a Russian is absurd.
It is also intriguing that the Democrats now consider that for a Republican to meet with any Russian national is somehow a crime, but it isn’t a crime for Democrats to meet with Russians. It almost appears to be a double standard.
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When Hillary Clinton lost the 2016 presidential election, her campaign floated the idea to the media that the reason she lost was that Trump and his campaign colluded with the Russians to steal the election from Hillary Clinton.
There wasn’t then and there isn’t now any basis for the claim.
Comey under oath last week testified that on three separate occasions he told Trump that he was not under investigation by the FBI. He also said he told congressional leaders that Trump was not under investigation by the FBI.
So Washington knew that Trump was not under investigation but allowed the stories to continue in the mainstream media.
So far despite all the investigations of the Russian attempts to influence the election, no connection to the Trump campaign has been found according to both Democrats and Republicans.
The reason this rumor has become the dominant story of the election is because the mainstream media want it to be true and keep promoting it.
Comey said that an article in The New York Times, based on anonymous sources, was simply wrong, and Comey is no friend of the Trump administration.
It’s long past time to put this story behind us and move on. Hillary Clinton lost because she is a terrible candidate and ran a poorly devised campaign.
One of the key states she lost was Wisconsin. Hillary Clinton didn’t set her foot in Wisconsin during the presidential campaign. She can’t blame losing Wisconsin on anyone but herself and her campaign manager, who was so certain that she was going to win Wisconsin that he didn’t send Hillary Clinton there once.
If you look at the vote totals, one of the reasons that Hillary Clinton lost was that the turnout among Democrats in key states was significantly lower than it was in the 2012 presidential election. It wasn’t simply that Trump had ardent supporters but that Hillary Clinton didn’t have a coherent message.
It’s hard to see how the Russians had anything to do with Hillary Clinton’s failure to find a message that fired up her base.
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The mainstream media are flummoxed by the support that Trump still has from his supporters. The mainstream media write, and talk, day after day about how Trump is like Richard Nixon, is like Adolf Hitler, is like Attila the Hun, well maybe not Attila the Hun, but certainly Nixon and Hitler.
They write and talk about how Trump lied, how he obstructed justice, how he once swerved to hit a turtle crossing the road and everything else.
What the mainstream media don’t get is that the people who supported Trump don’t believe the mainstream media.
Anyone who believed that the mainstream media were reporting on the presidential election in an honest manner didn’t vote for Trump because they would have thought Trump was some kind of bankrupt, crazed, former television game show host who was lurching around the country leading huge crowds in racist and misogynist chants.
What the mainstream media don’t seem to understand is that nothing has undermined their credibility like the Trump campaign.
Hundreds of thousands of people across the country attended Trump rallies. Some attended because they were Trump supporters, many attended out of pure curiosity, but one thing they walked away knowing was that the Trump rally reported by the mainstream media was not the rally they attended.
Imagine this scenario: You go to a Duke-Carolina basketball game in Cameron Indoor Stadium. It’s everything Duke-Carolina games at Cameron are cracked up to be. The place is jammed to the gills, the student are incredibly loud, inventive and obnoxious. The game is great with the lead going back and forth between the two and neither team is able to pull away. With a minute left in the game Carolina has a 4-point lead and the ball. Duke fouls. Carolina makes the free throws. Duke misses a three and Carolina gets the rebound. Duke fouls. Carolina makes the free throws. So it’s now an 8-point lead. Carolina intercepts the inbound pass and it’s a 10-point lead. Duke misses and fouls.
So it’s been a hard fought game but, with 10 seconds left, Carolina has a 10-point lead and is on the line for two free throws. The place gets quiet and even diehard Duke fans, including students, have to admit defeat and start leaving.
The next day you pick up the paper to read about the game and the headline reads, “Tar Heels Destroy Devils.” You start reading the article and it starts, “Cameron was hushed as the Tar Heels completely dominated the Blue Devils on their home court winning by 12. The game was so one sided that even the Cameron Crazies started leaving in the second half.”
You think, that’s not the game I saw. The lead seesawed back and forth; a couple of missed foul shots and Duke could have won. People did leave early but it was with 10 seconds left. This makes it sound like they didn’t stick around for the second half.
That’s what people who attended Trump rallies discovered – that while the reporting might be based on truth, that it was reported with such bias it didn’t portray the rally in anything close to an accurate light.
Knowing that, why would you believe anything that the mainstream media reported about Trump?
What I have found in talking to people who support Trump and those who don’t is that they believe a completely different set of facts.
When Trump says that he didn’t try to influence the FBI investigation of Russian involvement in the election, Trump supporters believe Trump.
When the mainstream media report that by saying that Flynn was a “good guy” and “I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go,” Trump was saying, “let Flynn go.” And when, according to Comey, Trump added, “He is a good guy. I hope you can let this go,” the media report that Trump was obstructing justice and should be impeached.
Trump supporters read those same statements and scratch their heads and wonder what in the world the media is talking about. They wonder how a president saying that he hopes the investigation goes well for his friend can be an impeachable offense.
In short, about half the country believes Trump and about half believe the mainstream media. Since what they are reporting are diametrically opposing views of the same events, there really isn’t any room for discussion.
The country is completely polarized. Two camps who disagree on politics, but also disagree on the facts.
The job of trial courts is to determine the facts of a case. For someone to be convicted of a crime, 12 randomly selected members of the jury have to agree on the conviction beyond a reasonable doubt.
If a jury were pulled from the entire country, it seems doubtful a jury could agree on any facts about Trump. The mainstream media continue to report that he is a failed businessman and imply that he somehow managed to get himself elected president to prop up his failing companies.
Trump supporters see Trump as a multi-billionaire who owns some of the most well-known buildings in the world, had a successful television show and beat all comers in the presidential election.
You simply can’t reconcile the two. But what the mainstream media don’t realize is that Trump supporters are on to them. Trump supporters know that a man who flies around the country in his own 757 jet and helicopter, puts $100 million into his own presidential campaign and owns a whole bunch of buildings with his name on them is not bankrupt.
They went to his rallies and know he didn’t say anything racist. They agree that those in power in Washington have lost their minds. They cheer when Trump talks about draining the swamp.
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Politico is reporting that Reince Priebus has until July 4 to clean up the White House. Politico is quoting unnamed sources, which means it may or may not be true. Comey may have leaked it, who knows?
But if Trump has given Priebus until July 4, Trump is being extremely generous. Priebus has not been impressive as chief of staff. In fact, he has hardly been notable at all. What has been notable is that Trump can’t have a private conversation in the White House without it being leaked to the press before he can get upstairs to the White House residence.
If Priebus can’t keep the White House staff from leaking every conversation that Trump has, then Priebus needs to go and Trump needs to find someone who knows how to run a tight ship. Priebus may be doing the best job he knows how, or he may not really be a Trump supporter. In either case he needs to go.
Priebus doesn’t have the Washington experience that Trump, who is an outsider and is now president, needs. Trump should hire someone who knows Washington inside and out. He needs someone who knows where the bodies are buried and who buried them and is willing to go out with a shovel and start digging them up if people don’t cooperate with the president.
Priebus seems like a nice guy who is completely out of his element in dealing with the level of vitriol in Washington.
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Comey is just the kind of lifelong Washington bureaucrat who Trump said that he came to Washington to send down the drain. He should have done it much sooner with Comey.
If Trump had fired Comey on Jan. 20 as he should have, Trump wouldn’t be having all these problems. The idea that an FBI director who was happy working for Obama could successfully work for Trump is a stretch.
Why can’t Hillary Clinton either go away or go do her grieving in private? Couldn’t she take the summer off from making excuses and lie on the beach or go on a long trip somewhere? It would be tough for her to go on a trip where she actually had to pay her own travel expenses after being on the government or Clinton Foundation dole for so long. Maybe the Clinton Foundation could scrape up the money to send her somewhere.
Although, it is fun to hear all her excuses. You’d think that she had nothing to do with her own campaign and all the mistakes were made by other people.
It’s also funny that when she was running she talked about breaking the glass ceiling and making the point that women should vote for her because she is a woman. Evidently there is nothing wrong with a woman voting for a candidate because that candidate is a woman, but it is wrong for a man or woman to not vote for a candidate because that candidate is a woman.
The one explanation that she doesn’t give for losing is that the Democrats picked a horrible candidate who has never defeated a credible opponent for anything, unless you consider an ancient, wild-talking socialist a credible candidate.
Here’s hoping that Hillary Clinton sticks around whining and complaining for the next four years and then runs in the Democratic presidential primary in 2020. Unless Bill Clinton can arrange private meetings with nearly every Democrat in the country who might run and scares them off, there is no way that Hillary Clinton is going to be able to hold her own against real live Democrats in the primary. It would somehow be fitting for her to finish her long accomplishment-lacking career with a loss in the Democratic primary.
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The Republican Party is known as the stupid party. The Democrats not so much.
Take a look at how the Democrats forced Republican President Richard Nixon from office. It was through leaks from the former acting director of the FBI who was passed over and wasn’t named director.
Now the Democrats and the mainstream media are determined to force another Republican president from office and they are using a fired FBI director who has already admitted to leaking memos to the press to damage to the president.
Anyone who has ever fired an employee knows that the information coming from that employee about the person who fired them is rarely complimentary. Everything is presented in the worst light possible. Comey has certainly managed to do that. Most people consider a private meeting with the president of the United States an honor. Comey sees it as sinister.
In that private meeting, you might expect the president to be honest about his hopes and desires. Comey considers that a crime.
Comey is one strange dude and the country is much better off with him out of office.
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If the Republicans in Congress don’t stop funding the Public Broadcasting Service in the next budget, they deserve whatever they get.
A show on National Public Radio after the Senate testimony of James Comey was largely about impeaching Trump. No one mentioned that a Republican House is not going to impeach a Republican president, and certainly not for the crime of firing an admitted leaker.
Trump had every right to fire Comey. The idea that firing the FBI director was in some way going to affect the multitude of investigations being undertaken by the FBI is absurd. Comey didn’t investigate anyone. Comey was a bureaucrat. He didn’t do the work to investigate Hillary Clinton or the attempt by the Russians to influence US elections.
The idea that by Trump saying to Comey “I hope” anything is an obstruction of justice is ridiculous. If Trump had said, “I hope you have a nice day.” Would he in fact be ordering Comey to have a nice day. If he had said, “Flynn is a good guy and I hope the investigation completely exonerates him,” would he be ordering Comey to exonerate Flynn?
Democrats are always wanting to redefine words to make their case. In this particular case, “I hope” cannot have the accepted meaning that is in common usage in the English language. “I hope,” according to the Democrats, has become an order.
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Comey talked a lot about the Russian attempts to influence the elections but didn’t take responsibility for those efforts. If the Russians did manage to hack into the election computers, who was supposed to be protecting the US elections from Russian hackers? It seems that would be the job of the FBI.
I don’t know how voting is done in other jurisdictions, but in Guilford County the electronic voting machines are never connected to the internet. The votes are recorded on cartridges placed in the voting machines, the cartridges are then physically taken to the Old Guilford County Court House where the votes are tabulated on computers that are not connected to the internet. The only internet connection is when the vote totals are sent to Raleigh to be displayed. This computer and the computers in Raleigh could be hacked, but the elections officials in Guilford County would know that the figures being displayed in Raleigh were not correct. It might cause some confusion, but it wouldn’t affect the actual totals, which are on a secure computer in Guilford County.
One of the great things about the US election system is that it is so diverse. There is no national vote that could be manipulated. Each individual jurisdiction is responsible for providing the totals from that jurisdiction.
Certainly in the past there has been a lot of doubt cast about the vote totals form certain jurisdictions – in Florida in the 2000 election, for instance, or, in 1960, when the vote totals from Chicago were extremely suspect.
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Comey said that one of the reasons that he wrote down what he remembered Trump said to him that he was “Honestly concerned that he might lie about the nature of our meeting.”
Here you have a man talking about his boss and the person the people of the United States had just elected president. If Comey thought that Trump would lie about their conversation, Comey should have resigned because there is no way that he could be a part of an administration that he believed was led by someone who would lie about a critical conversation with the head of the FBI.
If he had no more trust in Trump than that, it was his responsibility to resign and to tell the American people that he was resigning because he thought Trump was unfit to be president and he could not in good conscience be a part of the Trump administration.
