HE DID WHAT?!

by Ruth A. Sheets

On Tuesday, May 9, 2017 the director of the FBI, James Comey was fired by Donald Trump.  We are told by most Republicans and Conservatives that Mr. Trump, as president has the right to fire him, and anyone else in the government he chooses to fire.  Really?  He must think he is still playing his role in “The Apprentice,” a reality TV show.  If he didn’t like the “apprentice,” he could just dismiss them with a “you’re fired!”  No problem, and everyone would just move on to the next episode.

Alas, Mr. Trump, this is not reality TV, but like on TV, you prepared the perfect set-up for the firing, the perfect surprise, and the perfect “walk of shame.” 

I am not a fan of Mr. Comey.  His actions related to Hillary Clinton and her emails was appalling and put us in our current political situation, but he did not deserve the Trump treatment.

I heard that Mr. Trump didn’t know Mr. Comey was out of town talking with FBI potential recruits.  Wrong!  Mr. Trump and his White House and extra White House cronies knew exactly what was going on.  This was well-planned for the greatest possible effect.  He even sent a lower level aide to go to the FBI Building to “deliver the letter.”  You don’t do that if what you are doing is legitimate and above-board.  You do that when you want a distraction and you want to make it look like “I didn’t know (whine).

The media was co-opted, not unwillingly, into this farce.  Not only did they report that Mr. Comey learned of his firing on TV behind where he was addressing the “recruits.”  They followed him out of the building, all the way to the airport, speculating whether he would be able to ride back to DC on the private FBI plane (which he was). 

Shame on you media for allowing Mr. Trump to manipulate you this way.  You should know better!   Mr. Trump used you to get out his message, the message of a would-be dictator, “Mess with me and look what I can do to you.”  This is a well-tested, well-used technique and you, our media played right into it. 

Who now is going to stand up and say “We need to investigate Mr. Trump and his dealings with Russia and the other dictatorships around the world.” Who will disagree with him on issues he holds as important for his personal position and advancement?  Who will challenge his rallies where he gets his fix of public adulation?  Which Republican Congressman will say “this proposed health care plan is garbage and will hurt my constituents and the people of America,” even if he/she believes it?  I suspect, not many.  Courage is not in abundance in Congress these days, or in the Conservative electorate either.

Mr. Trump and the men (and a few women) who surround him may not be especially competent at governing for the benefit of the country, but they are exceedingly skilled with acquiring and using money and power.  That is why they were selected.  Notice, I did not say elected.  They believe they have some kind of mandate to destroy everything that went before them when Mr. Trump was only elected because of an archaic, probably racist, part of the Constitution which was not changed because it gave power to many states that don’t really deserve it because of their small numbers of people, mostly White.

Where do we go from here?  This question has been asked a lot the past few days, but no one has a good answer.  Who will carry on the investigations of Mr. Trump and his businesses?  Who will find out why Mr. Trump’s family is so involved in everything and Congress has not put a stop to it?  Who will kill TrumpCare?  Who will stand with Americans who really do need good jobs?  Who will tell Mr. Trump “No!”  It is hard to say who will have the courage to face the “walk of shame.”