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[nenjin]

Watch he'll make his Son-In-Law head of the FBI, too.

[muldrake]

As much as the timing of this is clearly suspicious and the justification for that timing a transparently laughable ruse, the fact is this guy needed to go.  The level of response to it approaches hysteria.  It's not a hill I'd want to die (or impeach) on.  Many of the very people flipping out about him being fired now were screaming for the guy's head since before November.

Yeah, there is some hypocrisy going around, but you just don't fire the person investigating you without it looking like a coverup or something.

I agree with the appearances, and it was utterly insane to do this at the same time as attending a press conference, excluding American media from it and only allowing Russian propaganda outlets, and then meeting with Henry Kissinger like all in 24 hours. 

If he isn't the most incompetent President ever, he is a master troll.  Or he might be both.

[sluissa]

Just out of curiosity, what is Congress doing right this moment that might benefit from such a large smokescreen?


*Begins the googling*

EDIT: Nothing really interesting I can find other than the Senate working on their own health care plan.

[Neonivek]

That was never in question. Did people think the FBI would just *forget* about their jobs once comey was fired?

He thought that firing the director would do two things
1) It would destabilize the FBI long enough to delay, or possibly cancel, the investigation.
2) It would spread fear among the ranks that this investigation could mean their jobs

As well, with him being able to hire a new FBI director. It means he can influence the investigation by his picks.

[smjjames]

As much as the timing of this is clearly suspicious and the justification for that timing a transparently laughable ruse, the fact is this guy needed to go.  The level of response to it approaches hysteria.  It's not a hill I'd want to die (or impeach) on.  Many of the very people flipping out about him being fired now were screaming for the guy's head since before November.

Funny you mention that. But yeah, I'm not losing any sleep over Comey getting bitten while he feeds Trump, but it does open up the spot for future manipulation by the President.

I suspect the new head of the FBI will be... someone with extremely close ties to the freedom caucus. But that's the fun thing about Trump, it could be anyone. Kushner, maybe Barron, maybe Bannon. Or nobody.

But I suspect it will be a moron who paid Trump a great deal of money, both proving that the new FBI head is loyal, and also taking a favor off of Trump's books.

Like Trey Gowdy maybe? Not sure if he is on the Freedom Caucaus, but he is likely close to it.

Two different (with some overlap) lists of people who might be picked:

http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/11/politics/james-comey-replacement-fbi-trump/index.html

https://www.axios.com/who-will-replace-james-comey-fbi-director-rudy-giuliani-2401266321.html

Apparently Merrick Garland is also being tossed around as an unofficial potential, sparked by a Senator's suggestion of the idea. All of it is the same as the whole cabinet picks, everything is pure speculation until Trump actually picks someone.

As much as the timing of this is clearly suspicious and the justification for that timing a transparently laughable ruse, the fact is this guy needed to go.  The level of response to it approaches hysteria.  It's not a hill I'd want to die (or impeach) on.  Many of the very people flipping out about him being fired now were screaming for the guy's head since before November.

Yeah, there is some hypocrisy going around, but you just don't fire the person investigating you without it looking like a coverup or something.

I agree with the appearances, and it was utterly insane to do this at the same time as attending a press conference, excluding American media from it and only allowing Russian propaganda outlets, and then meeting with Henry Kissinger like all in 24 hours. 

If he isn't the most incompetent President ever, he is a master troll.  Or he might be both.

I rofl'd at the meeting with Kissinger thing. That one is just eyebrow raising than anything simply because Kissinger is associated with Nixon. He's met with Kissinger before anyway.

Also, the WH is acting like Russia snuck the photographer in there, but the pictures don't look like they are unaware of being photographed. They don't seem to have yet learned how to control the message as far as how an event looks.

[Strife26]

Just out of curiosity, what is Congress doing right this moment that might benefit from such a large smokescreen?


*Begins the googling*

Probably repealing Posse Cominatus, unamending the term-limit amendment, and giving the ORANGESHIRTS™ the right to restrict voting based on an unreasonable suspicion standard.

[Jacob/Lee]

CNN: "Trump finally to launch voter fraud panel."
On the same subject from NYTimes.

He's making a big deal out of something that people might actually forget if it were left to rot for a little while. Is he trying to set the stage for the 2020 election?

[smjjames]

CNN: "Trump finally to launch voter fraud panel."
On the same subject from NYTimes.

He's making a big deal out of something that people might actually forget if it were left to rot for a little while. Is he trying to set the stage for the 2020 election?

Or even 2018 midterms. It's an investigation in search of a problem that doesn't actually exist anyway.

[EnigmaticHat]

Oh hey, and he appointed to head it a hardcore racist who's behind Arizona's profiling laws.  Great.

A RL friend suggested that this is an effort to suppress votes, and I don't doubt that it is but fortunately an executive branch panel has no real power here.  Voting booths are a largely state handled affair and any change to voting laws on the federal level would come from congress rather than the president.  That being said anything that the panel "finds" could be used to justify legislation in congress, so this is still very much a bad thing, but without help from the senate its going to be an ineffective bad thing.  Politics is starting to feel like a race for Republicans to ruin democracy before 2018.

[muldrake]

That was never in question. Did people think the FBI would just *forget* about their jobs once comey was fired?

He thought that firing the director would do two things
1) It would destabilize the FBI long enough to delay, or possibly cancel, the investigation.
2) It would spread fear among the ranks that this investigation could mean their jobs

As well, with him being able to hire a new FBI director. It means he can influence the investigation by his picks.

He'd have to be even dumber than I think he is, and I think he's really dumb, to think this would work. 

Because now, any possible appointee to this position will be ruthlessly vetted even by the Republican majority Senate even before getting a vote. 

But hey, I've been known to overestimate the intelligence of really stupid people in the past.

[smjjames]

Oh hey, and he appointed to head it a hardcore racist who's behind Arizona's profiling laws.  Great.

A RL friend suggested that this is an effort to suppress votes, and I don't doubt that it is but fortunately an executive branch panel has no real power here.  Voting booths are a largely state handled affair and any change to voting laws on the federal level would come from congress rather than the president.  That being said anything that the panel "finds" could be used to justify legislation in congress, so this is still very much a bad thing, but without help from the senate its going to be an ineffective bad thing.  Politics is starting to feel like a race for Republicans to ruin democracy before 2018.

Let me guess, that notorious (now ex)sherriff, Arpaio I think?

They're going to have to prove that they didn't cherrypick data or falsify data because they literally aren't going to find the evidence that they want.

[EnigmaticHat]

Trump's polls seem to have taken a dip.  For a while now he's been stable because he split almost evenly along party lines; there was no more ground to lose among democrats and moderates.

There haven't been many approval rating polls since the firing, for the obvious reason that it was two days ago.  But, two different polls have put him at 38% approving 55% disapproving, which even by Trump's standards is very low.  It appears that some of his base might be leaving him.  The reasons being actually more of his 100 day goals being a failure than the Comey thing (which has had little time to effect polls).  That being said Rasmussen puts him at only slightly less than he was before, so we'll just have to wait for consensus to develop.

[muldrake]

I am honestly at a loss with this "freak out hysterically about every single thing Trump does" stuff.

Seriously, he screws up on an almost daily basis.  There does not need to be a media tantrum every single time he breathes.  I know the media hates him, even though they single-handedly GAVE him the Republican nomination by campaigning for him for free by covering every single thing he did.

Have they ever heard of the concept of keeping your powder dry and waiting for something real?

Because firing Comey was actually the right thing to do.  The people freaking out about this run the risk of triggering outrage fatigue where people just get sick of the constant whining.  So when he actually does do something impeachable, which I think is very possible some time in the next four years, people will have tuned them out as noise.

Or "fake news," as he likes to say himself.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

If firing someone who's actively investigating the Presidency isn't "something", I'm not sure what is. I get the risk of fatigue, but I don't think the media goes on when Trump is quiet. The outrage at the zombified AHCA had nothing to do with Trump, for example, and so they stopped talking about him for a week. Then he goes and does this.

Trump genuinely just does shit this frequently, in defiance of the quiet Presidents we've had for decades.

[origamiscienceguy]

He deserved to be fired. Democrats have wanted his head since before the election. Now suddenly he's a martyr if you each the news...