With the investigatory noose ever tightening, President Trump sent out a furious round of tweets after an explosive report in The New York Times revealed that FBI officials were so concerned about his behavior in the aftermath of his firing of former FBI Director James Comey early in 2017 that they secretly began an investigation into whether he was actually working as a Russia agent counter to American interests.
Trump relied on his usual rote insults in replying to the report, attacking both the newspaper reporting the story and the nation’s premier law enforcement agency, particularly the highly respected former leaders of the bureau that instigated the investigation.
Wow, just learned in the Failing New York Times that the corrupt former leaders of the FBI, almost all fired or forced to leave the agency for some very bad reasons, opened up an investigation on me, for no reason & with no proof, after I fired Lyin’ James Comey, a total sleaze!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 12, 2019
The president fails to mention that the “very bad reasons” that the supposedly “corrupt former leaders of the FBI” are no longer with the agency are that Trump admittedly forced them out because they were looking into his collusion with Russia even before he fired Comey. His claims that there was no reason or proof must be simply a reflexive habit at this point since the indictments of so many of his former senior campaign staffers —combined with the classified communications intercepts that the Special Counsel has kept under wraps — offer ample evidence that the FBI’s suspicions were more than justified.
…Funny thing about James Comey. Everybody wanted him fired, Republican and Democrat alike. After the rigged & botched Crooked Hillary investigation, where she was interviewed on July 4th Weekend, not recorded or sworn in, and where she said she didn’t know anything (a lie),….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 12, 2019
Deflection is one of the top tools in the Trump playbook. along with distraction. Here he attempts to turn the attention and accusations away from himself towards Comey and his former opponent in the presidential election Hillary Clinton, rehashing stale and discredited talking points that he hopes will still resonate with his base.
….the FBI was in complete turmoil (see N.Y. Post) because of Comey’s poor leadership and the way he handled the Clinton mess (not to mention his usurpation of powers from the Justice Department). My firing of James Comey was a great day for America. He was a Crooked Cop……
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 12, 2019
The president next tries to discredit the state of the FBI at the time of the Comey firing by citing that bastion of tabloid sensationalism The New York Post, a newspaper owned by his favorite mogul Rupert Murdoch, the founder of that other leading right-wing propaganda outlet Fox News, hardly a reputable source of unbiased facts. After more unsubstantiated claims about his former FBI Director, Trump calls the kettle black by labeling Comey as “Crooked” while conflating his own opinion of the value of firing his antagonist with that of the nation as a whole.
…..who is being totally protected by his best friend, Bob Mueller, & the 13 Angry Democrats – leaking machines who have NO interest in going after the Real Collusion (and much more) by Crooked Hillary Clinton, her Campaign, and the Democratic National Committee. Just Watch!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 12, 2019
Trump is practically Homeric in his continued repetition of the same descriptive phrases he has used so often in the past as he rhapsodizes about his own epic battles with “Angry Democrats” and “Crooked Hillary Clinton” in the tweets he composed as the rosy fingers of dawn reached the White House this morning.
One would have to be as blind as the legendary Greek poet Homer to not see the irony in the leader of the leakiest Oval Office in history describe the notoriously discrete and buttoned up Special Counsel’s office as “leaking machines.” The infantile attempt to portray the Democrats as the ones colluding with Russia defies all reason and evidence and provides more proof of the president’s total alienation from the truth and from reality.
I have been FAR tougher on Russia than Obama, Bush or Clinton. Maybe tougher than any other President. At the same time, & as I have often said, getting along with Russia is a good thing, not a bad thing. I fully expect that someday we will have good relations with Russia again!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 12, 2019
Coming just days after his administration arbitrarily announced that it plans to lift the sanctions imposed upon one of the most notorious of Putin’s oligarch allies, Oleg Deripaska, Trump again ignores easily verifiable facts to make claims that a simple look back at his Helsinki meeting with the Russian president last year would render ridiculously laughable. His diametrically opposed claim of being the toughest president on Russia with his obvious expectations of improved relations undercut any shred of credibility his fractured logic may have been trying to express.
The truth is slowly coming to light, bit by bit, leak by leak, journalistic expose to journalistic expose, and Trump is backed into a corner lashing out in a desperate attempt to save himself. In the end, we can only hope that the truth will set us free — free of President Trump — and that justice will prevail.
Follow Vinnie Longobardo on Twitter.
