“Even though many believed that Comey cost Hillary the election, Democrats saw their opening to defend Comey as a brave public servant unfairly removed from office.”
President Trump fired FBI Director James Comey on Tuesday leading to a furor from Washington pundits. The talking points and arguments are in full gear now, but the most pernicious and annoying argument comes from those, such as Lawrence O’Donnell on MSNBC and Austin Sarat from US News and World Report who argue this was a treasonous coup. That attack shows a continuation of liberal attempts to de legitimize Trump and spin on his use of presidential powers.
This was not the first time a president fired the FBI chief and Comey’s behavior led many on both sides of the political divide to believe his tenure should end. Just a few days ago for example, Hillary blamed Comey’s behavior for costing her the election. Chuck Schumer expressed little confidence in his ability, and Republicans remained furious that Comey did not prosecute Hillary for failing to secure classified information. More egregiously, when Comey announced his decision not to prosecute Hillary he assumed the role of prosecutor instead remaining an investigator.
His zig zagging throughout the campaign earned him few friends and created many detractors, but his abrupt firing suddenly caused the Democrats to make a stunning reversal. Even though many believed that Comey cost Hillary the election, Democrats saw their opening to defend Comey as a brave public servant unfairly removed from office. They built on their “Russia stole the election narrative” and accused Trump of treason or a coup by arguing that Comey was fired for investigating and eventually exposing Trump’s Russian connections.
Though there is absolutely no evidence that Russia affected a single vote it has become a favorite argument of the left (after blaming the Electoral College of course.) They argue that he is trying to make himself above the law by removing law enforcement officials, but he is within his rights to do so, and as reported by OpsLens analyst Jon Harris, there were plenty of non-treasonous reasons to do so.
Trump did himself few favors by announcing this rather suddenly and without advance notice. Trump also mentioned how Comey cleared him of any Russian connections in the same breath as Comey’s termination, which only led to speculation. That being said, this is not treason and it was not a coup. The argument is created with little connection in reality to support a manipulative political narrative.
