BREAKING: Trump Fires Comey

[EnglishPete]

Some interesting timing to consider

From the list of Directors of the United States Secret Service

24   Joseph Clancy   October 1, 2014   March 4, 2017
Acting   William J. Callahan   March 4, 2017   April 24, 2017
25   Randolph Alles   April 25, 2017   Incumbent

From Trump's twitter account

Donald J. Trump‏Verified account
@realDonaldTrump
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Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my "wires tapped" in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!
3:35 am - 4 Mar 2017

Just a massive co-incidence I'm sure. Trump knows nothing. He can't possibly have been leading Comey as well as his political opponents into a massive elephant trap. Trump is just an idiot.

[EnglishPete]

Just a little reminder of who we're talking about here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnMsUaT6e8k

LOL, so Trump called and bragged about himself, "taped" it and after 25 leaked it to the media?


As creepy as it is, I really can see Trump calling Comey, bragging about his win, asking Comey about the investigation... and recording it on a tape...

Well, I'd be afraid if I was Comey...

Why?

Because he could be in significant legal trouble.

[EnglishPete]

Just a little reminder of who we're talking about here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnMsUaT6e8k

LOL, so Trump called and bragged about himself, "taped" it and after 25 leaked it to the media?


As creepy as it is, I really can see Trump calling Comey, bragging about his win, asking Comey about the investigation... and recording it on a tape...

Well, I'd be afraid if I was Comey...

Exactly. A couple of things that people should remember about Trump. Firstly he has long been paranoid about being spied on and recorded. Its therefore unlikely that he would have said anything over dinner that could later be used against him as he would fully expect ever word to be potentially spied on and taped.

Also part of the reason he so readily expects to be spied on in this way is that he engages in this kind of behaviour himself. I'm sure that the tape he leaked of his conversation with the journalist is only one of hundreds of similar tapes in his possession. His security in his establishments have certainly been known for using similar methods. I would expect him to be doing the same sort of thing in the White House.

 If Trump was having dinner with Comey he would fully expect Comey to be potentially spying on him and recording their conversation. Comey on the other hand might not expect the President of the United States to be secretly taping their conversation and may have let his guard down. Yes its quite possible that Comey could be sweating right now over something he said.

[EnglishPete]

Most of the no opinions from that poll (basically undecided for the most part) are from independents. Once they realize why he fired Comey the disapprove number will climb over 60%.

People don't care

[EnglishPete]

http://www.gallup.com/poll/210674/comey-firing-nets-negative-reaction-1993-fbi-firing.aspx

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Pretty good (for Trump) I guess.

This reinforces my belief that one of the main problems in America today is information bubbles. There is no common ground on issues because we cannot even agree what the issue really is. According to Republicans, the controversy over the Comey firing is due solely to Democratic hypocrisy, the "mainstream media" trying their hardest to find any fault with Trump even if they have make it up, and Democrats making this into a partisan issue so they can continue their absurd witch hunt because they lost the election. All their media outlets are saying is essentially that, while avoiding even addressing the concerns others in the media and Democrats have raised.

Of course, Republicans will contend that it's the left that lives in a media bubble being fed left-wing propaganda by partisan media outlets and a desperate Democratic Party. Republicans have essentially abandoned acceptance of objective fact and that it's discoverable by sources such as PolitiFact, hence their disregard for its scoring of Trump as, basically, a habitual liar during the campaign. Whatever the President, GOP, FOX, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Herman Cain, and (for the craziest among them) Alex Jones say is like the word of God.

There's a difference between having an epistemology that asserts that objective facts are discoverable and believing that partisan hacks are an infallible source of such facts.

[EnglishPete]

lol...Republicans have always used the same talking points:

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Yup why DJT will leave office in 2019 not 2017. It will take a long time to push him out. Lots of people to convince and rightfully so. Removing a president should not be easy.

The huge difference between now and then is the fragmentation of the media. Back then if anyone wanted to follow the news they were forced to consume it through an oligopoly of three broadcast channels, a small number of major newspapers or their local newspaper. (The same situation existed in the UK with even greater media concentration). In this situation it was possible for a news oligarchy of newspaper and TV bosses to get everyone in the country to accept their propaganda in areas where they were in agreement.

Now there is media fragmentation and the media in the US has been so hysterical in pushing this Russia conspiracy theory that huge numbers of people are doing what the President is reported to be doing and simply switching off liberal media outlets and stopping following what they are saying. People now have plenty of other options if they want to get their news from elsewhere.