Thursday 11 May 2017

Trump is an angry man

It looks like Trump was totally taken aback by the tumult of criticism he received over the termination of James Comey, probably the tallest FBI director in history. Well, shock shock shock. Anyone with any knowledge of news stories and how reporters/editors react when there's an announcement of this excitement coming out of the White House would know that the reaction is going to be big, huge, monstrous and largely CRITICAL!!! How could it be anything else? Trump seems to have thought that his decision to sack Comey would be welcomed by everyone, except possibly Comey and his wife. But no, to his amazement and bewilderment, nearly everyone was flabbergasted and accused Trump of the biggest cover-up since Watergate. Even the Democratic establishment who only a few months ago were bellowing for Comey's dismissal, shouted scandal when they were told the news. Poor old Trump. He is so badly advised that, for once, he actually thought he was doing the right thing. You just can't win when you're president of the USA. The trouble is Trump is such an inner circle sort of president that he didn't even bother to inform his press office till about an hour before the statement was put out. They must have gone ballistic. But none of them thought to tell the president, no no no, this is a disastrous PR move. The papers will slaughter you. There'll be talk of impeachment. They'll say you're as bad as Richard Nixon. Oh my God, it's Watergate all over again. Only it will be called Comeygate. Well, of course, the likes of Sean Spicer and co wouldn't dare tell the president he had got it all wrong. It was too late anyway, the letter had already been written and this mysterious former police chief who is Trump's principal bodyguard and go-to flunky (what do the Secret Service think of him I wonder?), was probably on his way to FBI HQ even as Spicer was desperately trying to think of how to spin the disaster. I actually feel sorry for Spicer for once. What the hell can you say to make this decision look good? What you don't say, under any circumstances, is "the President did this for Hillary." Which is pretty well what the White House did say, at least for a few hours. Then they had to change it by saying Trump wanted to sack Comey way back but let him ride for a bit longer until suddenly, enough enough, off with his head. Spicer didn't know which way to turn, he gathered reporters around him in front of a hedge on the White House lawn and shouted, "no cameras no cameras!!" He didn't want this momentous moment to be filmed because he could see the video spinning around the world, with him trying desperately to look composed when he clearly was not! The moral of this story is that Trump should start to make nice with all the hotshot journalists in town, invite them for dinner, give them lollypops, treat them with respect, draw them into your confidence, be a great media lover. Then, just maybe, the papers won't be so harsh. I can't guarantee it, but part of Trump's problem is that he hates the media and he keeps on telling them that he hates them because of all the fake news. Well, Trump, there ain't nothing fake about sacking Comey. That's a big deal and you threw it into the fire without so much as a mini briefing all lined up for the media to put the whole thing in context. Live and learn!

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