Readers have demanded to know what I think of the James Comey hearing. In the words of Daffy Duck, shoot me now.
Okay, the slightly longer answer is: I don't think about it. And there isn't enough money in the world to pay me to think about it. But, if you insist, I will make a couple of points:
1) The FBI should not be in the counter-intelligence business. There are, as Democrats never tire of pointing out, "17 intelligence agencies", which is, by my count, 15 too many. We should at least get it down to 16, by eliminating what's meant to be a domestic policing agency.
2) As I've pointed out in recent weeks, someone seems to be holding the US Constitution upside down: We have courtrooms presuming to be legislatures, and the legislature pretending to be a courtroom. Both perversions are part of the systemic dysfunction that obstructs proper representative government. The allegedly Republican Congress should investigate less, and try legislating some of the President's agenda.
3) On October 19th last year I called Comey "a 6' 8" gummi worm". That was very much on display on Thursday, as the straight arrow writhed and agonized over what he might have done had he been a "stronger man". He is far too psychologically weird and insecure ever to have got close to being FBI Director (far weirder than Hoover, even if you believe every single story about the guy), and the fact that he did ought to be deeply unnerving to Americans.
4) As everyone more sentient than an earthworm should know by now, "the Russia investigation" is Deep State dinner-theatre. I wrote a while back that, in today's Hollywood, what Hitchcock used to call "the MacGuffin" - the pretext that sets the caper afoot, the secret papers, the microfilm - has degenerated into a MacNuffin: there's no longer even a pretense that these stories are about anything. The "Russia investigation" is the ne plus ultra of MacNuffins, so smoothly transferred from Los Angeles to Washington that one vaguely suspects some studio vice-prez who bundled for Hillary came up with the idea as a reality-show pilot that accidentally bust out of the laboratory.
How do we know there's no there there? Well, consider Marco Rubio's question to Comey:
Rubio marveled at how many leaks have occurred during the Trump-Russia investigation, saying "we've learned more from the newspapers sometimes than we do from our open hearings."
"Do you ever wonder why, of all the things in this investigation, the only thing that's never been leaked is the fact that the president was not personally under investigation, despite the fact that Democrats and Republicans and the leadership of Congress knew that and have known that for weeks?" he asked.
It seems Comey doesn't ever "wonder" about it, being too busy - like everybody else - leaking stuff himself. The leaks, as have often been pointed out, are the only actual crimes here.
But Rubio's right: Trump is not "under investigation". That's a significant fact, and the only unleaked fact. Everything else leaks non-stop: Someone who met with someone who once worked for Trump in some hotel near Trump Tower two months before he launched his campaign once had business dealings with someone who knows a Kazakh oligarch who used to be close to someone close to Putin...
This is thin gruel. It only thickens and congeals and sticks if in the general atmosphere Trump himself is believed to be "under investigation".
He isn't, and never has been. Comey confirmed that to Trump three times. As far as I'm aware, I'm not a suspected Russian agent, but I know something about being mired under a cloud of suspicion. In the Mann vs Steyn case, I have made the point in court filings to the various lethargic jurists that being an alleged defamer is a serious slur on one's reputation that should entitle one to a speedy trial. To no avail, of course: we're about to enter our sixth year in the clogged toilet of DC justice, and no nearer a trial date in that joke jurisdiction than we were on Day One. Likewise, were my local paper to report "unnamed sources" claiming that the sheriff's department was investigating me as a suspected drug dealer, I would expect the sheriff to issue a statement saying that there was no such investigation. How much worse is it for the incoming chief of state of the global superpower when false rumors are circulating that he's a Russian agent? And these rumors are being disseminated with the express intent of crippling his incoming administration before it's even come in?
Comey's rationale for refusing to announce in public that Trump isn't "under investigation" was that that situation might conceivably change in the future. That's like the sheriff refusing to confirm that I'm not under investigation because he doesn't know whether I'll hold up a liquor store next week. Given the damage done by the leaking of every vague guilt-by-association rumor but not the central fact of the case, Trump was right to fire this guy - in the national interest.
As is now plain, it's a "Russia investigation" because Russia is the easiest MacNuffin. Anything else is too complicated: If Trump were alleged to be an agent of the ayatollahs or Kim Jong-Un, that would place it too close to the real world of actual geopolitical concerns. But "Russia" is just the generic Cold War bad guy from byzantine double-agent plots like Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, New York Real Estate Developer.
The real scandal here is that the vast all-seeing permanent bureaucracy is investigating its political opponents - for no good reason, only for a general fishing expedition. The "Russia investigation" is a misnomer for what it really is: a domestic investigation of US citizens without any probable cause. They've come up empty, or you'd know it by now.
5) So what exactly has "the Russia investigation" been investigating for over a year now? Aside from arseholing around at taxpayer expense leaking the identities of US citizens they've improperly surveilled, what the hell do they do all day, every day, for months on end?
If that's not a crime, it ought to be. But we do know that, whether or not the surveillance is improper, the leaks therefrom are certainly a crime. Yet they're now such an ingrained habit at the FBI that the lads occasionally forget themselves and leak stuff that's nothing to do with "the Russia investigation" - like the Manchester bombing info shared by the Brits that Theresa May got so mad about. Being flattered by ideologically simpatico journalists as an "unnamed source" can become addictive. Nevertheless, it's damaging US credibility with allied intelligence services, and that will have consequences.
6) What happens if Trump is impeached and removed from office? Easy: Having tasted blood, "the Russia investigation" will move on to Mike Pence, and Comey's successor will announce he can't confirm or deny whether Pence is under investigation. So Pence will be impeached and removed, and Speaker Ryan will become the next person whose status as crack Russian undercover operative can't be confirmed or denied, and so it will go all the way down through the President Pro Tem of the Senate and the Secretary of Transportation and the Director of the Bureau of Paper Clips. Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia, and Trumpiana has always been in league with Russia.
Or to return from Orwell to Hitchcock: in North by Northwest, Cary Grant plays a blameless New York advertising executive mistaken for a spy called "George Kaplan". There is no "George Kaplan": He's an invention of someone who describes himself as being "part of the alphabet soup" of federal agencies. To create the impression there is a real "George Kaplan", they check him into hotels across America and have his suits sent for drycleaning - in order to make the Russians expend vast resources chasing him from town to town. Sound familiar? All that's changed is that the roles have been switched, and the "alphabet soup" has now set Americans chasing imaginary Russians.
Okay, that's half-a-dozen points. But enough: This is the all-time greatest MacNuffin. I repeat the key question: What do the "invesigators" of the vast money-no-object "Russia investigation" do all day?
At this rate, we'll be so busy investigating whether a school chum of Barron's has parents who considered employing the sister of the Russian Embassy's Deputy Under-Assistant Chargé d'Affaires' Hispanic nanny that Putin will steal the 2020 election for Reality Winner - and no one will even notice.
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Mark I can't provide much insight as I'm only a Russian agent every third Sunday afternoon after the local Farmers' Markets, but I'd be willing to testify that Trump has some dealings with the seedy tomato growing underworld in these parts. On a slightly more serious note, this has to be your first column utilising 'aresholing' as a descriptor, apt though it may be.
Thank's for your thoughts Mark. I hope the absurdities are getting realized by all of us quiet folk. Do you think the same Russian Investigator play book is used to manage your vs Mann judicial treatments?
I voted UKIP myself, but one other reason I think Corbyn did so well was that pretty much everyone thought Theresa May would win. That meant that, in the views of many, it was safe to vote for him for a bit of virtue-signalling, as there was no risk of him getting anywhere near power.
I must admit, I've not heard any of the pundits bring up this reason since the election, but I believe the theory has merit.
Oh - the widely misused postal voting system also helped Corbyn too, concentrated as it is among certain labour-voting...ahem...cultural and religious groups.
It's funny that all the feminists are saying that Comey's testimony sounds like a sexual harassment case. I wonder what teen novel he stole the plot of his story from?
'My bottom lip quivered as he leaned in closer to me, his breath smelling like cheap wine. "I hope you can let this Flynn thing go," Trump menaced through a fake smile. "He's a really good guy."
My palms began to sweat, and I tried to keep from trembling. What would he do to me if I said no? "Yeah, he's a great guy," I replied, trying to keep my voice even, and not too evasive.'
It could be the next best seller.
Also, I think the Democrats know that the only way to keep thier female base in a primal rage is to keep feeding them the lie that Trump hates women. Pity they couldn't find a real woman to accuse him.
Brava Ms. Pinkava :)
There is a weirdness to laws about leaks.
Suppose what Comey says he leaked was actually false information. Then it was not a leak of classified or in any way protected information, so could not be illegal. In other words, leaking lies is legal.
In particular, if his description of his meetings with Trump were inaccurate, leaking them is legal.
Only leaking the truth could be felonious.
This may explain why Comey said that what the Times published was mostly wrong. This would get him off the hook if he was found to be the leaker.of that material.
""Oh! What A Tangled Web We Weave When First We Practice To Deceive", (Scott)
This has been the case from the start, the embellishment and various threads of a lie, a "ropa dopa" with untruths. It takes on a life of its own.
What I got from listening to the hearing (doing other things so I might have missed something) was that Comey started out saying Trump was not part of the investigation and in the following hours kept embellishing and leading everyone to think exactly the opposite. He was snarky and kept indicating that even though there was nothing there, there was something there, wink, wink.
That we have fallen to such low standards in our supposed "intelligent" leaders shows how much people love to jump on an ideological bandwagon when there is so little thought behind why it is their ideology.
This 'investigation' has taken longer than the Warren Commission which produced 26 volumes of evidence to support its conclusions.
Wonder how this train-wreck will compare.
Mark,
Any truth to the rumor the FBI has issued depends to its highest officials to help stop the leaks?
Americans are supposed to be confident that "Special" Director Comey's close friend and former colleague, "Special" Counselor Mueller will find the truth about Russian collusion wherever it leads and then close-up shop. I am not comforted by these assurances. Mueller was appointed to conduct the investigation confirmed by FBI Director Comey into Russian tampering and ANY matters that arose or may arise directly or within the scope of 28 C.F.R. § 600.4(a). He was also given prosecutorial powers for ANY crimes arising from the investigation of these matters.
Mueller's hired various heavy hitter attorneys including Aaron Zebley (Mueller's former FBI chief of staff) and a prosecutor who began his Washington career as an ass't Watergate prosecutor and Mr. Weisman, the former head of the DOJ's criminal fraud section and former member of the Enron Task Force as well as several prosecutions against the Genovese, Colombo and Gambino crime families. Rothstein did not include a time restriction on their efforts so it will go on and on and I suspect the prosecuting attorneys have reputations to uphold and will not be satisfied leaving empty handed anytime soon. I would not be surprised if Trump businesses are soon heavily audited and other investigative tentacles grow in many directions in search of something. The MSM fake headlines could soon refer to the "Trump Crime Family" if this investigation spins out of control or is exploited to take down Trump. I hope these are all ludicrous fears and Mueller will conduct a fair and competent investigation.
Ann Coulter said, the only evidence of Russian collusion with Americans is the Russian produced salacious dossier that Dems and anti Trumpists tried to exploit with the media (Buzzfeed, CNN) during the election. Sen. McCain had already given Comey the fake dossier as potential evidence that Russia had compromising evidence on Trump.
Oh - and just for the record, Maddow's latest analysis is that the Russia scandal is "mushrooming". Given the amount of sh*t being poured into this dark space, I'd wager the mushroom could end up Hiroshima-sized.
Mark doesn't say much on this topic that hasn't been said by a good number of other people. But no one on the planet says it as well as Mark does. And I am not just referring to the incredible entertainment value, I refer also to his clarity of thought.
Thanks Mark.
You know, by the time this all ends, the general public will be so sick of this kind of scandal that if a real scandal comes up, they will ignore it.
Sometimes I wonder if this is Trump's plan.
Underestimate him at your peril.
Recent ratings suggested everyone's flocking (even from Fox) to Rachel Maddow to try and figure this Russia conspiracy out. So, for the first time, I watched her in action - her natty suit of solemn black, her windy suspiration of forced consipracy, the hyperventiallating 'havior of the visage...she's like a cross between Seinfeld and Ellen - it is literally IMPOSSIBLE to follow her endless trails of "Well, well, we know," and "We could an if we would," and such ambiguous giving out -- and of course that is the point, that is the "art" of it, the ultimate snarky, narcissistic show about nothing. But I guess you have to give Comey points for his rather nifty interpretation of Kramer.
If I were a betting man, I would bet 1/4 of the entire U.S. uranium stockpile PLUS a $500,000 Speaking Engagement that our newly inaugurated "Special Prosecutor For Russian Involvement" will either {"Be Prohibited From Investigating"} or {"Find Nothing Wrong Involving"} the Obama / Clinton Russian "connections".
Little Marco's astute line of questioning exposed Comey for the political hack he is. Mr. Self-Righteous, pure as the driven snow Comey, turns out to be nothing more than an underhanded political operative suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome like so many others in Washington, D.C. Let it be said that Little Marco's very "big" hands lifted The Don's overheated testicles out of the fire. Good job Marco Rubio. No sweat brother!
One does have to wonder whether the allegations of collusion with the Russians are not some form of projection by the Clintons? Didn't the most famous horndog to occupy the office of the presidency spend some of his days as a Rhodes Scholar in the Soviet Union? No doubt he had a delightful time. And, no doubt, he would have been a valuable target to Soviet intelligence. Someone with his proclivities would be easy to compromise. So, the Russians having the goods on Billy Boy seems at least as plausible as The Mogul colluding with them.That would explain Bill's flaccidity and Hillary's suppiness when it came to Russian aggression.
The North by Northwest comparison is apt. These whole proceedings have had that level of absurdity to them. It's descended into farce with Comey's admission he triggered the special counsel out of spite. Imagine that, our whole federal government ground to a halt because Hillary couldn't accept losing and Comey couldn't accept getting fired. That two petty individuals could do that much damage illuminates how dysfunctional things are in DC.
We know that Comey bungled the Hillary email investigation to assist Hillary's campaign, he admitted that the AG Loretta Lynch was politically compromised and now reinforced that that with the "matter" vs "criminal investigation" issue. We know how the Dems and the MSM feel about this. They couldn't care less. We know that there are probably numerous whistleblowers in the FBI, DOJ and NSA, IRS, etc. who care about the Constitution and are prepared to talk....even about the Benghazi cover-up. So what is Trump waiting for? He would do his country an immense service to drain the swamp and restore law and order as intended under their Constitution.
While Mark's response did not directly focus on Comey's statements, various writers, analysts, judges and others are reacting to what Comey said. One comment - word - that struck me, is the following:
"The use of the word "hope," Comey said, "rings in my ear as kind of, 'will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?'" A group of Henry's followers interpreted the statement as an indication that he wanted Becket dead and they did the king's will."
Now, I might as well jump in here with my own interpretation or analysis which is as sane or insane as any of the others:
Remember that guy who spewed HOPE all over the place?
Were he and his handlers also 'interpreting' 'Henry's utterance and his followers' action?
Was that HOPE also 'ringing in 0bama's ear as kind of, 'will no one rid me of this meddlesome bunch of citizenry?' and his henchmen then categorically began to dismantle as much of the USA Constitution and all else to kill off the citizenry?
Is my "interpretation" any more off the chart than those of Comey and others? I don't think so.
Mark replies:
That answer by Comey struck me as very revealing - not of Trump, but of Comey's self-aggrandizing and narcissism, and of his need to be at the center of everything, and general psychological unfitness for the job.
Of course, everyone understands that those naughty Russian Hackers can do anything. There is no election they cannot swing, no Government policy in any nation across the Planet that they cannot influence.
In fact those Russian Hackers are like the miracle molecule CO2 (aka 'See-Yo-Tu') which can make the World's climate hotter, colder, wetter, drier, windier, foggier, clearer, more boring and so on. All at the same time!
So, I've got to ask...Do Russian Hackers cause CO2 or does CO2 cause Russian Hackers?
Enquiring Minds need to Know!
Well, I guess it is a much more important and fundamental question than whether the last POTUS flying to the UK to finger-wag at the British People and give them instruction in which way they must vote in the Brexit Referendum, was some subtle and covert attempt at "interference" or "trying to influence the outcome".
No comparison surely! Even John McCain would understand that!
America is truly in a mess, both domestically and on a foreign basis, and Trump will need all of his daunted courage, energy and commitment in order to drain the swamp in the intelligence and other civil services within the federal government...from the DOJ to the FBI to the NSA to the IRS, and on and on it goes. At this time, America resembles, for all intents and purposes, a banana republic, with, with a few exceptions, a non-functioning Fourth Estate to boot. Just look what is costing Mark just to get some justice on the Mann case. There is now no doubt in my mind that the British parliamentary system is far superior to the mess that exists in the states. Time and time again, we see a weaponized and politiicized DOJ or FBI or some other agency, especially during the Obama administration, out to diminish the opposing party or to bring down the government and then add in the complicity of the press and the Democratic Party and you can see that whatever checks and balances there were supposed to be in their system are simply not working. Perhaps another country will have to arise to lead the war of civilizations against Islamism until America recovers, if ever, from its greatly diminished state.
Mark, It grieves me to say that Americans, whose ingenuity used to be the envy of the world, have become so dull that the word dull is no longer a sufficient definition.
Here we have a sinister foreign guest host of a talk show (that a few folks listen to anyway) who knows more about America, her form of government, and her history than 99.99% of the people bred, born, and raised as natural born citizens.
I do believe that you are a gift from God, to America, a prophet even! But don't get too excited about that. Jeremiah was not just a bullfrog, if I remember correctly, he was a prophet too ... and it didn't work out so well for him.
Still, thank you for all you do Mr. Steyn.
This has to be the best comment I've read in awhile. Mr. Steyn's admiration for this country has been evident ever since "American Alone", to say nothing of his brilliant guest hosting on Rush's show. And he is certainly not the only foreign-born citizen who knows the ins and outs of this country, her history, and her governing document than a far-too-large preponderance of her native-born citizenry.
As a history teacher and former naval "Mustang" of 14 years, I often impress upon my students that it wasn't the Germanic barbarians that did the Western Roman Empire in, but the rot of decadence and apathy that fatally weakened her first. I fear that we are marching double-time down that same road, and are not long for this world if we do not correct it.
As a history teacher, I believe you will find this take fascinating also. It is no question that the moral decay brings the collapse, but, well watch this and give feedback if you think it worthy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_Qpy0mXg8Y&t=1264s
See, this is one reason why I'm happy to be a Founding Member of the Mark Steyn Club! I attended a lecture by Dr. Warner 5 or 6 years ago, and, like Robin Hood, the man hits nothing but bulls-eyes when he speaks about Islam.
One thing I have going in my favor is that I teach at a militantly non-PC Christian school, and the administration has precisely zero problems with me when I excoriate the "PC-approved" narrative about Islamic culture in the Middle Ages. I especially hammer home the truth that the Crusades were a defensive reaction to the jihadi offensive that occurred during those years. It was an exceptionally mild reaction, at that.
I would urge everyone to watch the video link that you posted. I would further encourage everyone to watch more of Dr. Wilson's lectures that have been posted on YouTube. Christians, especially the ones who stand in our pulpits, need to put some starch in their spines and rediscover how to call a spade a spade.
They need to make Comey an example of this grand waste of time. Send him the bill for every answer that was not answered - but could have been easily. At the end of the session add up all the staff's time and at least show what was wasted in time, money and human capital.
"To site the other person you just said that would *trigger you Sam Harris*, Mark Steyn said this the other day, *this is the conversation we will be having when the Mullahs nuke us*.Everyone will be discussing if someone is transgender despite the fact they've had no operation (ref Jack Monroe in UK)"
- Douglas Murray when he's angry
https://youtu.be/8LJF94jYMIw?t=10m34s
If this is Steyn when he's uninterested, I'd hate to see him fired up -- actually I have, and his mind's a lethal weapon. And I suspect Michael Mann knows it.
While not wanting to think about it, you appear to have thought about it right cogently.
All true, but you left out the middle part: None of this would be happening were it not for a weaponized Fourth Estate, much of which functions as little different from the in-house audio-visual department of the DNC. Consider the multitude of real "scandals" of the previous administration and their virtual non-existence in the common conscientiousness - trees falling in woods with reporters refusing to report the deafening crash.
consciousness (how do you turn off spell-checkers?)
It's strange, Mr. Steyn, that you focus on the legitimacy of pointless and self-serving government investigations rather than the fact (as I'm reliably informed by everyone at the National Review and many, many other "Very Smart Conservatives") that this is all Trump's fault - if he'd just learned to speak DC's language and follow DC's subtle protocols we wouldn't be in this position at all! And we'd have the smart people telling Mr. Trump all the long-established acceptable boundaries for all of his behavior and policies. Wouldn't that be nice?
Maybe if you play your cards right, Mark, you can get your Mann suit moved before congress. They seem to move forward quicker with similar results. And to Rubio's point, it seems to me that it would be fairly easy for congress to demand NSA do a leak audit to find out it their intelligence has been leaked in a biased manner. The data's all there. All that's needed is the audit. Be interesting to learn whether any of Hillary's aides came across a russian or two in their travels.