If we are witnesses to what will prove to have been The Destruction of America, there will be no one person to blame. Certainly, the main cause will have been the election of Donald Trump to the Presidency. The background will go back in time and include the actions of the Supreme Court in electing George W. Bush and the rise of Barack Obama. But regardless of how the story is written one person would be crucial, FBI director James Comey who today was featured for a second time in a two-part series in the New York Times that details the things he did to earn the protagonist title.
Destroying America
If this hypothetical history was written, it would feature Trump but it would indicate that his capacity to destroy America was made possible because of Comey. First, it would establish that Comey made the difference in the actual results that determined Trump's victory. We are talking about a three point swing in the contest, more than enough to affect the outcome. That conceded we could conclude this narrative right now. But The New York Times reminds us that we owe more than the election of Donald Trump to the FBI director. We may owe what might be called the zeitgeist or weltanschauung that prevails. I can only offer the bare bones of a thesis.
The Russia matter
We must assume that for Russia, Trump's victory was their great victory too.
If one had wished for a destructive force capable of disorienting an entire country, with a record of building up hopes and then self-destructing, Trump was the answer. It was not even necessary that Trump be aware of the plan. As a highly suggestive personality, Trump was fair game to be manipulated. Whatever occurred between Trump and Russia was utterly obscured and rendered suspect by the action of James Comey. How that happened is a speculation.
But some speculations are not that far from the truth.
How James Comey shaped the election: We examine the ways he handled the Clinton and Trump-related investigations https://t.co/s39ZhysYRi
— The New York Times (@nytimes) April 23, 2017
Comey's choice
Comey came out and said he was reopening the Hillary Clinton investigation he had formally closed just before the election in time for the narrow margin she held to be reduced in the very swing-state areas she needed to win.
At the same time, though he was investigating Trump and Russia, he said not a word. His decision to focus only on Clinton turned the election and exposed Comey to being called a GOP operative and worse. It ruined him as a trusted official above the fray. And if Donald via hubris or intent destroys America we will need to include James Comey in the narrative as a person who made it all possible.
