The Comey Rule Part 2: The Reality, Part 2

The second and concluding part of The Comey Rule, just concluded on Showtime, was every bit as powerful as the first.  By which I mean to say, brilliantly acted and staged.

As to the facts of the story: well, it's frightening indeed to see what a narcissistic psycho Trump is, but we already knew that.  I wish I could I say it was worse in this docu-drama than it was in real life, but it was just awful truth, enhanced by close-ups and Brendan Gleeson's stunning performance as Trump.

As for Comey, also superbly enacted by Jeff Daniels, you could almost feel sorry for this Shakespearean tragic character, from the day and way he was fired, so brutally by Trump, and in everything that followed.  But I caught myself from falling into this emotion too deeply, because Comey did a lot of damage.  As I indicated in my review of Part 1 last night, he may not have been totally responsible for Hillary's loss, but he certainly was at least in part.

But you know what the worst thing about watching this enactment of Trump's first months in office was for me?  It was my obvious realization that all of this happened before the COVID pandemic, which has killed 200,000+ here in the United States.  Was Trump completely responsible for this?  Of course not, he didn't create the virus.  But he was at least in part, in his worse than insanely irresponsible leadership when the pandemic hit.

So for all the horror portrayed so effectively in this mini-series, it was but a prelude of something much worse to come.   And now we soon are having another election.  I don't see how anyone who has lived through the past four years, who has lived through the pandemic, could vote for Trump.   Or, not vote at all, which amounts to voting for Trump.   And that's a conclusion we tragically do not need a superb mini-series to know, which is in itself an indication of the extent of our real-life tragedy.

See also The Comey Rule Part 1: The Reality, Part 1

The Comey Rule Part 1: The Reality, Part 1

I had planned on waiting until I saw all of The Comey Rule on Showtime -- the two parts -- before I reviewed it.  But there are too many things I want to say about first part, on earlier tonight, to wait until tomorrow.

First, as for the craft of the docu-drama, including the acting, it was just superb, ranging from Jeff Daniels as Comey down to every FBI man and woman, in every scene, and also Comey's wife.  Even Kingsley Ben-Adir in the relatively small part (in this narrative) of Obama was good.   I could write all day about how well this first part was done, but the reality it describes cries out for comment.

No one can say with any certainty why Trump won the Electoral College vote, even as he lost the popular vote.  The fact that this resulted in him becoming President, and the horrendous job he has done in that office, is more than enough reason to do away with that anachronistic "college" as soon as possible.

There are other villains in this true tragedy.  Anthony Weiner unable to control his impulses, Jill Stein unable to control her ambitions, the Russian assault on our country via cyberspace, all played some role, and deserve some apportionment of blame.

And Comey?   This first part of this two-part series shows at least three interlocking errors:  the way he first announced the non-actionable result into the FBI investigation into Hillary's emails, his refusal to go public with the FBI's investigation into Trump's Russian connections, and his second announcement (in a letter to Congress) that the FBI was reopening the investigation into Hillary's emails just ten days prior to the election.   Like a classic Shakespearean tragedy, Comey did those three things for noble reasons.  But the result was the complete antithesis and annihilation of nobility, putting America into the most dangerous condition it has been in since the Civil War.

Can we reasonably say Trump in the White House was the result of Comey's actions?   No doubt not completely, but also no doubt yes, at least in part.   I will say, on Comey's behalf, that the writing of his book, A Higher Loyalty, the basis of this mini-series, is at least an attempt at retribution.  And kudos to Showtime for putting this on at a most appropriate time, when we Americans are again focused on an impending Presidential election.

And I'll be back with thoughts on Part 2 tomorrow.   I'm especially looking forward to seeing more of Brendan Gleeson as Trump.  They somehow managed to get someone made to look uglier and sound even more abrasive than the real thing,  A nightmare of a nightmare.

Homeland 7.10: President Trump and President Keane

With James Comey's book about to released, with him about to be interviewed (at 10pm on ABC) about what he wrote in the book -- all about what led up to Trump firing him as FBI Director - we get episode 7.10 of Homeland, in which President Elizabeth Keane, in a no-holds-battle to save her Presidency, fires four of her Cabinet members to stop the invocation of the 25th Amendment, which could remove her from office.

This could well be a true story in the not-too-distant future about Trump.   Except ... Well, the members of his cabinet are not the kind who would ever invoke the 25th Amendment to remove him from office.  Nor is it likely (but of this I'm less sure) that Vice President Pence would ever in any way be part of an effort to remove Trump, as circumstances moved VP Warner into doing.  But what I am sure of is Keane is no Trump.  She's not perfect or even great, to be sure, but she's the victim of Russian attempts to impair our democracy, in contrast to Trump, who was likely the beneficiary of Russian meddling in our election.

Invoking the 25th Amendment has previously been done in 24 - by the same savvy producers of the two shows.   It has indeed been talked about, extensively, regarding Trump.  I say good for Homeland for raising this issue so effectively and dramatically - in a way that brings it to our attention, right now.

Of course, 24 had Jack Bauer and Homeland has Carrie.  And in the other part of tonight's brilliant episode, Carrie gives up parental custody of Franny to Maggie - an extraordinary decision, given that Carrie has evidence in her hand which would have shut down Maggie's attempt to get legal custody of her niece, Carrie's daughter.  But Carrie has realized that her truest devotion is to her calling - in this case, going to Russia to bring back Simone, which could be the last card that President Keane has left.

What a season.  What a world!  I'll see you back here next week.

See also Homeland 7.1: The Worse Threat ... Homeland 7.2: Carrie vs. 4chan ... Homeland 7.3: Separating Truth from Hyperthinking ... Homeland 7.4: Fake News! ... Homeland 7.5: "The Russian Angle" ... Homeland 7.6: Meets The Americans, Literally ... Homeland 7.7: Meets The Americans ... Homeland 7.8: Evenly Matched ... Homeland 7.9: Franny vs. the Job or the U.S. Hacks Twitter

And see also Homeland 6.1: Madam President-Elect ... Homeland 6.2: Parallel Program ... Homeland 6.3: Potentials ... Homeland 6.4: "A Man with Painted Hair" ... Homeland 6.5: The Attack on Carrie's Brownstone ... Homeland 6.7: The Arch Villain ... Homeland 6.8: Peter's Problem ... Homeland 6.9: The Tide Begins to Turn ... Homeland 6.10: Fake News! ... Homeland 6.11: Quinn and Dar ... Homeland Season 6 Finale: Chilling - and True to Life

And see also Homeland 5.1: Moving into the Age of Snowden ... Homeland 5.2: Who Wants to Kill Carrie ... Homeland 5.3: Carrie and Kerry ... Homeland 5.5: All Quinn ... Homeland 5.6: Saul Wises Up ... Homeland 5.7: Tough to Watch ... Homeland 5.9: Finally! ... Homeland 5.10: Homeland and Homeland ... Homeland 5.11: Allison as Primo Villain ... Homeland Season 5 Finale: RIPs

And see also Homeland 4.1-2: Carrie's State of Mind ... Homeland 4.3: Quinn and Carrie ... Homeland 4.4: Carrie's Counterpart ... Homeland 4.5: Righteous Seduction ... Homeland 4.6: The Biggest Reveal ... Homeland 4.7: The Manifestation ... Homeland 4.8: Saving Someone's Life ... Homeland 4.9: Hitchcock Would've Loved It ... Homeland 4.10: The List ... Homeland 4.12: Out of this Together

And see also Homeland 3.1: Sneak Preview Review ... Homeland 3.2: Sneak Preview Review ... Homeland 3.3: Two Prisons ... Homeland 3.4: Twist! ...Homeland 3.6: Further Down the Rabbit Hole ... Homeland 3.7: Revealing What We Already Knew ... Homeland 3.8: Signs of Life ...Homeland 3.9: Perfect Timing ... Homeland 3.10: Someone Has to Die ... Homeland 3.11: The Loyalist ... Homeland Season 3 Finale: Redemption and Betrayal

And see Homeland 2.1-2: Sneak Preview Review ... Homeland 2.3-5: Sneak Preview Review ... Homeland 2.6: What Brody Knows ... Homeland 2.7: Love Me Tinder ... Homeland 2.8: The Personal and the Professional ...Homeland Season 2 Finale: The Shocker and the Reality

And see also  Homeland on Showtime ... Homeland 1.8: Surprises ... Homeland Concludes First Season: Exceptional

The Same Sky: Nixon, Trump, and the German Democratic Republic

I saw The Same Sky, the German short series now on Netflix, the past few nights. Like Deutschland 83 on Sundance, The Same Sky is about East German / West German espionage, and mostly in German with a little English from time to time. Since I speak a little Yiddish - which is a kind of medieval German - it's especially enjoyable to watch shows like this, where I can understand some of the dialogue without the English subtitles (which are often too quick to read, or shown against a light background with light letters, anyway).

The other nice plus about The Same Sky is that it takes place some nine years before Deutschland 83, in 1974, as Nixon is unsuccessfully fighting to keep his job against the rising tide of outrage and evidence about his attempt to cover up the Watergate break-in.  Having watched James Comey's testimony before the Senate about Trump's obstruction of justice yesterday, it was satisfying indeed to see Nixon get his just desert on The Same Sky a little past midnight.

The plot, as was the case with Deutschland 83, has been aptly described as a "Romeo agent" from East Berlin on a mission to seduce a woman in West Berlin with valuable connections to NATO and the capitalist West.   Taking place in closer proximity to the Nazis than 1983, The Same Sky interestingly shows the stated revulsion to the Nazis of the East Germans, who see themselves as more truly a refutation of Nazi ideology than their cousins in the West.

As a spy story, The Same Sky has some good twists and subplots, especially those in East Germany, where a family struggles with a daughter being given testosterone injections so she can qualify for the German Democratic Republic (East German)  Olympic swim team.   The six episodes end with Nixon resigning, a few other resolutions, and lots of hanging questions - more than enough for a second season, which I'd certainly watch, with any luck with a new President in our current White House.

Twin Peaks: The Return 1.3.-4: Coffee and Cole

The second installment of Twin Peaks: The Return - aka episodes 3 and 4 - continued tonight in the unmitigated gonzo, steampunk, B-movie style to which we became accustomed last week.

Let me also say that one of the high points - perhaps the highest points - of David Lynch's work have been the singers on stage at one point or another in the narrative.  The Dean Stockwell character lip synching Roy Orbison's "In Dreams" in Blue Velvet, with Dennis Hopper's self-tortured character trying to sing along but taking the needle off the record, and Kyle MacLachlan's character in shock in the small, standing audience in the room, was so powerful that I've wanted to write a book about that scene as a transcendent moment in popular culture for years.  As it is, it's easily one of the best scenes in any movie.

Performances of original songs by unknown (to me) musicians and singers have ended every episode of Twin Peaks: The Return so far, and they've all been excellent.  But that Everly Brothers-like performance at the end of 1.3 was superb and to my ears and eyes already a classic.

Back to Kyle MacLachlan, the central story in episodes 1.3-4 was Agent Cooper's return to this planet.  It's unsurprisingly no easy return.  Part of the difficulty makes sense.  Cooper can't talk or think normally because he's been in that insane, other-dimensional room for 25 years.  Part of it, like all Lynch works, doesn't - or doesn't quite make sense.  Apparently, Cooper was "tricked," and his doppelgänger is still out and about on Earth, though soon locked up.  But the real Cooper seems to be making at least a little bit of progress, responding well to a cup of coffee in the morning, put on his breakfast table by his doppelgänger's wife (played by Naomi Watts, who starred in Mulholland Drive, generally recognized as David Lynch's second-best work - high praise - and I agree).

And speaking of Lynch, it was good to see him return as FBI Deputy Director Cole these two episodes (he was actually an FBI Regional Bureau Chief in the original), which got me thinking: how about Cole as Comey's replacement, now that Lieberman has bowed out?

Hey, if that actually happened, it would be a lot less strange than some of the developments in Twin Peaks: The Return, which I'll be back to offer a few more paragraphs about next week.

See also Twin Peaks: The Return 1.1-2: Superluminal Sans Cherry Pie

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Ending the Electoral College

Yesterday as an extraordinary day, the likes I which I haven't seen since I rallied against the Vietnam War at the Pentagon in 1969, and my wife (then girlfriend) and I marched against that same immoral, unconstitutional war that same year in New York City.   Yesterday, my son and daughter and nephew marched in New York City against Trump and everything he espouses.  My daughter-in-law and mother-in-law marched against the new President and his polices in Washington, DC.  Another nephew was at a similar rally for decency in Barcelona.   My wife was taking care of our grandson, and I helped out a little with that, too.

The marches against Trump were also rallies against immorality.  But not against a violation of the Constitution.  Because, unlike the Vietnam War, which occurred without the Declaration of War mandated by our Constitution, Donald Trump was elected President in accordance with our Constitution.  He received more than the required majority of votes in the Electoral College.

We'll never be able to precisely identify all the factors that led to this miscarriage of democracy - miscarriage not only figuratively, but literally, since Trump lost the popular vote.   If I had to identify the single most important factor, I would certainly put James Comey's public statements about possible Hillary Clinton email on her assistant's computer, so close to the election, in stark violation of FBI precedent and policy, right up there as a grievously significant factor.  But it's obviously not the single most important factor.  Because that would have to be the Electoral College.

Because, look, even with Comey's statements, Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by nearly three million.  Which means that the only absolutely knowable reason Trump not Hillary is now President is  Electoral College.

Yeah, I know that Trump's campaign would have been deployed differently if winning depended on the popular vote.   But Trump only won because he won very narrowly in a lot of states.  How could those narrow margins possibly have added up to a victory for Trump in popular vote, however differently he might have campaigned?

And, this is not the first time in recent history the Electoral College has defeated democracy.  The Supreme Court wouldn't have been called on to make a decision in Bush v. Gore over the Florida vote in 2000 - and awarded the election to Bush - if there had been no Electoral College - because in that year, Gore won the national vote, and no one objected to the national vote count.

The rallies yesterday are aptly focused on winning elections in two years, and after.  That's the only way to stop Trump and Republicans who support him.   But that impressive power - correctly identified in the media as the most powerful demonstrations since the Vietnam War - needs to go further.   We need to once and for all retire the Electoral College.  We need to insist that a vote in California or New York counts exactly the same as a vote cast in Michigan or Wisconsin.

This doesn't guarantee that someone like Trump would not be elected again.  But it will mean that an occupant of the White House will never again be a product of an antiquated system designed to protect the nation from democracy, rather than directly express the will of the people, which is democracy itself.

James Comey and Bret Baier Should Be Fired

So FBI Director James Comey just informed the world that there was nothing in Anthony Weiner's emails that changed Comey's assessment in July that there was nothing in Hillary Clinton's emails which warranted pursuing criminal charges.

This news is both welcome - and infuriating.  Comey's ill-advised letter last week threw a dangerous grenade into this crucial Presidential campaign.  It violated the Hatch Act.  Comey should be fired, forthwith, and he should be investigated for criminal conduct himself.

Meanwhile, though Bret Baier did nothing criminal, he should be fired, too.  He announced from his anchor position on Fox News that the FBI had enough on the Clinton Foundation to pursue criminal charges, then walked it back and apologized.

Too little, too late.  As comparison, Don Rather was forced to leave CBS News after reporting a story about George W. Bush avoiding the draft, the truth of which is unclear to this very day.  Brian Williams - who's doing a great job now on MSNBC - was forced to leave the NBC Nightly News because he exaggerated a personal story about himself, having nothing to do with any election.

Baier aggravated the already deplorable conduct of Comey.  I had nothing but praise for Baier when I was interviewed by Politico about his taking over the Special Report from Brit Hume on Fox in 2009. But his mistake this past week in such an intense and important political campaign is unacceptable.

We deserve a Presidential campaign free of FBI Directors who violate the Hatch Act, and free of anchors who seriously misreport the news.

Calling on FBI Director James Comey To Resign

The FBI Director should resign - immediately.

Not only because, in violation of FBI policy, he released a political bombshell fewer than 60 days before an election - 11 days, and the most important election in our country, the election of President - but because his announcement contained no evidence, and is in fact just a fishing expedition having nothing to do with why the FBI had previously been investigating Hillary Clinton for her use of a private email server.

That case, the results of which also should not have been announced, was closed, with no charges recommended against Clinton.  FBI policy regarding cases which are closed is to announce just that, not to offer songs and dances about what the subject of the investigation might have done wrong, but was not illegal.  What someone might have done wrong, if not illegal, has always been nobody's business except the FBI and its closed case files.

But in many ways, Comey's announcement yesterday was even more irresponsible and reprehensible. Why was the FBI looking at Hillary aide Huma Abedin's computer in the first place?  Because her sicko husband Anthony Weiner might have used it to send pornographic pictures of himself to underage children.   What does that have to do with Hillary - so much so that the Republicans in Congress gleefully announced that the FBI was "re-opening" its investigation into Hillary Clinton which it closed this summer?  Nothing.

The FBI did discover that Huma Abedin used the same computer as Anthony Weiner on occasion. So?  Having already gone over with a fine-tooth comb thousands and thousands of Hillary Clinton's emails already, and found nothing actionable, what is the likelihood that FBI will now find something, anything relevant to Clinton's emails on Abedin's computer?  Hillary never used the computer herself, and we don't even know if any of Hillary's emails were ever on Abedin's computer.

So this is a fishing expedition.  The FBI is entitled to waste its time, and examine any computer they like.  But announcing this expedition-in-near-absurdity 11 days prior to the most important election in our lifetime is way beyond the pale, and an extraordinary violation of what the FBI is supposed to be: a politically neutral investigative bureau, not an organization than inserts itself in elections - vitally important elections - on the wispiest of reasons.

My father was a lawyer, had friends in the FBI - one lived in our apartment house in the Bronx.  My father was even thinking of joining the FBI.  That was in the 1960s, when the FBI was in the forefront of protecting the civil rights of African-Americans and all Americans.  I was proud of the FBI, then.  More recently, in the past few decades, I have had occasion to give glowing references in FBI interviews to two of my former students at Fordham University who were applying to join the Bureau.  I have hosted FBI agents at conferences I helped organize at Fairleigh Dickinson University about kinesics (non-verbal communication) in 1977 and about The Sopranos at Fordham University in 2008.

I'm still proud of the FBI.  It's one of our great American institutions.  But Director Comey has disgraced the organization - twice now - with his kowtowing to his Republican Party.  He needs to leave.  If not, President Hillary Clinton's Attorney General will need to ask him to leave as a first order of business.

Why Hillary Clinton Is Telling the Truth about Her Emails

Here's the situation: Hillary has said repeatedly that she didn't send or receive any classified emails via her private server when she was Secretary of State.  FBI Director Comey has said she did.   He also said she didn't lie to the FBI about this.

All of these statements are true.

Here's why:

1. A hundred out of the 30+ thousand emails Hillary sent on her private server were marked "classified" after she had sent them.  Therefore, Hillary could not have knowingly sent out or received such retroactively classified emails.  Comey may have been right to chastise her for using a private server, but that's a different issue (and, as been noted by everyone except Republicans, Hillary's predecessor Colin Powell sent private emails, as did Condoleezza Rice's staff.

2. Three of the emails on Hillary's private server were indeed marked classified - but the markings on two were incorrect.  So, in fact, these cannot be counted as classified emails that Hillary had on her private server.

3.  The marking on the third was correct - on 1 out of more than 30,000 emails - but it was not listed at the top. So although Hillary did have that one classified email on her private server, it's reasonable to conclude that she did not know it was classified.

And that's it.  No one is lying - neither Hillary Clinton nor the FBI Director. For some reason, the media today - including, unsurprisingly now, some of the geniuses at MSNBC, specifically Howard Fineman and Chris Cillizza - were saying that Hillary was not clear, was too defensive today, when she explained what happened.  But, in fact, it's not the least bit unclear, and I'm finding the media opacity on this issue no help at all, to the point of not doing their jobs.

Why FBI Director's Comments about Hillary, Other than No Indictment, Are Out of Line

As everyone has no doubt already heard, FBI Director James Comey announced today that no criminal charges would be brought against Hillary Clinton for use of her private email system for State Department business. He added that he also thought her use of email was nonetheless "extremely careless".

It's important to keep in mind that this "careless" assessment not only carries no legal weight, but was entirely inappropriate to publicly make. As Matt Miller - a former Department of Justice spokes-person who says he's voting for Hillary - succinctly just said on MSNBC: making such statements is not the FBI Director's job and therefore not appropriate.   The biggest wrongdoing pertinent to Comey's  statement about Hillary being "careless" is not about Hillary, but that Comey went way beyond his job and gave a non-legal opinion.   What law, exactly, did the alleged "extremely careless" break?

What the FBI is supposed to do, and has done in past cases like this, is either announce an indictment recommendation, and say why, or no indictment, and leave it at that.   There is no requirement for the FBI to explain why there will be no indictment.   Indeed, explaining why, and commenting on what was uncovered in its investigation other than evidence that is legally actionable, is nothing but sheer political grandstanding, and is itself worthy of reprimand.

Or maybe kowtowing would be the better word than grandstanding.   Apparently the GOP and most of the media have brow-beat the FBI Director to the point where he felt he owed them an opinion.   But that's not what he was appointed to do.

Meanwhile, Hillary has said numerous times that she would not have used a private email server knowing what she knows now.   It was poor judgement, made eight years earlier and less sophisticated in our digital age, but the FBI's year-long investigation could not find even a single instance in which any state secrets were actually leaked, or anyone's lives were endangered or compromised.   That should be the story that's being reported.

And Comey should stick to his job.  The FBI Director has more than enough work to do in our dangerous time, and should not waste his and ours with inflammatory statements that go far beyond his purview.