One of these men is, according to the other, “unethical and untethered to truth” or, alternatively, a “slime ball”. Which do you think is which?

 

The week just ended was one that some observers believe might prove a tipping point to the “end stage” of the Trump presidency, with the New Yorker’s Adam Davidson describing the president as “raging and furious and terrified” following law enforcement’s raid on his lawyer Michael Cohen.

Not exactly the kind of mindset required, perhaps, to be making life and death decisions over military strikes on Syria – “Mission Accomplished” or not – and the president’s temper was unlikely to have been moderated by the early escape of the memoir by Trump’s nemesis – or at least one of them – former FBI director James Comey, ahead of its scheduled release this coming Tuesday.

When the Associated Press initially published details from the book on Friday, it served to hype even further George Stephanopolous’s big sit-down interview with Comey scheduled for ABC on Sunday evening, and which ABC editors were still working on up to airtime. The one-hour programme was edited down from a five-hour session in which Comey describes the president as a serial liar and “a stain” on everyone who worked for him. He tells Stephanopolous he believes Trump is “morally unfit to be president” but that he would not be in favour of his impeachment.

“I think impeaching and removing Donald Trump from office would let the American people off the hook and have something happen indirectly that I believe they’re duty bound to do directly. People in this country need to stand up and go to the voting booth and vote their values.”

Watch clips from the ABC interview and read a transcript here.

The interview kicks off a promotional “swoonfest” over the next two weeks which will have Comey doing one-on-ones with NPR, Stephen Colbert, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow and Fox’s Bret Baier, as well as taking part in a CNN Town Hall. Comey certainly risks, as the Washington Post says, “validating the showboat label Trump gave him.”

As the White House circled the wagons, judging by Trump’s Twitter feed, Comey had become the very specific target of his anger, while the feud between the two men and the president’s insistence that there was a conspiracy working against him from within the FBI and DOJ, helped propel the book to the top of the Amazon best-seller list; much in the same way as Trump’s apoplectic reactions had helped fuel the hype over Michael Wolff’s “Fire and Fury” earlier in the year.

Reviewing Comey’s book, “A Higher Loyalty – Truth, Lies and Leadership” in the New York Times, Michiko Kakutani calls it “absorbing” and writes that:

The volume offers little in the way of hard news revelations about investigations by the F.B.I. or the special counsel Robert S. Mueller III (not unexpectedly, given that such investigations are ongoing and involve classified material).. What “A Higher Loyalty” does give readers are some near-cinematic accounts of what Comey was thinking when, as he’s previously said, Trump demanded loyalty from him during a one-on-one dinner at the White House; when Trump pressured him to let go of the investigation into his former national security adviser Michael T. Flynn; and when the President asked what Comey could do to “lift the cloud” of the Russia investigation.

Of course, the cloud that will always remain over Comey’s own head is his decision to reopen the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails in the run-up to the election. Carlos Lozada wonders in the Washington Post if Comey’s own behavior “lives up to his calls for ethical leadership.” He writes:

It is possible, Comey acknowledges, that “my concern about making her an illegitimate president by concealing the restarted investigation bore greater weight than it would have if the election appeared closer or if Donald Trump were ahead in all polls.”

It’s a startling admission for a man devoted to “serving institutions I love precisely because they play no role in politics, because they operate independently of the passions of the electoral process.” His interpretation of those passions may have led to one of the most consequential decisions of the 2016 race. He’s supposed to be by the book, not the poll.

It is certainly one of the most anticipated books of this short Trump presidency – but then, each successive explosive tell-all or political analysis could probably claim that mantle for a while. And there have been plenty of volumes written about this most remarkable presidency over its first year. We seem to be in a position where with every new book, there is another waiting in the wings, anxious to further the narrative and tap into a national, and global, desire to understand what is happening while it still is.

For example, the book that Comey knocked off the top of the Amazon sales list was “Russian Roulette – The Inside Story of Putin’s War on America and the Election of Donald Trump” by veteran investigative journalists Michael Isikoff and David Corn; a compelling account of the Russia story and the background to how October 7, 2016 – Vladimir Putin’s 64th birthday – became one of the most momentous news days in modern political history.

 In her review, NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly writes:

“It is challenging to write a book on a scandal that is not yet over,” laments Isikoff. He points to sources reluctant to talk, investigations still unfolding. It’s a challenge familiar to all writers of contemporary history and current affairs: How to construct a narrative that won’t be quickly dated and overtaken by events? How to weave a story, when you don’t know how it ends?

Clearly the interest in books about this period will continue long after many of the leading players have left the stage. The Independent did a round-up last month of some good current Trump-related volumes, including “Collusion” by Luke Harding, and “Trumpocracy” by noted Trump critic and former Bush 43 speechwriter David Frum. The Indy’s list also includes two accounts of the 2016 campaign by two of the best women reporters: “In America – Tales From Trump Country” by RTE correspondent Catriona Perry – whose awkward Oval Office encounter with the president famously went viral – and “Unbelievable – My Front-Row Seat to the Craziest Campaign in American History” by the journalist described as Trump’s favorite target, Katy Tur.

Here are a few other titles you might want to check out :

Snyder is very astute at joining the dots in how Russian propagandists, human or digital, sought to spread fake news to undermine faith in the democratic process, at the same time giving overt support to European separatists and Russia TV regulars such as Marine Le Pen and Nigel Farage. He details how, for example, Russian “news” sources spread the idea that the Scottish independence vote had been “rigged” by “establishment forces” with the aim of undermining faith in democratic institutions in Britain before the EU referendum. We are still awaiting, of course, the full disentangling of Donald Trump’s complex relations with Putin’s government, and the many links between his campaign organisation and Russian operatives. As with Luke Harding’s book Collusion, however, there is more than enough here to keep Robert Mueller busy for a long while yet.

Finally, while the thirst for Trump-related news and analysis may seem insatiable, not everyone is clamoring for it. Spare a thought for Erik Hagerman of Ohio, who has deliberately avoided all political news since Donald Trump’s election. The New York Times wrote about him in March as the “man who knew too little” but there has since been a lengthy and fascinating debate about the practicalities – and the ethical implications – of cutting oneself off from things that affect the collective well-being.

Mr Hagerman has been described as “the most ignorant man in America,” but maybe, given current circumstances, ignorance is bliss.

Related stories:

Just another firing, or a smoking gun? – May 10, 2017.

Northern Review: Devil’s Bargain – August 10, 2017.

 

Also published on Medium.