DEVIL OR ANGEL? I CAN'T MAKE UP MY MIND

There’s an ancient Greek legend dating back to the second millennium BCE, known as the Gordian Knot.  In the Kingdom of Phrygia, there was a complicated knot that no one could untangle.  Even though an oracle prophesied that whoever untangled the knot would rule all Asia, the puzzle confounded all comers for centuries. 

In 333 BCE, Alexander the Great rode into town, pulled out his sword, and sliced the knot down the middle.  He was an outside the box thinker.  Alexander’s empire didn’t include all of what we think of Asia today, but he got as far as the Indus River, which was the end of the world as far as the Greeks were concerned.

James Comey’s reputation is a modern-day Gordian Knot.  Not that it will take centuries to solve.  Not that whoever solves it will rule all Asia.  And not that I’m suggesting that anyone cleave Comey in two with a sword.  But the publication of his book has resurrected the argument about whether he’ll go down in history as a good guy or bad guy.  They say that history is written by the winners, and we don’t know for sure who’s going to win the War for American Democracy (2016-?). 

In my view, Comey will go down in history as the person who tipped the balance in the 2016 election and made Donald Trump president.  Boo, Comey! 

But with any luck, Comey will also go down in history as one of the people who did the most to ensure that Donald Trump’s presidency ended early, and in disgrace.  Yay, Comey! 

That’s a complicated legacy.  It has a lot of people flummoxed.  But the question doesn’t have to be either/or.  I think it’s both/and.

In the days before the election everybody – Comey, me, and even Donald Trump – thought that Hillary Clinton would win the election with room to spare.  Comey knew there was no legal case against Hillary, but he was also dealing with a rogue group of Giuliani disciples in the FBI’s New York field office, who were determined to indict her.  He tried to split the difference by exonerating Clinton and criticizing her at the same time. 

He blew it.  I was pissed off. 

In late October, I argued that President Obama, or President Hillary Clinton after she was inaugurated, should fire his sorry ass.  And then came election day, and that changed the narrative forever.

As best I can tell, once Comey met the new president, he was stunned by Trump’s blatant disregard for the Constitution.  Comey has been criticized for not calling Trump out immediately, but maybe it was for the best.  Comey doesn’t strike me as a devious man, so I assume that he didn’t deliberately maneuver Donald Trump into firing him.  But the effect was the same.  James Comey, simply by choosing to honor his oath of office rather than Trump’s demands for personal loyalty, gave Trump enough rope to hang himself. 

When Trump fired Comey, he set in motion a chain of events that included the appointment of Special Counsel Robert Mueller, all the indictments we’ve seen so far, and all the indictments that will surely come in the future.  Comey’s firing gave rise to the possibility that the Trump crime family will be brought to justice.  Only time will tell how future historians will judge Comey’s legacy.

As far as I’m concerned, the Comey story isn’t about whether he’s a bad guy or a good guy.  He’s been both in the past couple of years.  His story is about a flawed man seeking redemption.  I don’t know how that story will turn out, but it’s a story I can identify with.