James Comey likes to play the role of the mystic martyr, the above-it-all good guy who was wronged by a petulant and unscrupulous president. But early excerpts from the former FBI director’s forthcoming book, “A Higher Loyalty,” suggest he can be as petty, spiteful, and self-serving as the president he resents.
First, there’s the childish stuff, like when Comey writes that President Trump’s “face appeared slightly orange with bright white half-moons under his eyes where I assumed he placed small tanning goggles.” Comey also riffs on Vanity Fair’s Graydon Carter’s infamous Trump-specific jab (“short-fingered vulgarian”) when he writes, “as he extended his hand, I made a mental note to check its size. It was smaller than mine, but did not seem unusually so.”
This stale material (we beat the Trump-is-orange-and-has-small-hands jokes to death during the 2016 presidential election) does Comey no favors. It makes him look small and catty (or “bitchy,” as Fox News’ Chris Wallace put it Friday morning). The president already has this sort of behavior covered. We don’t need wannabes.
But this really isn’t the worst of the excerpts. That worst excerpt is the one that involves White House chief of staff John Kelly.
Comey writes that after he was fired in May 2017, he received a call from the then-secretary of Homeland Security. During that call, Kelly reportedly said he was considering resigning in protest of how Trump handled the situation.
The Daily Beast reports: “Kelly was ‘emotional’ over the manner in which Comey was let go. … Kelly, Comey recalls, said he was ‘sick’ about the situation and ‘intended to quit’ in protest. Kelly ‘said he didn’t want to work for dishonorable people,’ referring specifically to President Donald Trump, who appeared to be upset at the FBI’s persistent investigation into his campaign’s possible collusion with Russian officials.”
“Comey writes in his book that he encouraged Kelly to remain in his post, saying ‘this president,’ more than his predecessors, needed people of principle and integrity around him,” the report adds.
It didn’t occur to me initially, but the more I think about this anecdote, the more I think the former FBI director is kind of a heel.
If we’re to believe Comey’s version of events, Kelly called to offer his support. The general went so far as to suggest a protest resignation, explaining that he doesn’t want to work with dishonorable men, implying that Kelly believes Trump acted dishonorably. Comey then claims he talked Kelly out of this idea, and convinced him to stick with the Trump administration.
If the story is true, and Comey nobly encouraged to stay on the job, then it’s a story that should have remained private. Kelly is now the White House chief of staff, and this anecdote complicates life for him considerably. It will undoubtedly make it harder for the general to be one of those moderating voices of “principle and integrity” that Comey supposedly thought were so important.
It also makes the general look weak, like he doesn’t have the guts to stand by his principles. Yes, the excerpt includes the part about Comey being the one to talk Kelly out of resigning, but that’s not what drove headlines this week. Newsrooms were interested in the “dishonorable” line and talk of resigning, and that could become a self-fulfilling prophecy as a result.
And just think — Kelly has to put up with all this, just because he was dumb enough to show a kindness to Comey in his hour of trial.
By publicizing what was obviously a confidential conversation, Comey threw Kelly under the bus. And for what? To sell a few books?
Above-it-all selfless martyr, indeed.
