Regardless of how you feel about Comey, his NYT Opinion (re: Barr) is worth the read

[hlthe2b]

Link to tweet

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/01/opinion/william-barr-testimony.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share

Opinion
James Comey: How Trump Co-opts Leaders Like Bill Barr
Accomplished people lacking inner strength can’t resist the compromises necessary to survive this president.

People have been asking me hard questions. What happened to the leaders in the Trump administration, especially the attorney general, Bill Barr, who I have said was due the benefit of the doubt? How could Mr. Barr, a bright and accomplished lawyer, start channeling the president in using words like “no collusion” and F.B.I. “spying”? And downplaying acts of obstruction of justice as products of the president’s being “frustrated and angry,” something he would never say to justify the thousands of crimes prosecuted every day that are the product of frustration and anger? How could he write and say things about the report by Robert Mueller, the special counsel, that were apparently so misleading that they prompted written protest from the special counsel himself?How could Mr. Barr go before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday and downplay President Trump’s attempt to fire Mr. Mueller before he completed his work?

And how could Rod Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general, after the release of Mr. Mueller’s report that detailed Mr. Trump’s determined efforts to obstruct justice, give a speech quoting the president on the importance of the rule of law? Or on resigning, thank a president who relentlessly attacked both him and the Department of Justice he led for “the courtesy and humor you often display in our personal conversations”?

What happened to these people? --snip--

Amoral leaders have a way of revealing the character of those around them. Sometimes what they reveal is inspiring. For example, James Mattis, the former secretary of defense, resigned over principle, a concept so alien to Mr. Trump that it took days for the president to realize what had happened, before he could start lying about the man.

But more often, proximity to an amoral leader reveals something depressing. I think that’s at least part of what we’ve seen with Bill Barr and Rod Rosenstein. Accomplished people lacking inner strength can’t resist the compromises necessary to survive Mr. Trump and that adds up to something they will never recover from. It takes character like Mr. Mattis’s to avoid the damage, because Mr. Trump eats your soul in small bites.

It starts with your sitting silent while he lies, both in public and private, making you complicit by your silence. In meetings with him, his assertions about what “everyone thinks” and what is “obviously true” wash over you, unchallenged, as they did at our private dinner on Jan. 27, 2017, because he’s the president and he rarely stops talking. As a result, Mr. Trump pulls all of those present into a silent circle of assent.

Speaking rapid-fire with no spot for others to jump into the conversation, Mr. Trump makes everyone a co-conspirator to his preferred set of facts, or delusions. I have felt it — this president building with his words a web of alternative reality and busily wrapping it around all of us in the room.
I must have agreed that he had the largest inauguration crowd in history because I didn’t challenge that. Everyone must agree that he has been treated very unfairly. The web building never stops.”

Worth reading the rest at the link above.

[Wounded Bear]

1. Comey still pisses me off...

he knee-capped Hillary and he knows it.

He should just STFU with his self-righteous bullshit.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

2. The problem is, when you discount the well-founded message because of the messenger....

...you yourself are engaging in self-righteous bullshit.

[hlthe2b]

3. Doesn't mean he can't be revealing and (harmful) to Trump...

He isn't defending himself. He's describing what Rick Wilson refers to an "Everything Trump Touches Dies" and in so doing, describes the tactics that have allowed him to escape accountability and to corrupt (nearly) everyone around him. If we are to win against him in 2020, we'd best learn those lessons.

[dem4decades]

4. I admit he should admit his part in this mess, but it is fun to read him eviscerate

Trump enabling Republicans.

[dawg day]

11. he does say that he did this too-- listened and didn't object when Trump lied.

It's like he's edging up to admitting that he was corrupted by Trump too.
The anti-Hillary stuff, well, you know, the need for generally okay morally people to be seen as "fair" can be very strong. I think he was more concerned with his reputation for "honorableness" than actually being honorable.

But he's right here.

[Nuggets]

13. Excellent post. nt

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

7. Don't waste your electrons shooting the messenger when the message is true.

Pretend someone else wrote it. It's true and it's important, regardless of its author.

[Nuggets]

14. The hypocrisy is too strong.

And I don’t consider it a waste of time to shine the light on his true colors for everyone to see.

He’s whining about a situation he helped create as if he had nothing to do with the current traitor in the white house.

We already knew Rosenstein and Barr were corrupt. Thanks Captain Obvious.
The question is, how could the former director of the FBI with a decades long career law enforcement be such a bad judge of character, especially about Trump?
And, If Rosenstein is protecting Barr and Trump...and he is, why did he choose Mueller to investigate?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

5. This is a really important piece.

I don't care if Comey wrote it, and I don't care why. It's true, and it's an insightful look into how Trump operates. It's a must-read regardless of what you think of Comey. Let's stipulate that he fucked up and we hate him and he sucks, but don't waste any more electrons on relitigating Comey's actions wrt Hillary's emails. Read his op-ed, which is just as true as if it had been written by another fired DoJ official (say, Sally Yates or Preet Bharara), or Obama or Clinton or someone else we like. He talks about how Trump makes people complicit by making it almost impossible to argue with him; he's the president so people defer and don't challenge him - or if they do, they get fired.

This is an important op-ed because it tells us how bad leaders become powerful. Pretend someone else wrote it if you hate Comey; just read it.

[hlthe2b]

6. Exactly...

[dawg day]

12. And "Trump eats their souls in small bites" is already catching on

And it's such a good metaphor.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

8. Nicole Wallace will be discussing this op-ed in a few minutes (MSNBC). Stay tuned.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

9. It looks like "Trump eats your soul" is getting to be a meme pretty fast,

if Nicole Wallace's show is any indication.

[Skittles]

10. it is worth reading

but I will forever hold him partially responsible for TRUMP

[hlthe2b]

15. Morning Joe (I know, I know, but this morning's show was pretty good) discussed this in detail