May 22, 2017
Political rhetoric is causing many to burn energy that could be put to better and more productive use. For example, Congresswoman Maxine Waters, said that FBI Director Comey should be fired. But that was back when Obama was president. Back then she said Comey had “no credibility.” Now that Trump has fired Mr. Comey she has changed her tune and says she doesn’t necessarily support the firing. Let’s be honest; it’s all because of who's sitting in the Oval Office and has little, if anything, to do with the actual firing.
The truth is people in the Justice Department and the FBI serve at the pleasure of the President. A President doesn’t need to have “cause” for dismissing any employee. If the President doesn’t have confidence in an administration employee; if he doesn’t think the person is loyal or not promoting his policies; or if he just doesn’t like that person, he has every right and the authority to dismiss anyone who works for him.
That said, there are better ways this could have been handled. For example, Trump could have called Comey in and told him he wanted his resignation. Dismissing someone is never easy, nor is it a pleasurable experience for either the employee or the employer. Anybody who’s been through such a thing can testify to that. Trump however still has the right to just say, "You're Fired".
Now we are seeing misleading news reports that suggest the investigation into tampering with our November election will be hampered by the Comey firing. Not so! In the first place, Directors of the FBI don’t conduct investigations; field agents do that. Secondly, there is no indication that the progress of such an investigation even skipped a beat when Comey was let go.
Next we had threats by Senate Democrats saying the President’s nomination of a replacement won’t be voted on until a special criminal prosecutor is appointed to look into possible Russian intervention into the November election and alleged collusion with Trump. Well guess what? The Administration did just that, not because they expect to find collusion but because of the exact opposite! Trump wants to get this behind him and get on to accomplishing what he was elected to do. What the House and Senate Democrats should be asking is for is a special prosecutor to look into the election tampering and collusion of the DNC with Hillary Clinton, that actually did occur and some would say cheated Bernie Sanders out of the nomination.
It used to be that politicians fought over policy but it was never personal. What we are seeing around the country is a growing rage and many don’t actually know what they’re angry about. In November we trained our election workers to let the seething of angry voters roll off their backs and to not take angry statements personally. Doing otherwise would only make matters worse.
It’s time to back off of the precipice, deal with real issues and end personal attacks that harm our nation. It’s time for people to treat each other with respect!
Mark, John and Bill
|