Thursday News: Trump’s Comey Firing Requires Special Prosecutor ASAP; Are There ANY Republican Heroes (Ed Gillespie Isn’t One) Left?

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Thursday, May 11. Also see Sen. Tim Kaine stating, correctly, that the Comey firing is a “clear attempt by President Trump to thwart and block and undermine the investigation into collusion and ties between Russia and the Trump campaign, transition and administration.”

• Before Comey’s firing, Trump’s animus toward him boiled over into fury, officials say (I don’t watn President Pence, but Trump is mentally unstable, a tinpot tyrant, corrupt, in league with Putin, etc. and needs to be impeached ASAP.)
• Comey sought more resources for Russia probe days before firing, officials say (Again, Trump needs to be impeached. Dems should shut down Congress until we at least get an independent prosecutor.)
• Trump’s efforts to shake his Russia problem only make it worse
• Senate Intelligence Committee subpoenas documents from Michael Flynn in Russia probe
• Why did Trump really fire Comey? Only a special counsel can tell us.
• Sense of Crisis Deepens as Trump Defends Firing Comey
• Blow: Trump Is Insulting Our Intelligence (“Every day we awake to a new outrage. We now exist in a rolling trauma — exhausting and unrelenting…This is not about partisanship, but patriotism. We must protect this country from moral corrosion, at best, and actual destruction, at worst. If this doesn’t stink to you, your nose is broken.”)
• Leonhardt: Rod Rosenstein Fails His Ethics Test (“But Rosenstein’s abandonment of the basic principles of ethical government should remind everyone of the risks of joining Team Trump. Once you do, avoiding Trumpian behavior becomes very hard. Adopting it starts to seem normal, even honorable.”)
• Kaine: Comey firing ‘clear attempt’ to block Russia probe
• Kaine: ‘This is a very dark day for the country’
• Comey is gone. Now what happens to the FBI?
• These Republicans could set the Comey disaster right (“Mitch McConnell says calls for a more vigorous investigation would … impede the investigation?”)
• Trump has crossed a once-unthinkable red line (“The FBI must be free to make decisions without interference from the White House. Without that, everything else fails.” Agree that without the rule of law, we are toast.)
• Mitch McConnell may be making the most important mistake of his career (“Even after the firing of the FBI director, the Senate majority leader defends the president.”)
• Editorial: What we need now: a special prosecutor
• Was Russia the Real Reason Trump Fired James Comey? (“The White House’s official rationale—that the FBI director was too harsh on Hillary Clinton—makes no sense.” Yep, which is why Trump needs to be impeached.)
• How the Firing of the FBI Director Tests Conservatives (“James Comey’s dismissal asks the right which they value more: defending a president whose policy agenda they generally support or defending the norms that preserve liberal democracy.” And so far they are failing badly, with no sign they ever will stop failing badly.)
• Are There Any Republican Heroes Left? (“Really, unless a fresh crop of spines suddenly sprouts within the Republican congressional majorities, nothing is going to happen…The modern Republican party controls all three branches of government, and it is demonstrating quite clearly that it is not up to even the most essential task of protecting the institutions it controls from the ravings of a wild man. Those are institutions that belong to all of us…Patriotism no longer is the last refuge of scoundrels. Talking points are. These scoundrels run from patriotism as though it were a jail cell.”)
• Poll: Trump’s approval rating slips to 36 percent (“The survey of registered voters found that 36 percent say they approve of Trump’s job performance, compared to 58 percent who disapprove. Trump’s approval has fallen from the 40 percent recorded in the same poll released in mid-April.” The question is WTF is wrong with the 36% who approve of this corrupt, incompetent, tinpot tyrant???)
• Comey called Trump ‘crazy’ after Obama wiretapping claims: report (For once I agree with Comey.)
• Is There Anything Trump Could Do to Lose GOP Support? (“Republican indifference to the Comey firing is the latest evidence that this is a party defined not by conservatism but by its will to power.” Zero patriotism.)
• The White House Is Lying About Comey (“That’s one thing we know for sure.”)
• Republicans flub defense of health care vote (“GOP House members, facing angry constituents, can’t seem to get their message straight about their plan.”)
• A coup in real time? Historian Timothy Snyder says the Comey firing is Trump’s “open admission of collusion with Russia” (“Yale historian says Trump has now admitted guilt; former intelligence officer says Flynn was a Russian agent”)
• Nixon didn’t have Twitter: The parallels are clear, but Trump might be more dangerous (“Trump is a lot stupider than Nixon, but he also has social media, Fox News and the undying loyalty of his fanboys”)
• West Virginia journalist arrested for asking Health Secretary Tom Price a question
• In Other Disturbing News, the Census Director Resigned Yesterday
• The dense thicket of lies around Obamacare repeal makes it hard to tell what’s happening
• By firing James Comey, Trump has put impeachment on the table (Sure, but that would require Republicans to put patriotism over party and power. Which I strongly doubt they will ever do, because that’s just not who they are.)
• After Comey’s firing, White House openly pushes for conclusion of FBI’s Russia investigation (To the contrary, the Russia investigation needs to be ramped up big time!)
• “It just doesn’t pass muster”: Sen. Mark Warner speaks out on firing of FBI Director James Comey
• Sen. Warner Asks Comey to Appear Before Intelligence Committee
• GOP fails to repeal Obama methane rule after John McCain, 2 other Republicans defect (A bit of good news amidst the dark, dark times we’re living through right now…)
• Experts in authoritarian regimes say Comey’s firing was a ‘shock event’ (“Trump’s decision to remove the FBI director ‘was an anti-democratic maneuver.'”)
• Chris Cuomo stunned as Kellyanne Conway says it’s inappropriate to question Trump’s Comey firing (Why would you be “stunned” by anything Kellyanne Conway has to say? Or other Trump flacks? Or Trump himself?)
• Republicans Don’t Feel Your Pain (“The AHCA ‘is stunning in its shamelessness and baldness.'”)
• Tim Kaine Cries At Health Care Hearing, Says GOP ‘Couldn’t Care Less’ About People
• Virginia and Maryland lawmakers split over Trump’s firing of Comey (“Reps. Comstock and Taylor questioned the timing of the dismissal but stopped short of calling for an inquiry” Worthless.)
• Northam, Perriello debate again Tuesday in Norfolk
• Comey ouster puts Gillespie under fire in the Virginia governor’s race (“Further down ballot, a former federal prosecutor and Democrat offered praise for Trump’s decision” Anyone praising Trump for this should be automatically eliminated from consideration.)
• Gillespie: I look forward to learning more ; Stewart: I support Comey’s firing
• Dominion shareholders approve name change but face pressure on environmental issues (They should change their slogan to “Global Warming – and Environmental Destruction in General – Start Here!”)
• Authorities investigating death threats against Rep. Tom Garrett (Totally, completely unacceptable. Throw the book at these scumbags.)
• Editorial: Shameful conduct at Garrett’s town hall (“It’s fine to ask pointed, even hostile, questions of a congressman. Any elected official ought to expect those. The problem here is not the people who were asking questions — it’s all the others who were shouting their objections while Garrett was trying to answer those questions. There are words for this. Here’s one: Rude.”)
• Dorothy McAuliffe, wife of Virginia governor, says she will not run for Congress (Interesting; many Dems had assumed she was going to run.)
• Liberty University preps for commencement, President Donald Trump (The antithesis of everything in the Gospels – and of liberty – comes to “Liberty” University.)
• July execution date set for Virginia inmate who killed 2 during 2006 escape
• Report: Virginia one of the worst states for teacher salaries
• State leader pitches six-point plan to revive coalfields’ economy(“Dels. Terry Kilgore, R-Scott, and Israel O’Quinn, R-Washington, who spoke at the summit, expressed excitement for Moret’s revitalization plans.”)
• Caps Draw A Game 7 Blank (Because…yeah, because of course they do. Sigh.)
• Showers today but the main rains arrive Friday night into Saturday