Comey Senate Hearing

Insights from Comey’s Senate Hearing

Setting Up the War

During Trump’s campaign, he reflected the separation his voters felt between the government and the people. Voters had seen decades of government mistakes and disregard and years of abuse.  Trump recognized this and said he would “drain the swamp”. This put the government on alert that Trump would “clean house”. Trump ran against everybody to advance the issues deeply felt by the voters.

Accusations that the government was insular and hostile were easy for voters to believe.  There have been many articles about the “Deep State” that describes how Executive Branch agencies have been “rogue” for decades.  There is also evidence that the “Deep State” includes most of the Judicial Branch. Voters believe that government is its own “special interest group”.

The voters’ expectations were that Trump would replace most of the employees in the Executive Branch and identify elected officials to the voters to remove from office. Voters also expected Trump to cut Executive Branch headcount to the bone.

When Trump was elected, many Obama Administration employees resigned.  But those who remained felt threatened. The fact that these employees had never sought the approval of the voters left them defenseless.

The Democrat Party immediately launched an attack on Trump that continues today that included obstruction of Cabinet appointments and demands for impeachment.

Trump has been quick to propose cutting budgets that would reduce headcount in the State Department and EPA, but slow to make his own appointments and open to appointing people who disagree with parts of his agenda. Despite this, Trump has taken action on every issue he ran on. Trump voters believe his positive impact has been stunning and historical.

Comey Under Pressure

The Senate hearing with Comey reveals the pressure Comey felt.  Voters believed that his decision not to indict Hillary was wrong.  Also, Trump had vowed to “drain the swamp” and he was part of the “swamp”. I think Comey agreed to testify to the Senate for several reasons. The first is to protect the FBI in particular and the Intelligence agencies in general from the “swamp draining”. The Comey hearing is also his termination appeal hearing, not to regain his job, but to defend himself and his reputation.

Russian Disclosures

Voters always knew that Russia and the US and many other countries attempted to influence elections in other countries, so when the Russian Ruse started, Trump voters thought: “So what!”  Voters also knew that the Russian Mafia has been allowed to exist by the Putin Administration. The recent leaks of classified documents seems to confirm that hackers in Russia had attempted to plant “cookies” in US election tabulating devices  Putin admits that there are “patriot hackers” in Russia, but they operate independently and are not directed by the Russian government.  US voters knew that most countries have hackers who continue to operate and that this makes our power grid and bank accounts vulnerable. Voters also believe that many countries are infested with criminal organizations according to reports from their former citizens and journalist investigations.

The “Deep State”

The Executive Branch agencies have never encountered a sitting President, who described the distrust the voters have felt about their government. We can expect that the Legislative Branch and the Judicial Branch will cover for each other. The voters will still have questions about the processes that need to be reengineered that would keep government from making the mistakes they have made.

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader