His own worst enemy
By Paul Waldman
Opinion writer
February 14 at 1:00 PM
... While much of the attention today is on McCabe’s revelation that senior Justice Department officials discussed whether it might become necessary to invoke the 25th Amendment and have Trump removed from office, there’s a story underneath dramatic moments like that one that needs to be understood ...
There are plenty of reasons to criticize Comey, but by all accounts, he was indeed popular inside the FBI. Trump’s contention that hundreds of FBI personnel contacted him to tell him how great it was that he fired Comey was an obvious, pathetic lie and a variant of one he often makes in public. Upon making an unpopular decision, Trump will frequently say that the people who would be most angry are in fact overjoyed and have been getting in touch to tell him so personally, as though anyone who wants can just pick up the phone and talk to the president. You’ll recall that he claimed government employees forced to work without pay were reaching out to tell him how pleased they were with the shutdown ...
... quashing the Russia investigation was why Trump fired Comey in the first place. That’s not speculation; Trump himself said so both on national television and in a White House meeting with the Russian foreign minister and ambassador. “I just fired the head of the F.B.I. He was crazy, a real nut job,” Trump told them. “I faced great pressure because of Russia. That’s taken off."
... Trump’s decision to fire Comey didn’t take off the pressure — it amped it up. It led McCabe to open an obstruction of justice investigation. It helped convince Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein that he had no choice but to appoint a special counsel to take over the Russia investigation, which he did just eight days after Comey’s firing ...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/02/14/andrew-mccabes-latest-revelations-show-how-trump-is-his-own-worst-enemy/?utm_term=.3aab65d8f31a
