It appears that US politics is back to its quasi-surreal state first observed in the early weeks of the Trump administration, when the president spent much of his day in front of Twitter. And while it is unclear if Trump is bored, busy, engaging in damage control or quite the opposite, he blasted a couple of tweets shortly after the close which have led to the now traditional media firestorm.
First, Trump responded to his perpetual nemesis, Rosie O'Donnell, and specifically her tweet from December 20 of last year, in which she said "FIRE COMEY" to which Trump responded, "We finally agree on something Rosie."
We finally agree on something Rosie. https://t.co/BSP5F3PgbZ
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 11, 2017
A New York Times reporter promptly provided the necessary and sufficient reaction to that particular tweet.
So Trump is retweeting Rosie and Hannity is tweeting at Bette Midler. Pretty much sums up 2017. https://t.co/zthwAQybUr
— Jeremy W. Peters (@jwpetersNYT) May 11, 2017
Shortly after, Trump followed up with another tweet, this time taking aim at Democrats, saying "Russia must be laughing up their sleeves watching as the U.S. tears itself apart over a Democrat EXCUSE for losing the election."
Russia must be laughing up their sleeves watching as the U.S. tears itself apart over a Democrat EXCUSE for losing the election.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 11, 2017
Trump is right: whether for this, or some other reason, it is safe to say that the residents of the Kremlin have been enjoying a good time recently.
And while the two may or may not be linked, moments ago NBC reported that contrary to a Reuters report earlier this morning confirmed later by Deputy White House press secretary Sanders, Trump abandoned plans to visit the FBI headquarters to ease tensions with the agency's employees after he fired James Comey. The reason: "Trump was told FBI agents might not provide a warm reception following Comey’s ouster."
FBI agents told NBC that many of them voted for Trump during the 2016 presidential election. However NBC’s sources added that few were ready to celebrate Trump’s visit after his sacking of Comey.
“My sense is most FBI employees feel a loyalty to Comey,” one person who works at the bureau’s headquarters said.
“And whether they agree or disagree with the way he handled the email case, like and respect him … Trump would not be well-received at headquarters.”
Perhaps it's just more fake news, but in either case with Trump having recently burned bridges with Russia just to boost his domestic image, a move which was then mostly obviated when he fired Comey and delayed the passage of his domestic economic agenda by weeks if not months, getting on the bad side of FBI's rank and file is arguably one of the more precarious things the president can do, especially with the Russian interference probe still going on, bonus points for twitter trolling - which sadly does not result in better governance - notwithstanding.