Hope and pray that things cool down quickly in USA over president Trump dismissal of FBI director Comey

Last updated on 14th May 2017

The recent events in the USA dealing with the dismissal of FBI director James Comey by USA president Donald Trump, and the extraordinary reaction to it from some USA Congressmen/women and Senators as well as USA mainstream media, is very disturbing.

As I went through the reporting on these events, I realized that as these matters deal with internal security of the USA and alleged foreign interference in its 2016 presidential election, the matters are just too, too sensitive for me, an Indian citizen resident in India who is now a social media writer mainly on spirituality and religion. So I had decided that it may be best for me to NOT air my individual views on the matter.

But today I came across a very disturbing tweet from USA president Trump, "James Comey better hope that there are no "tapes" of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!", https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/863007411132649473, dated 12th May 2017. That prompted me to make an exception to my above mentioned decision, and put up this small post.

I viewed former FBI Director Comey's farewell letter to some of his former FBI colleagues as excellent advice and a very responsible response even though the manner in which his dismissal actually got communicated to him was very unfortunate, I felt. Here's Comey's farewell letter: http://edition.cnn.com/2017/05/10/politics/comey-goodbye-letter/index.html. An extract from it, "I have long believed that a President can fire an FBI Director for any reason, or for no reason at all. I'm not going to spend time on the decision or the way it was executed. I hope you won't either. It is done, and I will be fine, although I will miss you and the mission deeply."

I would like to clearly state that I am a well wisher of the USA, its people and USA democracy. I pray to Almighty God to shower His Grace on the people of the USA, including its representatives in House of Congress and Senate, and the White House top officials and staff, and also the very important USA media during this testing period for USA institutions of democracy and justice. I also wish all of them all the very best to handle this situation with dignity and fairness, and restore confidence and trust in USA institutions of democracy and justice. In particular, I hope and pray that relations between USA mainstream media and USA president Trump does not break down completely over the removal of FBI director Comey by USA president Trump.
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Some noteworthy articles giving what some view as historical parallels related to this matter. Note that inclusion of the article links below does not indicate that I support all the points of view espoused in them.

Five Reasons the Comey Affair Is Worse Than Watergate, A journalist who covered Nixon’s fall 45 years ago explains why the current challenge to America may be more severe—and the democratic system less capable of handling it., by JAMES FALLOWS, 12th May 2017, https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/05/comey-watergate/526443/.

American Fascism, in 1944 and Today, by HENRY SCOTT WALLACE, MAY 12, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/12/opinion/american-fascism-trump.html

The Danger of American Fascism, by Henry A. Wallace, published in New York Times on April 9, 1944, http://newdeal.feri.org/wallace/haw23.htm. From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_A._Wallace, "Henry Agard Wallace (October 7, 1888 – November 18, 1965) was the 33rd Vice President of the United States (1941–1945), the Secretary of Agriculture (1933–1940), and the Secretary of Commerce (1945–1946). Wallace was a strong supporter of New Deal liberalism, and softer policies towards the Soviet Union."

Given below are some extracts from the article that I find to be of great learning value. Note that the article was written when the author was holding the office of vice-president of the USA. As of now, I tend to agree with/support the views espoused in these extracts. BTW I am a lover and open supporter of democracy and an opponent of fascism and authoritarianism.

The article is expressed as a set of numbered points. The number given in the extracts below refers to the associated point.

This is how the article describes a fascist: "2. A fascist is one whose lust for money or power is combined with such an intensity of intolerance toward those of other races, parties, classes, religions, cultures, regions or nations as to make him ruthless in his use of deceit or violence to attain his ends. The supreme god of a fascist, to which his ends are directed, may be money or power; may be a race or a class; may be a military, clique or an economic group; or may be a culture, religion, or a political party."

And this is how the article refers to Prussian fascists (note that World War II was still raging then with Hitler in charge of fascist Nazi Germany, and the D-Day Normandy landings of the Allies on June 6th 1944 happened around two months after the article was published), "3. The perfect type of fascist throughout recent centuries has been the Prussian Junker, who developed such hatred for other races and such allegiance to a military clique as to make him willing at all times to engage in any degree of deceit and violence necessary to place his culture and race astride the world. In every big nation of the world are at least a few people who have the fascist temperament. Every Jew-baiter, every Catholic hater, is a fascist at heart. The hoodlums who have been desecrating churches, cathedrals and synagogues in some of our larger cities are ripe material for fascist leadership."

About American fascists it says:
(Part of 4.) "The dangerous American fascist is the man who wants to do in the United States in an American way what Hitler did in Germany in a Prussian way. The American fascist would prefer not to use violence. His method is to poison the channels of public information."
and
(Part of 5.) "If we define an American fascist as one who in case of conflict puts money and power ahead of human beings, then there are undoubtedly several million fascists in the United States. There are probably several hundred thousand if we narrow the definition to include only those who in their search for money and power are ruthless and deceitful."

(Part of 10.) "The symptoms of fascist thinking are colored by environment and adapted to immediate circumstances. But always and everywhere they can be identified by their appeal to prejudice and by the desire to play upon the fears and vanities of different groups in order to gain power."

(Part of 11.) "The American fascists are most easily recognized by their deliberate perversion of truth and fact. Their newspapers and propaganda carefully cultivate every fissure of disunity, every crack in the common front against fascism. They use every opportunity to impugn democracy."

"12. Several leaders of industry in this country who have gained a new vision of the meaning of opportunity through co-operation with government have warned the public openly that there are some selfish groups in industry who are willing to jeopardize the structure of American liberty to gain some temporary advantage. We all know the part that the cartels played in bringing Hitler to power, and the rule the giant German trusts have played in Nazi conquests. Monopolists who fear competition and who distrust democracy because it stands for equal opportunity would like to secure their position against small and energetic enterprise. In an effort to eliminate the possibility of any rival growing up, some monopolists would sacrifice democracy itself."

"13. It has been claimed at times that our modern age of technology facilitates dictatorship. What we must understand is that the industries, processes, and inventions created by modern science can be used either to subjugate or liberate. The choice is up to us. The myth of fascist efficiency has deluded many people. It was Mussolini's vaunted claim that he "made the trains run on time." In the end, however, he brought to the Italian people impoverishment and defeat. It was Hitler's claim that he eliminated all unemployment in Germany. Neither is there unemployment in a prison camp."

"18. It should also be evident that exhibitions of the native brand of fascism are not confined to any single section, class or religion. Happily, it can be said that as yet fascism has not captured a predominant place in the outlook of any American section, class or religion. It may be encountered in Wall Street, Main Street or Tobacco Road. Some even suspect that they can detect incipient traces of it along the Potomac. It is an infectious disease, and we must all be on our guard against intolerance, bigotry and the pretension of invidious distinction. But if we put our trust in the common sense of common men and "with malice toward none and charity for all" go forward on the great adventure of making political, economic and social democracy a practical reality, we shall not fail."
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Update on 14-May-2017

From around 20 min in President Trump Full Interview with Judge Jeanine Pirro 5/13/2017 Fox News, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxMIBMSjjlM :

Judge Jeanine Pirro: What about the idea that, in the tweet you said that there might be tape recordings?

USA President Trump: That I can talk about. I want to talk about that. All I want is for Comey to be honest. And I hope he will be. And I am sure he will be - I hope.
--- end short transcript snippet ---

Ravi: I am happy to note that USA president Trump clarified that his tweet, ["James Comey better hope that there are no "tapes" of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!",
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/863007411132649473, dated 12th May 2017], was meant to ensure that former USA FBI director Comey will be honest in what he says to the press.

I would like to accept USA president Trump's statement at face value. The statement implies that there is no threat from Trump to Comey about making honest statements (which do not involve official secret USA govt. information, of course) to the USA press/media, directly or indirectly.

As an Indian citizen and resident of India, who is a well wisher of the USA people and USA democracy, I am glad to see this clarification from USA president Trump.

[I thank wikipedia and feri.org (and Henry A. Wallace and his heirs) and have presumed that they will not have any objections to me sharing the above extracts from their websites on this post which is freely viewable by all, and does not have any financial profit motive whatsoever.]