I am not too sure when Donald Trump, now president of the USA, will realise that this isn’t a reality television show and ratings do not count.

After his first 100 days in office, we all assumed that there was nothing left that he could do to surprise us. We all hoped he would sit back and enjoy the rest of his time in office without any more dramatic actions.

But boy, we were wrong.

For his next move, Trump decided to sack the director of the FBI, James Comey.

Comey himself was even surprised, receiving the news for the first time just like everyone else: through the news.

According to Sky, Comey “learned he’d been sacked from TV news coverage while addressing employees in LA,” thinking it was a prank at first.

Then he received the letter, signed off with a ghastly black squiggle that looks like a confused heartbeat:

So let’s rewind, just in case you have missed out on what went on. From Sky, the various possible reasons why Trump fired Comey:

President Trump fired the man leading the FBI investigation into whether his campaign colluded with Russia in the 2016 election.

It was a decision advised by the attorney general who recused himself from any probe into possible Kremlin links because he falsely testified about his own contacts with Russia.

The White House says Comey’s sacking has nothing to do with Russia and everything to do with his mishandling of Hillary Clinton’s email investigation which left him unable to “effectively lead the bureau”.

It is time for a fresh start at the FBI, it says – with who knows who at the helm.

But the core of Trump’s rationale for firing Comey is the same thing he praised the former director for during his campaign, admiring the “guts” it took for him to reopen the investigation into Clinton’s emails just days before the election.

Democrats aren’t buying it – they say the Russian investigation is now in danger of becoming a charade.

During James Comey’s recent testimony at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, the then FBI director could not say unequivocally that the president is not a target of the ongoing Russia investigation.

This is perhaps why, in his dismissal letter, Trump made very deliberate reference to Comey informing him “on three separate occasions” that he is not under investigation.

It’s only the second time in history that an American president has fired the head of the FBI, the first being done by Nixon – and already people are likening it to the Watergate incident.

Has Trump gone too far this time? An abuse of power, definitely, but I am sure he just wanted to shout ‘You’re Fired’ for old times’ sake and then forgot he couldn’t.

[source:sky]