After Trump Blitzes Syria, Comey Book Tour Will Blitz The Media

President Trump better find more distractions to keep the public’s minds off his many scandals. A one-time bombing of Syria won’t be enough, and after today’s Sunday talk shows are over it will be “old news.”

On the other hand, a story that’s not going away for quite a while is James Comey’s book “A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies & Leadership.”  The book will be released on Tuesday and after that the former FBI Director has a two-week media blitz planned. This will assure that his critical and controversial comments about Trump in the book will stay at the forefront of people’s minds.  

Of course it also means that we can look forward to many more outraged (and outrageous) Trump tweets in the near future.  But what country is he going to bomb next to keep our attention diverted from Comey (and from Mueller, and from Stormy Daniels, etc. etc.)?

Comey of course was fired by Trump last year, and this led to the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller. As a result, Comey has an ongoing feud with the president, and some of the his comments in the book are downright nasty.  Regardless, Comey and his book will undoubtedly dominate political conversations for the next two weeks at least.

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The Comey-Trump feud got a head start late last week when explosive book excerpts first appeared.  And tonight things may get taken to the next level. Comey is scheduled to appear on a special Sunday night showing of the popular ABC television show “20/20.” He will be sitting down to talk about the book with veteran news anchor George Stephanopoulos.

Other stops for Comey on his media blitz include these very high profile engagements:

• Interview with Fox News Channel’s Bret Baier,
• Interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper,
• Interview with PBS’s Judy Woodruff,
• Town hall on CNN hosted by Anderson Cooper (at Comey’s alma mater of William and Mary),
• Appearance on ABC’s “The View,”
• Appearance on CBS’s “Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” and
• Appearance on MSNBC’s “Rachel Maddow Show.”

“It’s going to be the media equivalent of the carpet bombing of Tokyo,” said media reporter Jon Levine.”It has the potential to eclipse everything we saw from Michael Wolff’s “Fire and Fury”. Provoking Trump into additional responses on Twitter and elsewhere is now part of the equation”  

To combat Comey the Republican National Committee created the “LyinComey.com” website.  It is a lame attempt to defend the president and attack the FBI leader. But it probably won’t do any good to stifle interest in what Mr. Comey has to say.

Anticipation for Comey’s book is extremely high.  It is currently #1 on Amazon’s bestseller list. Anti-Trump books in the past have sold like gangbusters. “Fire and Fury” is still on The New York Times bestseller lists months after its release.

“We’ve seen a huge audience for books about the Trump administration, and the early signs indicate the trend will continue with Comey’s book,” said Jason Shepard, Professor at California State University, Fullerton.

“Comey had a front row seat to the major controversies of the Trump campaign and the first months of the Trump presidency. People are eager to read Comey’s version of events, in his words,” he added.

Leo Vidal

I am a lifelong Democrat with a passion for social justice and progressive issues. I have degrees in writing, economics and law from the University of Iowa.