{"id":119311,"date":"2025-05-16T11:03:08","date_gmt":"2025-05-16T19:03:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/05\/16\/james-comey-enjoys-long-walks-on-the-beach-so-maga-gonna-send-him-to-el-salvador-prison-camp\/"},"modified":"2025-05-16T11:03:08","modified_gmt":"2025-05-16T19:03:08","slug":"james-comey-enjoys-long-walks-on-the-beach-so-maga-gonna-send-him-to-el-salvador-prison-camp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/05\/16\/james-comey-enjoys-long-walks-on-the-beach-so-maga-gonna-send-him-to-el-salvador-prison-camp\/","title":{"rendered":"James Comey Enjoys Long Walks On The Beach\u2026 So MAGA Gonna Send Him To El Salvador Prison Camp"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
James Comey (Photo by Eric Thayer\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This article began its life as \u201cJames Comey Enjoys Long Walks On The Beach, Cringey Donald Trump Trolling\u201d because the former FBI Director posted an Instagram from his beach vacation having arranged shells into \u201c86 47\u201d like a total dork. Page the hashtag resistance\u2026 Comey wants to 86 the 47th president! It\u2019s not like the idea of ousting Donald Trump is a particularly wild sentiment considering the guy already got impeached twice back when he was 45.<\/p>\n

That original draft made some wisecracks at Comey\u2019s expense and closed off by flagging a random, unhinged Trump supporter brain-addled enough to suggest that this post amounts to an assassination threat.<\/p>\n

But because unhinged, brain-addled Trump supporters are no longer limited to social media but, indeed, occupy senior administration positions, we watched in real time as the story chugged a bottle of Everclear, put on a tinfoil crown, and started demanding treason trials.<\/p>\n

Anyway, here\u2019s Comey\u2019s Insta<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A lot of the early, non-crazy reactions \u2014 which we would\u2019ve talked about in the original story when the discourse about this was still remotely sane \u2014 called out Comey as pathetic and immature for being obsessed with the president who fired him years ago. It is dumb, but not appreciably dumber than any other social media warrior slogan. Is it any more cringe than if he wrote out the \u201cHands Off\u201d thing? It\u2019s certainly no more childish than having to hear \u201cLet\u2019s Go Brandon\u201d for four years. It didn\u2019t strike me as \u201cobsessed,\u201d just par for the course for a Boomer with a social media account and a political opinion.<\/p>\n

Then\u2026<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Normally, people try to avoid the \u201cSS\u201d as an abbreviation. Since, oh, the 1940s or so. But you have to appreciate the unintentional honesty of a moron.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Director of National Intelligence went on Fox to further stoke the fake outrage campfire.<\/p>\n

\"\"
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Click over to watch the whole video if you want, but the gist is that Gabbard pretends Comey\u2019s post is \u201cissuing a call to assassinate\u201d Trump and therefore he should be in jail. Since \u201c86\u201d just means to eject someone, it\u2019s quite the leap to characterize this as \u201cissuing a call to assassinate.\u201d If Donald Trump telling a mob of slack-jawed inbreds to \u201cfight like hell\u201d before they stormed the Capitol isn\u2019t criminal incitement \u2014 and it isn\u2019t \u2014 then 86 is nowhere close to a threat.<\/p>\n

Does anyone who\u2019s not hooked on 1940s film noir even know what \u201c86\u201d means? Would anyone even use that term to communicate to a person under 70?<\/p>\n

\"\"
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I stand corrected\u2026 if anyone knows how to talk to the youth of America, it\u2019s Gaetz.<\/p>\n

Gabbard\u2019s interview is also completely batshit to suggest anyone, anywhere cares about James Comey\u2019s opinion about anything. The Trump people clearly hate him and the Democrats still blame him for Hillary Clinton\u2019s inability to see the upper Midwest slipping away. <\/p>\n

My Flynn Rider meme opinion<\/a> continues to be that Comey doesn\u2019t deserve the hate he gets for Donald Trump\u2019s 2016 victory. Comey went out of his way over that summer to publicly declare Hillary Clinton\u2019s private server a mistake, but nonetheless benign, basically ending the phony scandal\u2019s influence on the race. But once he did that, he put himself on the hook to correct his testimony when agents dropped new evidence in his lap. He assumed the relevant congressional committee would keep this development confidential or at least properly contextualized as a mere formality. But since that committee included \u201cRepublicans,\u201d the result was a hair-on-fire public pronouncement that Hillary Clinton was obviously guilty and the media hyped every bit of that sideshow except the part where Comey predictably came back and said, \u201csee, there\u2019s still absolutely nothing here and this just confirms what I already told you!\u201d<\/p>\n

But, again, that\u2019s not a popular opinion. The rest of the left-of-center universe reviles Comey as the proximate cause of Trump\u2019s presidency. There is no middle class Women\u2019s March alum out there hanging on every James Comey Instagram post waiting for the codeword to leave their bottomless mimosa brunch to go all John Wilkes Booth.<\/p>\n

He got fewer than 200 likes on an engagement-bait Instagram post\u2026 he\u2019s not inspiring a secret army.<\/p>\n

More even-keeled commentators are already shrugging off voices like these, dismissing it all as the standard fake outrage that\u2019s become the coin of the realm in the conservative attention economy. Before $TRUMP became the literal coin of the realm. No one is really going to prosecute James Comey for a goof with some sea shells, they say urging everyone to look the other way and stop feeding the trolls. <\/p>\n

Under normal circumstances, it would<\/em> be safe to assume that Patel and Gabbard are deeply cynical grifters who know full well that this is nonsense, but understand that they can work their fanbase of gormless twits into a froth over it for 48 hours. <\/p>\n

But Patel and Gabbard \u2014 even among Trump officials \u2014 are not normal. Kash Patel maintained a personal enemies list<\/a> like a dimestore Dick Nixon and Gabbard routinely traffics in conspiracy theories<\/a>. These are no longer \u201cnormal\u201d circumstances. The inmates are literally running the asylum here.<\/p>\n

Honestly, the only thing working in Comey\u2019s favor as he attempts to dodge the unmarked van of goons ready to disappear him to El Salvador is that Patel and Gabbard aren\u2019t the ones responsible for looking into this matter.<\/p>\n

Thankfully, the bulwark against fascism here is\u2026 the SS.<\/p>\n

Uh-oh, Jim, you in danger, girl.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Headshot\"Joe Patrice<\/a>\u00a0is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. Feel free to\u00a0email<\/a> any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky<\/a> if you\u2019re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post James Comey Enjoys Long Walks On The Beach\u2026 So MAGA Gonna Send Him To El Salvador Prison Camp<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"
James Comey (Photo by Eric Thayer\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This article began its life as \u201cJames Comey Enjoys Long Walks On The Beach, Cringey Donald Trump Trolling\u201d because the former FBI Director posted an Instagram from his beach vacation having arranged shells into \u201c86 47\u201d like a total dork. Page the hashtag resistance\u2026 Comey wants to 86 the 47th president! It\u2019s not like the idea of ousting Donald Trump is a particularly wild sentiment considering the guy already got impeached twice back when he was 45.<\/p>\n

That original draft made some wisecracks at Comey\u2019s expense and closed off by flagging a random, unhinged Trump supporter brain-addled enough to suggest that this post amounts to an assassination threat.<\/p>\n

But because unhinged, brain-addled Trump supporters are no longer limited to social media but, indeed, occupy senior administration positions, we watched in real time as the story chugged a bottle of Everclear, put on a tinfoil crown, and started demanding treason trials.<\/p>\n

Anyway, here\u2019s Comey\u2019s Insta<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A lot of the early, non-crazy reactions \u2014 which we would\u2019ve talked about in the original story when the discourse about this was still remotely sane \u2014 called out Comey as pathetic and immature for being obsessed with the president who fired him years ago. It is dumb, but not appreciably dumber than any other social media warrior slogan. Is it any more cringe than if he wrote out the \u201cHands Off\u201d thing? It\u2019s certainly no more childish than having to hear \u201cLet\u2019s Go Brandon\u201d for four years. It didn\u2019t strike me as \u201cobsessed,\u201d just par for the course for a Boomer with a social media account and a political opinion.<\/p>\n

Then\u2026<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Normally, people try to avoid the \u201cSS\u201d as an abbreviation. Since, oh, the 1940s or so. But you have to appreciate the unintentional honesty of a moron.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Director of National Intelligence went on Fox to further stoke the fake outrage campfire.<\/p>\n

\"\"
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Click over to watch the whole video if you want, but the gist is that Gabbard pretends Comey\u2019s post is \u201cissuing a call to assassinate\u201d Trump and therefore he should be in jail. Since \u201c86\u201d just means to eject someone, it\u2019s quite the leap to characterize this as \u201cissuing a call to assassinate.\u201d If Donald Trump telling a mob of slack-jawed inbreds to \u201cfight like hell\u201d before they stormed the Capitol isn\u2019t criminal incitement \u2014 and it isn\u2019t \u2014 then 86 is nowhere close to a threat.<\/p>\n

Does anyone who\u2019s not hooked on 1940s film noir even know what \u201c86\u201d means? Would anyone even use that term to communicate to a person under 70?<\/p>\n

\"\"
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I stand corrected\u2026 if anyone knows how to talk to the youth of America, it\u2019s Gaetz.<\/p>\n

Gabbard\u2019s interview is also completely batshit to suggest anyone, anywhere cares about James Comey\u2019s opinion about anything. The Trump people clearly hate him and the Democrats still blame him for Hillary Clinton\u2019s inability to see the upper Midwest slipping away. <\/p>\n

My Flynn Rider meme opinion<\/a> continues to be that Comey doesn\u2019t deserve the hate he gets for Donald Trump\u2019s 2016 victory. Comey went out of his way over that summer to publicly declare Hillary Clinton\u2019s private server a mistake, but nonetheless benign, basically ending the phony scandal\u2019s influence on the race. But once he did that, he put himself on the hook to correct his testimony when agents dropped new evidence in his lap. He assumed the relevant congressional committee would keep this development confidential or at least properly contextualized as a mere formality. But since that committee included \u201cRepublicans,\u201d the result was a hair-on-fire public pronouncement that Hillary Clinton was obviously guilty and the media hyped every bit of that sideshow except the part where Comey predictably came back and said, \u201csee, there\u2019s still absolutely nothing here and this just confirms what I already told you!\u201d<\/p>\n

But, again, that\u2019s not a popular opinion. The rest of the left-of-center universe reviles Comey as the proximate cause of Trump\u2019s presidency. There is no middle class Women\u2019s March alum out there hanging on every James Comey Instagram post waiting for the codeword to leave their bottomless mimosa brunch to go all John Wilkes Booth.<\/p>\n

He got fewer than 200 likes on an engagement-bait Instagram post\u2026 he\u2019s not inspiring a secret army.<\/p>\n

More even-keeled commentators are already shrugging off voices like these, dismissing it all as the standard fake outrage that\u2019s become the coin of the realm in the conservative attention economy. Before $TRUMP became the literal coin of the realm. No one is really going to prosecute James Comey for a goof with some sea shells, they say urging everyone to look the other way and stop feeding the trolls. <\/p>\n

Under normal circumstances, it would<\/em> be safe to assume that Patel and Gabbard are deeply cynical grifters who know full well that this is nonsense, but understand that they can work their fanbase of gormless twits into a froth over it for 48 hours. <\/p>\n

But Patel and Gabbard \u2014 even among Trump officials \u2014 are not normal. Kash Patel maintained a personal enemies list<\/a> like a dimestore Dick Nixon and Gabbard routinely traffics in conspiracy theories<\/a>. These are no longer \u201cnormal\u201d circumstances. The inmates are literally running the asylum here.<\/p>\n

Honestly, the only thing working in Comey\u2019s favor as he attempts to dodge the unmarked van of goons ready to disappear him to El Salvador is that Patel and Gabbard aren\u2019t the ones responsible for looking into this matter.<\/p>\n

Thankfully, the bulwark against fascism here is\u2026 the SS.<\/p>\n

Uh-oh, Jim, you in danger, girl.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Headshot\"Joe Patrice<\/a>\u00a0is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. Feel free to\u00a0email<\/a> any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky<\/a> if you\u2019re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post James Comey Enjoys Long Walks On The Beach\u2026 So MAGA Gonna Send Him To El Salvador Prison Camp<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

James Comey (Photo by Eric Thayer\/Getty Images) This article began its life as \u201cJames Comey Enjoys Long Walks On The Beach, Cringey Donald Trump Trolling\u201d because the former FBI Director posted an Instagram from his beach vacation having arranged shells into \u201c86 47\u201d like a total dork. Page the hashtag resistance\u2026 Comey wants to 86 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":119289,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-119311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Headshot-300x200-i42fv4.jpeg?fit=300%2C200&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119311"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119311\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119289"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}