Trump is a threat to nation; demand special prosecutor

sought to find out whether Trump or his surrogates colluded with that effort.

Instead, he was given the ax, a fact he learned on television. The explanation for this was spectacularly risible.

In a terse letter, Trump claimed he was responding to concerns from Attorney General Jeff Sessions and his deputy, Rod Rosenstein, that Comey mishandled the investigation of the nothing burger that was Hillary Clinton’s emails.

Comey did, in fact, botch the investigation, violating Justice Department protocol by publicizing unsubstantiated claims against a candidate in the midst of a campaign. But this happened last summer, and if it were really the reason for his dismissal, he’d have been gone right after Trump took power.

More to the point, it would require the credulity of a particularly stupid toddler to believe Trump, who loathes Clinton, just booted the FBI director because he treated her unfairly. No, it is painfully obvious that this is about Russia.

Like Nixon in 1973, Trump is apparently faced with an investigation that is going places he doesn’t want it to go. Like Nixon, he has responded by firing the investigator.

The stench that rises from this is unmistakable, the reek of power abused and justice obstructed. It strongly suggests that we are governed by an ongoing criminal conspiracy. The situation needs, demands and requires an independent investigation.

We can’t rely on the Justice Department for that, given that its leadership is complicit in Comey’s firing. That leaves Congress, which is why the anodyne Republican reactions are so worrisome. Indeed, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has flatly ruled out a special prosecutor.

But GOP leaders must stand up for the country this time or risk losing it. If they don’t get that, the rest of us — liberal, conservative, American — must make unceasing noise and apply unstinting pressure until the party that launched eight investigations of Benghazi decides to treat this at least as seriously.

If you are not appalled, you are not paying attention.

The Trump administration constitutes a clear and present danger to American democracy.

We need a special prosecutor and we need one now.

In July 1954, a 19-yearold Memphis truck driver recorded at Sun Studio the song “That’s All Right.” When a local disc jockey promised to play it, the truck driver tuned his parents’ radio to the station and went to a movie. His mother pulled him from the theater because the D J was playing the record repeatedly and wanted to interview the singer immediately. The D J asked where the singer had gone to high school. He answered, “Humes,” an all-white school. The D J asked because many callers “who like your record think you must be colored, singing the way you do.” Elvis Presley from Tupelo, Miss., had committed “cultural appropriation.”