It took Richard Nixon five months to fire the man investigating him. It took Donald Trump less than four. The difference is that Nixon did little to conceal his motive — to save his presidency. Mr Trump, on the other hand, says he fired James Comey for having mishandled last year’s email investigation into Hillary Clinton. Even by Mr Trump’s standards, this stretches credulity. Mr Trump is asking the US public to believe he “terminated and removed” the FBI director for having treated Mrs Clinton unfairly. This was the same opponent whom Mr Trump said should be locked up for mishandling her emails. Now, apparently, Mrs Clinton was the victim of an unprofessional probe and Mr Trump is setting things straight.
理查德•尼克松(Richard Nixon)花了5个月的时间炒掉了调查他的人。唐纳德•特朗普(Donald Trump)花了不到4个月。两者之间的区别是，尼克松没怎么隐瞒自己的动机：保住他的总统宝座，而特朗普则称，他炒掉詹姆斯•科米(James Comey)是因为后者对去年希拉里•克林顿(Hillary Clinton)“邮件门”的调查处理不当。即使以特朗普的标准，这也太把别人当傻子了。特朗普让美国公众相信，他“终止和免去（这位联邦调查局(FBI)局长）的职务”是因为后者曾不公平地对待了希拉里。希拉里正是特朗普口中那个应为不当处置自己邮件被关进监狱的对手。如今看起来，希拉里曾是一项不专业调查的受害者，而特朗普正在伸张正义。