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Posted on 05/02/2026 6:44:05 AM PDT by MtnClimber
James Comey, former FBI director, former deputy attorney general, former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, is a friend of presidents and kings, an admired figure who presents himself as a voice of reason and morality, and a pillar of the Washington establishment — or, as the Mafia would put it, a made guy. Surely he would never do something so lawless and undemocratic as threaten the president of the United States, would he?
That’s what Comey contends in response to charges that he was issuing a veiled threat to the president when he posted on his Instagram account a photo of seashells arranged to say “86 47.” “86” is a well-known expression for getting rid of someone, and whether or not Comey meant that Trump should be gotten rid of by assassination, it was an extraordinarily irresponsible statement for him to make at a time when leftist calls for violence against Trump and his supporters are distressingly common.
Those calls have now resulted in three assassination attempts against Trump, and no one knows how many more there will be, but in this climate, only a fool would say that the president will finish out his term without any more attempts to kill him. Comey took the photo down on the same day that he posted it, and explained: “I posted earlier a picture of some shells I saw today on a beach walk, which I assumed were a political message. I didn’t realize some folks associate those numbers with violence. It never occurred to me, but I oppose violence of any kind, so I took the post down.”
However, the idea that the former director of the FBI actually “didn’t realize some folks associate those numbers with violence” strains credulity well beyond the breaking point. That is clear from a potboiler crime novel, FDR Drive, that Comey wrote, or that was more likely ghostwritten for him.
In an unwittingly revealing May 2025 interview with NPR to plug the book, Comey explained that his novel was “about a right-wing podcaster who is trying to motivate his followers to engage in acts of violence against the targets of his vitriol. And it’s about my protagonist, Nora Carleton, a federal prosecutor in Manhattan, trying to figure out, how do we stop the violence? And is there a way to hold this podcaster criminally accountable for what he clearly knows he’s doing? And that’s the trick because the line between speech and crime is – it should be clear, but it’s fuzzy.”
All right. So here’s the intrepid FBI director explaining that he wrote a book about a “right-wing podcaster” (after all, who else do leftists think is evil these days?) who “is trying to motivate his followers to engage in acts of violence against the targets of his vitriol,” but he is apparently doing so in a veiled manner, because Comey adds that “he clearly knows” what he’s doing. Comey’s novel, he says, is all about “the line between speech and crime.”
And then Comey would have us believe that he posted a photo on his Instagram account that many of his followers would understand as a call to engage in an act of violence against the target of his vitriol, but that poor, naïve Comey himself didn’t know what he was doing? Sell me a bridge while you’re at it, why doncha?
This becomes all the clearer when the NPR interviewer asks Comey about the “line between free speech and violent incitement and domestic terrorism, ideologically motivated violence,” and Comey says he has had to “grapple with that very issue throughout my career.” Yet he expects us to believe that he didn’t pause to ponder even for a moment whether posting “86 47” might constitute violent incitement and domestic terrorism.
That’s what he’s insisting: “I took a picture and posted it ’cause I thought it was a clever political thing. Never occurred to me that someone would try to say it was associated with violence. I actually still don’t see that. But I took it down because I don’t want – I mean, this is my Instagram account, for God’s sakes. I don’t want anything on there to be associated with violence, even if I don’t get it.” And he didn’t think anyone else would get it, either: “Yeah, I'm not worried, ‘cause there’s no world in which this is an actual threat.”
Of course. So here is a guy who published a novel about veiled calls to violence, claiming that he didn’t know what he posted was a veiled call to violence, despite the fact that it's common parlance. Sure, Comey. I’ll bet you would still insist you were acting in good faith regarding the Russia hoax, too.
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They always accuse conservatives of what they are actually doing.
This is a stretch.
The English word for this type of behavior is “disingenuous.”
Well, to paraphrase woopsee, “it wasn’t ‘get rid of’, ‘get rid of’”. Convicting will be a surprise.
It is not a stretch. Comey knew exactly what he was doing, and he should be in prison.
Why would he think it was a "clever political thing"? How would he think just seeing numbers "47" preceded by "86" was a "clever political thing"? If he didn't know, "86" might well mean something positive for "47".
It is infantile thinking that the former head of the FBI did not realize that "86" had a negative, violent connotation.
He knew what that meant because he created it, his denials not holding water.
Right. People who accept his denial at face value are engaged in infantile thinking.
He knew, and he knows.
When the FBI Director posts that, it could be construed as an order for a hit.
Getting “ permission” to assassinate a President from the FBI director is exceptionally provocative to a psychologically prepped radical fringe…
Zackly.
Is his signature there or not?
Yea, Comey is so ‘politically clever’ that he didn’t know what the term 86 meant. Especially after writing about it.
He knew exactly what he was doing. He did it for several really good reasons to him. 1. 15 more minutes of fame. 2. Chance for a book contract- which is how democrats pay people off. 3. He is mad that Trump caught him in the first place. 4. He is upset that even his daughter, who was onboard with his non-sense, got caught as well. 5. He was hoping to get rid of Trump before people found other ‘burn bags’. 6. He promised people, who were partisan at the FBI, that their jobs and careers would be protected, and they are not.
In the words of an old movie, my message to Comey is simple “ Don’t go away angry, just go away”. I hope Karma visits Comey even more. I may not like POTUS, but inciting violence against the POTUS is a rejection of fellow Citizens and the Republic itself. It’s insurrection, not the ‘manufactured Jan 6th kind, but the real deal.
He tries to come across as so incredibly stupid, wholesomely puzzled and naive yet was the former director of the FBI.
Are they all that low IQ stupid?
The only reason this is useless gesture is happening is to appease the President and some of "base".
I have no doubt he knew what it meant. But did he follow up to try to make it so? It may be hard to prove.
That's just the legal reality.
In October of 2020, Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer appeared from her home on the television show Meet The Press, displaying a small pin in the background featuring the numbers "86 45". Many on the right and in the administration of the 45th president, Donald Trump, claimed it was a reference to assassination, though there is no evidence the incident was investigated by the Justice Department.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/86_(term)
He thought it was a clever way to promote his (awful) book and a dog whistle to his fans. Comey always thinks he’s the smartest person in any room he happens to be in.
To me, this kind of behavior is despicable. It reminds me of that infamous Obama middle finger to Hillary during a debate where he was obviously trying to how his “base” how cool he was. Infantile and unworthy of anyone over the age of three.
“impeachment”
Failed twice.
“25th Amendment”
Trump’s mental status can be verified by experts to be sound.
“Both...legal routes for removal” aren’t practical.
The former FBI director can expect an offer from the DoJ. Comey knows the process and probabilities.
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