According to the NYT, Mr. Comey, in his cash-grabbing memoir, has described the Trump administration as a forest fire that is destroying America's norms and traditions. Well, maybe so, but what forest fire doesn't love a drought-stricken, disease-ridden, beetle-bitten forest?
It was hard to resist. I'm sure so many others have run with the forest fire metaphor, creating alternate spins of their own, merrily passing on the banner of banality. And now I've done the same. But as with any banality, there is a convenient jumping-off point here. The metaphor is now ready-made, easy to play with, and constantly in our face. It beckons interrogation.
Because after all, where was this once-healthy forest? What norms and traditions are being destroyed here? What is it that is in a state of deterioration, or even immolation, and why?
Is this a cleansing flame, a flame of doom, or a warning flame that sounds the alarm, instigating us to begin the healing process? The longer one thinks about it, the less clear it becomes that the fire will go out anytime soon, and how long has it really been burning anyway? I could go on.
It is also hard to resist imagining American liberals sitting down with this book, pumping their fist for an ex-leader of an institution as illiberal as the FBI, taking Comey's arguments at face value, believing that he was an honest beacon simply trying to get to the truth and save our beloved country, and that his mishandling with the Hilary case was just a big whoops.
It is true that there is a growing political backlash to the Trump presidency and the greater neoliberal project in general, which is much needed. It is inspiring to see the Me Too reversals, the student protests, the teachers' strikes, and the growing indignation across the country, indignation that is finally not reactionary and mean, but compassionate and hopeful.
But to insert another naturalistic metaphor here, if we are being allowed another breath of air as we tumble down whatever river this is, we best take a deep gulp, because this ride is far from over.
