Is Trump’s decision to fire James Comey a ‘Nixonian’ cover up?

What to make of the shocking news that Donald Trump has fired the director of the FBI James Comey? Senior Democrats are calling it a ‘Nixonian’ cover up of the Bureau’s probe into Trump’s links to Russia. It is easy to see what they mean. The abrupt move has strong echoes of the famous ‘Saturday Night Massacre’ during the Watergate scandal. As Senator Richard Blumenthal put it, “President Trump has catastrophically compromised the FBI’s ongoing investigation of his own White House’s ties to Russia.” It doesn’t look good.

As usual with Trump, though, it seems impossible to figure out quite what he is up to. If he really wanted to conceal his ties to Russia, why would he do something quite so dramatic? He can’t really be that stupid can he? At the hearings for the next FBI Director, Democrats will now fire endless questions about the alleged collusion between Moscow and Trump’s campaign team.