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•尼克森(Richard Nixon)花了5個月的時間炒掉了調查他的人。唐納•川普(Donald Trump)花了不到4個月。兩者之間的區別是，尼克松沒怎麼隱瞞自己的動機：保住他的總統寶座，而川普則稱，他炒掉詹姆士•柯米(James Comey)是因為後者對去年希拉蕊•柯林頓(Hillary Clinton)「郵件門」的調查處理不當。即使以川普的標準，這也太把別人當傻子了。川普讓美國公衆相信，他「終止和免去（這位聯邦調查局(FBI)局長）的職務」是因為後者曾不公平地對待了希拉里。希拉里正是川普口中那個應爲不當處置自己郵件被關進監獄的對手。如今看起來，希拉里曾是一項不專業調查的受害者，而川普正在伸張正義。