Targeting Comey is an abuse of power by President Trump
We need a Republican Party that was not totally subservient to President Trump's every whim.
James Comey can be an insufferable egotist with a grand sense of self-importance. He thought he was being "cute" with the "86-47" photo he posted to social media a year ago. He deserved the scorn he got for it. But the Trump Administration, almost certainly under orders from President Trump himself, is completely wrong to attempt to put him in prison for a social media post. President Trump has long wanted personal vengeance against anyone in law enforcement involved in the Russiagate scandal which haunted his first term, and this is another act toward getting that vengeance.
President Trump told the January 6 crowd to "fight" for the country before sending the crowd to the Capitol Building to protest the certification of the 2020 Electoral College vote. However, he was never charged with incitement. The Supreme Court set the Brandenburg standard before I was born, which has been critical in protecting free speech. Basically, you have to explicitly advocate an imminent lawless act to be guilty of incitement. Given how often politicians tell their followers to "fight" for something, there is no end to politically-motivated prosecutions that could be directed at elected officials, candidates and activists. Remember, President Obama once said "if they bring a knife, we bring a gun."
Just as President Trump could not be charged with incitement, the case against Comey is also very weak. No, the photo was not calling for the assassination of President Trump. It was calling for him to be removed from office. It was far beneath the professional standards of how a former FBI director should behave, and demonstrates that not only was President Trump correct to fire him, but that Comey should have been fired much earlier. Comey was trolling President Trump, hoping to get a reaction. President Trump is a very effeminate man who is notoriously thin-skinned, so he hates criticism like this, but that does not mean such memes are criminal acts.
This is not a legitimate prosecution. This is lawfare. If we had a Republican Party that was not totally subservient to President Trump's every whim, Congress would stand up against this abuse of power and dangerous attack on free speech. If the Democrats take control of Congress in November, this malicious prosecution will be the target of multiple Congressional investigations and maybe even impeachment proceedings. President Trump, in his effeminate rage against Comey, is also needlessly making himself a target for Democrats in a year. If for no other reason than to protect President Trump from himself, Republicans need to strongly urge him to end this nonsense.