I've seen several of Alex Gibney's documentaries so far and I find myself noticing the glaring, blatant, intelligence-insulting manipulations.
I was really enjoying this documentary (more than many of his others, which were lousy and incredibly one-sided and manipulative) until the final episode. I am a Democrat and I loathe Trump, so I have no bone to pick in terms of "owning the libs." But to claim that not a single FBI Agent was happy about Comey being fired is, on its face, implausible. No leader is 100% beloved. In fact, career agents are not particularly impressed with political appointments. Imagine being at a company for 30 years and suddenly your new CEO is plucked out of a totally different industry and put in charge. Sure, in many ways it's a figurehead position, but respect still has to be earned. I'd say Louis Freeh came the closest to having that respect the day he started, but only because he'd previously been an agent. And still, there were those who said, "Sure, but he quit after 6 years."
Comey may have been somewhat popular in his early days as director, especially in contrast to the dour Mueller, because he was more extroverted and friendly and seemed to have more of an open door policy. But he certainly carried a lot of baggage. He had a reputation in DC as kind of a holier-than-thou, self-aggrandizing, "I'm the only honest man in DC" persona. He may have tried to play the humble aw, shucks role, but the guy was full of himself. Everyone knew it.
Add to that his relentless PR campaign to make the FBI more open and transparent, complete with TV appearances, speeches, you name it, and suddenly the FBI was in the spotlight all the time, which made many agents uncomfortable and miss Mueller's discreet and quiet leadership style. But yeah Comey had some burning desire to blaze a new trail.
That Alex Gibney actually used an official FBI internal memo to "prove" that Comey was so beloved and going to be missed is utterly laughable. Like the FBI is really going to have an internal memo that said "Phew, glad to see the POS is getting the boot!"
How stupid and naive do you think the viewers are? Many agents resented Comey and were glad to see him go. I had to take off 2 stars just for that jaw-dropping segment. I'm still shaking my head.
I was really enjoying this documentary (more than many of his others, which were lousy and incredibly one-sided and manipulative) until the final episode. I am a Democrat and I loathe Trump, so I have no bone to pick in terms of "owning the libs." But to claim that not a single FBI Agent was happy about Comey being fired is, on its face, implausible. No leader is 100% beloved. In fact, career agents are not particularly impressed with political appointments. Imagine being at a company for 30 years and suddenly your new CEO is plucked out of a totally different industry and put in charge. Sure, in many ways it's a figurehead position, but respect still has to be earned. I'd say Louis Freeh came the closest to having that respect the day he started, but only because he'd previously been an agent. And still, there were those who said, "Sure, but he quit after 6 years."
Comey may have been somewhat popular in his early days as director, especially in contrast to the dour Mueller, because he was more extroverted and friendly and seemed to have more of an open door policy. But he certainly carried a lot of baggage. He had a reputation in DC as kind of a holier-than-thou, self-aggrandizing, "I'm the only honest man in DC" persona. He may have tried to play the humble aw, shucks role, but the guy was full of himself. Everyone knew it.
Add to that his relentless PR campaign to make the FBI more open and transparent, complete with TV appearances, speeches, you name it, and suddenly the FBI was in the spotlight all the time, which made many agents uncomfortable and miss Mueller's discreet and quiet leadership style. But yeah Comey had some burning desire to blaze a new trail.
That Alex Gibney actually used an official FBI internal memo to "prove" that Comey was so beloved and going to be missed is utterly laughable. Like the FBI is really going to have an internal memo that said "Phew, glad to see the POS is getting the boot!"
How stupid and naive do you think the viewers are? Many agents resented Comey and were glad to see him go. I had to take off 2 stars just for that jaw-dropping segment. I'm still shaking my head.