Your humble correspondent recently participated in a CNN interview, which examined the story of the Civil War monument on the Trump National Golf Course; you know, the one that claims there was a battle where there wasn't one. President Trump, drama queen that he is with his exaggerated showmanship, has a way of making himself look foolish with things like that. And he did it again with regard to firing James Comey.

While the president has not been particularly well served by his staff, neither have they been well served by him. He is used to mouthing off at will both as head of the Trump financial empire and as host of a reality TV show. He clearly doesn't much care if he says things that sound outrageous. That's the showmanship part. It didn't matter then. It does matter now.

Any president has the legal right to fire the FBI director. No question about that. And Trump apparently had doubts about Comey despite the normal, boilerplate assurances of his confidence, assurances which no one familiar with Washington's ways should have taken seriously for a second.

Some folks have questioned the timing, claiming that Comey was fired in order to derail the FBI's investigation of the alleged Trump-Putin bromance. But, speaking of drama queens, that's just Democrats getting their panties in a wad again. They're screaming "coup" and "constitutional crisis," neither of which remotely applies. It's so absurd that even Nancy Pelosi has told her fellow Democrats to back off a bit and wait for some evidence.

Besides, it wasn't all that long ago that the Schumer-Pelosi gang was howling for Comey to be fired because they blamed him for Hillary's defeat (before they started blaming the Russians). One member of that gang was my very favorite Democrat, Georgia Representative Hank Johnson. He's the loon who thinks that Guam will flip over if we send too many troops to the base there. No, really. Check it out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7XXVLKWd3Q

But Democrats need not worry. Guam won't flip over, and Comey's firing won't bring the FBI to a standstill especially now that Trump's Justice Department has appointed a special counsel, something for which Trump should get a little credit, though he won't.

Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein's memo to Jeff Sessions, "Restoring Public Confidence in the FBI," made the case against Comey. Whether or not Trump was influenced by it, something about which he and Sean Spicer seem to differ, it is a compelling argument, which cites several former AG's and Deputy AG's who believe that Comey badly bungled several matters and deserved to go. Indeed, the list of fubars on Comey's watch is distressingly long. Take a look: https://news.grabien.com/story-10-major-fbi-scandals-comeyswatch

So Trump's foolishness with regard to the firing is not in the decision itself but with how it was handled. And that's where his previous experiences saying whatever he wanted to say whenever he wanted to say it, become problematic. He contradicted and embarrassed his staff and then made himself look petty with what Jonah Goldberg called his "thyroidal tweeting," especially his not-so-veiled Twitter threats against Comey. There's no question that Trump's bombastic style has worked for him for a long time but, please, Mr. President, can't you, every now and then, just shut up?

Nonetheless, just as Comey listed all the reasons why Hillary should be indicted but concluded that he wouldn't recommend indictment, it is possible to say many negative things about Trump and still conclude that he's doing all right. His actions are better than his comments. Gorsuch to SCOTUS, Keystone, and Dakota pipelines progressing; more to come. And, at the very least, we can always just be glad he's not Hillary.

Democrats think they have Trump on the ropes with the Mueller investigation. But more likely, this is their "Battle of the Bulge," a last-ditch, desperation attack; some early successes but ultimately a failure.