Trump Calls Comey “Cowardly” As Polls Show Public Believes Comey

President Donald Trump lashed out at James Comey on the weekend and called him “cowardly.”  It was the latest impolitic tweet and it does not appear to be working well for Trump.  A new poll shows that the public overwhelmingly believe Comey over Trump by a twenty percent margin.  In a truly sad state of affairs if accurate, only 26 percent on the You.Gov/Huff Post poll believes the President. For the moment, Trump may view Comey as “cowardly” but the public views him credible.  The poll tracks another poll by Gallup showing the President’s popularity at 38 percent — though, as I mentioned earlier, Trump has been slightly ahead of Bill Clinton at this point in this presidency.

The polls shows 46 percent of Americans say Comey is more honest and trustworthy than the president. Twenty-six percent found Trump more trustworthy than Comey.

The tweets are not helping on the Hill either.  Republican members have been relatively quiet in defense of the President and have been openly asking him to stop with the tweets.  The message does not appear to be getting through to the Oval Office.  Trump ramped up his tweets on the weekend:

“I believe the James Comey leaks will be far more prevalent than anyone ever thought possible. Totally illegal? Very ‘cowardly!’”

I have been critical of both Trump and Comey.  I felt that the recent hearing both helped and hurt Comey.  I do not think that it materially made the President’s case stronger in terms of any obstruction prosecution.  However, these tweets are legally and politically damaging.

What do you think?