Former FBI Director James Comey knows ‘all too well’ that he is ‘down bad’ as more is revealed about his role in the Russia collusion hoax, but he seems to be trying to paint himself as an ‘anti-hero’ in a new Substack post.
Comey confessed in a bizarre video that he is a Swiftie (a.k.a. a fan of Taylor Swift) and turns to the pop star’s music for life advice, including how to deal with bullies like – you guessed it – Donald Trump.
On Monday’s show, Megyn was joined by Walter Kirn, editor-at-large of County Highway, to discuss the “cringey” post and whether the former head honcho is worried about being indicted.
The Video
Standing in front of a beige wall with poor lighting, the ex-FBI chief dropped a five-minute video on Substack Sunday night in which he called President Trump meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin “a bad dream you can’t wake up from” and professed his love for all things Swift.
Comey proudly shared about how he listens to the Grammy winner while mowing the lawn and bragged about going to see her in concert. He also revealed he is in a “Swiftie” group chat with his family and claimed he has “financially supported” the star by helping relatives afford tickets to her shows.
“You see, Taylor Swift and I go way back. I went to my first concert of hers 15 years ago. I’ve been to a second, and I have helped financially support the attendance of a lot of family members and others,” he said. “I’m in a family’s Swiftie group chat. I know all her music, and I listen to it on my headphones when I cut the grass.”
While he said his favorite Swift songs are the 10-minute version of “All Too Well” and “Exile” featuring Bon Iver, he suggested other songs in the singer’s catalogue have helped him deal with the ‘bad blood’ he has with Trump.
“Like a lot of you, I struggle with how to stand up to bullies without letting their meanness infect me and change me… I don’t want us to become like Trump and his followers here,” Comey said. “I am not an advocate for weakness. Of course, we need to stand up to jerks and defend what matters.”
Enter: Taylor Swift. “I think we have to try to do that without becoming like them, which is what makes me think about Taylor Swift,” he continued. “While our elderly, makeup-covered president is posting about whether Taylor Swift is still hot and declaring that he can’t stand her. What’s she doing? Living her best life.”
Comey then, in all seriousness, began reciting the lyrics to Swift’s 2010 hit “Mean” as inspo for his followers. “At my second Taylor Swift concert in Hartford, Connecticut, 14 years ago this summer, she sang a song about this topic, asking, ‘Why you gotta be so mean?’,” he recalled. “And she spoke directly to the nasty people: ‘I bet you got pushed around, somebody made you cold, but the cycle ends right now because you can’t lead me down that road.'”
Comey’s ‘Delicate’ Situation
Megyn called the video “cringey” and said Comey is either delusional or insincere. “First of all, James Comey is trying not to become a bully? James Comey, the one who just tweeted out a picture of ’86 47′? You actually are under investigation for possibly… calling for the murder of the sitting president,” she noted. “So maybe you needed more Taylor Swift that day. Maybe your demons got the better of you, Jim.”
“And by the way, he has been in the business of ruining lives for a long, long time. Look what he was trying to do to Donald Trump with all the Russiagate stuff, and now he actually wants to lecture us on being nice and appealing to your better angels,” Megyn added. “You actually went after Donald Trump and tried to stick the entire FBI on him. You came up with false charges against him, which you knew were bullsh-t. Meanwhile, you ran cover for Hillary Clinton… I’m not sure you’re picking up what you’re putting down there, Jim.”
Kirn called Comey’s bit “creepy” and wondered how familiar he actually is with Swift’s music. “Isn’t Taylor Swift… famous for getting revenge on every ex-boyfriend that she has ever had,” he joked. “I mean, she is not exactly a pushover herself. I mean, she takes revenge on people after they break up with her or whatever. In a way, it’s a very Trumpian aspect of her personality.”
But he also thinks Comey had a motive for the awkward overshare – and it is related to all those newfound Russiagate revelations. “He seems terrified. That is some kind of appeal to pop culture, maybe to a jury, hoping that you’ll get a Taylor Swift fan on this jury,” Kirn theorized. “That is the most odd choice of appeals when you are in legal peril that I’ve ever seen and can only be, in my estimation… an attempt to make himself look human to a potential jury or ones sitting right now in a grand jury room somewhere.”
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Kirn by tuning in to episode 1,130 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.