James Comey's book falls as flat as its cover

The new memoir by James Comey, former FBI director, is light on new information but heavy on petty insults. It is being marketed by a typical rage-fest on President Trump's Twitter feed. A bestseller is guaranteed.

But Comey's name-calling makes for an unpersuasive condemnation of this presidency. It won't convince Trump supporters, or wavering conservatives, or Democrats (perhaps especially those who previously voted for President Barack Obama) to change their minds

Comey’s observations about Trump's orange-ness, his hand size, and the length of his tie, aren’t even original, let alone amusing except to that corps of haters who giggle at any show of disrespect to the chief executive. Perhaps the only impact they will have is to engender among disaffected conservatives a certain sympathy for a president whose substantive policies have been a pleasant surprise.

Trump fired Comey partly out of annoyance, as he said, with the FBI investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. But improbable conspiracy theories and suspicion about cover-ups and obstruction of justice are unnecessary to explain why Trump, a vain man, wanted it made public that he was not a target of the investigation. They aren't necessary, either, to explain why he dislikes news that deflects public admiration away from what he regards as the greatest presidential victory in history. He also believes, not without justification, that the collusion narrative is driven in large part by his opponents' inability or unwillingness to accept that voters chose him and not their preferred presidential candidate.

The final verdict isn't in yet on the Russia investigation, but so far Trump appears to be right that he isn’t a criminal target and probably never was. The clearest giveaway was Russia's clumsy and well-documented approach to his son and other senior aides through an intermediary. The buildup to the June 2016 meeting with attorney Natalia Veselnitskaya all but proves that there was no standard or sensible chain of communication between the alleged colluders up to that point.