Thoughts {05.10.17}

Can't believe that nobody has equated the firing of FBI director James B. Comey to the character Ned Stark on the hit TV series "Game of Thrones".  Ned, like Comey, takes the fall when the prevailing political powers in the capital decides he's getting too close to the truth on certain matters and that his time is up.  In Ned's case what falls is his head.  

The prevailing narrative this morning seems to be that Comey was axed {just not in the same way as Ned Stark} because he was getting too close to the truth on the President's  Russian connections.  Only time will tell on that.  If you think about it though, neither Democrats or Republicans had reason to love Comey.  Comey seems to be a straight shooter that doesn't bend to the prevailing political winds.  The Republicans had no love for him on this whole Russian thing and the Democrats are still smarting from Comey's part in last year's election.  The Democrats rising to defend him yesterday are some of the same folks that wanted his head a few months ago.  

The person with the most to lose in the FBI Director's firing seems to be the President.  The firing gives the appearance of being hastily conceived and poorly executed.  Also it gives ammunition to those who believe President Trump has something to hide with his Russian connections.  Calls on both sides of the political aisle for a Special Prosecutor should be disconcerting to the President.  

The odds that Vice-President Pence will become President at some point have increased in the past 24 hours.  

The last President to fire an FBI director was Bill Clinton.

Markets are muted in their reaction to this after initial selling off last night on the news.  We'll have to see if this political issue becomes a crises that spills over into the economic realm over the next few weeks.

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