When I was a child, history was my favorite subject. I even took enough elective history classes at the collegiate level to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree with a double major in history and political science (pre-law). I changed my major to business after watching Al Pacino overact while portraying a criminal defense attorney in the movie And Justice for All. I probably ought to write Mr. Pacino a letter thanking him for crushing my naïve fantasy of becoming a real-life Perry Mason. I should also thank God that Al Pacino never played the part of a software developer or a writer, because he probably would have killed any future interest in those professions as well. The only safe career for me might have been as a sanitation worker.

If you've never seen the docudrama Turn, about General Washington's spies during the Revolutionary War, it is well worth the time to binge-watch (if you have Netflix) and appreciate what America was like before it became the beacon of freedom and hope that I've been blessed and privileged to call home for my entire lifetime. I can virtually guarantee that everyone will learn something about the origin of our country they either never knew or had forgotten as some obscure footnote of history.

For example, I clearly remembered that General Benedict Arnold was widely considered the most notorious traitor in U.S. history, but I couldn't remember specifically what he had done to betray General Washington and the Continental Army (he negotiated to sell a map of our defenses at West Point to spymaster Major John Andre of the British Army) or why the previously distinguished military hero would have done such a despicable deed. If Benedict Arnold hadn't escaped to England, he would have been hanged as a traitor.

This makes for a nice segue to James Comey, former FBI director and one of the lead conspirators in the plot to overthrow the presidency of Donald Trump. At minimum, James Comey is guilty of sedition. If there was a crime like perjury for repeatedly lying through the mainstream media to the American people about a criminal conspiracy to overthrow our elected government, Comey would probably get locked in a cell for the rest of his miserable life. Instead, this disgraceful excuse for a human being has thus far been rewarded for his treachery with a multimillion-dollar deal to write a book (irony alert!) on loyalty.

And if that isn't bad enough, the Washington Post just published one of the most disgusting "opinion" pieces in recent memory, authored by this disgraceful excuse for a former FBI director, in which he whines about being the target of Donald Trump's wrath while making absurd and audacious claims such as "Foreign leaders laugh at him and throw his letters in the trash." Yes, we've all seen the video of Macron and Trudeau laughing and making jokes at Trump's expense. Serious question: who cares what Macron or Trudeau thinks?

Far more serious question: How does James Comey know what foreign leaders do with letters they receive from Donald Trump? Or is he making another spectacular but totally unsubstantiated claim, as he did when he signed the three applications for FISA warrants to spy on Trump campaign adviser and CIA operative Carter Page? If James Comey isn't "blowing smoke out of his butt," as my father used to say, is he actually confessing to treason? Is there any other way to describe this former government official apparently claiming to have intimate knowledge of how leaders of foreign governments have responded to official communications from President Donald Trump?

James Comey's problem is that he isn't half as smart as he thinks he is. The only real reason for writing this drivel disguised as a Washington Post op-ed piece is what will prove to be a futile attempt to get out in front of the impending Durham report, coming at some point in 2020, and what will almost surely be a future indictment for his role in the conspiracy to undermine and overthrow the presidency of Donald Trump.

The very next sentence in this self-serving attack on President Trump proves that James Comey isn't nearly as smart as he thinks he is because he inadvertently reveals the hypocrisy of Nancy Pelosi when he writes, "American leaders clap back at him, offering condescending prayers for his personal well-being" (emphasis added). Question: Has anybody else, other than Nancy Pelosi, been bragging about praying for Donald Trump? To which American leader could Comey possibly have been referring except Nancy Pelosi, who has made a point of frequently saying she's been praying for Trump while working to impeach him?

Next, Comey writes, "The president's 'trusted' advisers all appear to talk about him behind his back and treat him like a child." What, you mean just as you've done, Big Jim?

In fairness, the op-ed mostly reads like the whining of a petulant child, not a modern-day reincarnation of Reinhold Niebuhr. It didn't inspire me to write a reply until I read this particular paragraph:

I don't mean to suggest Trump is not dangerous. The horrific betrayal of allies in northern Syria demonstrates that an impetuous and amoral leader can do great harm, even in shrunken form. And if he succeeds in redefining our nation's core values so that extorting foreign governments to aid in one's election is consistent with the oath of office, he will have done lasting damage to this nation — the harm our founders worried about most.

Our Founding Fathers didn't create the FBI, but James Comey is exactly what they feared the most: the corruption of our government from within. Former FBI agent Frank Watt explains that the 17 errors in the FISA application Comey signed have only two possible explanations: senior leadership at the FBI were "abject failures at the task they were hired to perform" (a theory former special agent Watt rejects as implausible), or they "were knowingly and deliberately operating outside the law to one degree or another."

That last sentence probably explains why John Durham is working with a grand jury. It really won't matter how far out in front of the indictment you get, Mr. Comey. You won't be able to spin a criminal conviction as political retribution.

As Comey is winding down his pathetic defense, he writes, "It may be justly suspected that [Trump's] object is to throw things into confusion so that he may 'ride the storm and direct the whirlwind.'" The same guy who fancies himself worthy of comparison to the theologian credited with writing the Serenity Prayer ought to know the more famous words of Hosea 8:7, which reads, "They sow the wind and reap the whirlwind."

The next line is even more apropos: "The stalk has no head; it will produce no flour. Were it to yield grain, foreigners would swallow it up."

James Comey has done incalculable harm to our country in his zeal to damage the presidency of Donald Trump and now in a desperate but ultimately futile attempt to protect his own reputation. He's very lucky that Donald Trump is no George Washington, because Washington would have hanged Benedict Arnold if he'd only been able to catch him.

John Leonard writes novels, books, and the occasional article for American Thinker. John also blogs at his website southernprose.com, where he may be contacted.