Admittedly, I’m looking at this through a personal lens, but I think I finally figured out Donald Trump’s secret strategy: He’s trying to explode the heads of news curators. Covering President Trump is the equivalent of covering the OJ White Ford Bronco chase if it lasted for 112 days. After the weird news deluge we’ve already encountered, why do the twists and turns (and loopty loops) of this week’s constantly changing Comey story make it feel like a particularly large wrench has been thrown into the works of our communal prefrontal cortex? President Trump explains with a Tweet: “As a very active President with lots of things happening, it is not possible for my surrogates to stand at podium with perfect accuracy!….” (Yeah, every now and then, one teeny tiny, itsy bitsy, eensy weensy inconsistency might slip through…)

+ The NYT’s Michael S. Schmidt reports that Trump asked for Comey’s loyalty during a private dinner at the White House: “As they ate, the president and Mr. Comey made small talk about the election and the crowd sizes at Mr. Trump’s rallies. The president then turned the conversation to whether Mr. Comey would pledge his loyalty to him.” (Whether you buy the loyalty request part or not, you have to admit the other parts of the conversation sound pretty believable.) Trump responded to the news with another Tweet: “James Comey better hope that there are no “tapes” of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!” (If there is a tape, you can expect a lot of remixes.)

+ Trump’s lawyers released a certified letter claiming he has no Russian debts or investors. (I don’t think it’s particularly meaningful, but it’s indicative of how weird everything is that the law firm that penned the letter was named Russia Law Firm of the Year in 2016.)

+ Trump was gonna visit the FBI offices. Trump is not gonna visit the FBI offices.

+ A reminder from the NYT that opinion is still divided: For Trump Supporters, the Real Outrage Is the Left’s Uproar Over Comey.

+ And here’s a headline that does a pretty good job summing up today’s America: Melissa McCarthy as Sean Spicer Rode a Motorized Podium Through New York City.