What makes someone a "showboat"?

I think of a “showboat” as an attention seeker. But I can’t see that would be a reason to fire someone unless in a field that doesn’t allow for showboating. An example would be a dance troupe where there would be a front dancer and the others are the backup dancers and one of the backup dancers keeps trying to get all the attention.

A “showboat” (or grandstander), by definition, is one who incessantly craves attention. I would not consider this a fireable offense in and of itself.

However, Comey (who in my opinion is not a grandstander) was taking light from Trump, the supreme grandstander, an egomaniac who has proven time after time he cannot tolerate being upstaged. This, combined with the small detail that Comey may have the goods to end Trump’s presidency, made it essential that he be terminated.

@janbb – you are trying to ascribe rationality to someone who is essentially irrational. It doesn’t work.

Look, Trump is a lunatic. He doesn’t fit into any normal mold.

Having two blades that alternate dipping in the water as they peddle.

No, wait. That makes them a paddleboat.

Never mind.

I’m not sure he knew what he was saying. After all, this is the guy who claims to have coined the expression “priming the pump,” a perfect example of his routinely asserting false credit. And his literacy and cultural knowledge would put him somewhere on the low end of a middle schooler’s summer remedial reading program.

What I want to see is for him to be called on “not doing a good job,” a vague claim that is apparently sufficient grounds for dismissal.

In my opinion, Comey is more of a threat off the payroll. Disgruntled former employees are a classic source of dirt, as every paperback detective knows. My unsupported wild guess is that the instigating question was “Who can we fire?—who that’s going to make the biggest media bang? and that’s going to give us a twofer or a threefer in terms of discrediting, distraction, etc?” and somebody in a brainstorming session said “How about Comey?”

@Jeruba have you ever heard the term “showboat”/ I haven’t. I’ve heard show-off or grandstander but not showboat.

@janbb, not used that way. That’s what I mean. I don’t think he even had a term in mind when he opened his mouth to speak. That’s just what came out. His brain doesn’t appear to be engaged…or maybe it is, and this disarray that we’re seeing is a picture of it, which is even scarier.

@Jeruba Yes, that’s my impression too. Such a scary man.