Reading the Comey interview transcript, I get a "Cat Person" vibe.

From the transcript, here's Comey describing his conflicted, confusing feelings about that encounter on the evening of January 27, 2017:

JAMES COMEY: ... and so I said, "Sir, whatever you-- whatever you like." And he said, "Well, why don't we make it 6:30?" And I said, "Sure." And then I called Patrice, broke our date, and-- as luck had it, I had-- an encounter with Clapper, who had left the government but we were giving him a recognition as honorary F.B.I. agent. And I told him about this invitation and he told-- comforted me by saying, "Yeah, I've heard lots of other people are getting calls to come for dinner." 

He comforted me...

And so then in my head I was-- "Okay, so it's a group thing. He must be having a group thing tonight, a group thing tomorrow night. That's fine." And so I went over there expecting-- a crowd of people.

And so then in my head I was... I feel as though I'm reading a #MeToo story told by a young woman. Why didn't he say "I thought..." like a plain-spoken adult? It's like the inside of his head is an environment with moods and wisps of cognition. He's invited into a private space, he has his trepidations, but other people will be there, and he's hoping he won't be alone with the man.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: And what did you find?

JAMES COMEY: I stood in the entrance to the green room, which is next to the blue room, and chatted with two Navy stewards who were there.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: This is the residence?

JAMES COMEY: Yeah, in the residence. And looked around the room and quickly saw that all the furniture had been moved in the-- in the center of the room. There was a small oval table and there were only two chairs and I could see two place cards. And I could see from where I was standing, one said, "Director Comey." I assume the other was the president. And so that's when I knew that it wasn't a group dinner to get to know the leaders of our different agencies, that it was just the two of us.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: What did you think was going on?

JAMES COMEY: Something that made me uncomfortable and my best intuition at that point was it's part of an effort to make me part of the team, to make me “amica nostra.” And that it made me deeply uncomfortable. And so I just waited. There was no-- there was no saying no at this point.

See what I mean? It's totally "Cat Person." He's entered a private space where he intuits what the man is expecting and he's "uncomfortable" but somehow drawn along by the other person's expectations and — without access to his own values and preferences and powers — imagines that he cannot say no and must simply proceed forward into the situation that is making him uncomfortable. I feel like I'm reading about a 20-year-old female fictional character. Is this what the inside of Comey's head looks like or is this some psychological narrative concocted, with ghostwriting help, for the American reading public?

The "amica nostra" business is his idea that Trump behaves like a Mafia boss. "Amica" means "friend" in Italian. So does "amico." "Amica" is the female form.

And the president showed up and had me sit down...

He "had" you sit down. He doesn't even sit down on his own power! So pliable, going along with the orders of the big man.

... and it turned out just to be the two of us and that the purpose of the meeting, the dinner was for him to extract from him a promise of loyalty. That instinct was right, it was to make me a friend of ours.

"Make me a friend of ours" sounds weird, but it's the Mafia idea again. Comey simply sitting down to a dinner for 2, but he's trying to depict a scary aura of compulsion. Comey is reading the other man's mind and hyper-aware of what that man wants on this occasion.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: As you were witting [sic] with him, he-- he was just getting used to the trappings of--

JAMES COMEY: Yeah.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: --of the White House?

Stephanopoulos is humanizing Trump: Trump had his uncertainties too. That's counterpoint to Comey's effort to present Trump as the Mafia boss, who knew exactly how to exercise power.

JAMES COMEY: I think he was. I think he was. He-- he was-- he took on-- on the plates was a card-- a calligraphy card, so-- very nice script. You always see these at the White House. And it listed the menu for the dinner we were about to have. And so he-- I remember, he held his up and said, "They write these by hand." And I said, "A calligrapher?" And he kind of gave me this look and he said, "They write them by hand." And so I-- I kinda let it go. And-- and then he talked about-- one of the things he said was how luxurious the White House was, the residence. And he said, "I-- and I know luxury." And-- which I credit. And-- he said, "It's-- it's really beautiful."

Comey is, I think, implying that Trump didn't understand the word "calligrapher." The 2 men are on different wavelengths — Comey, interested in an art form (calligraphy) and Trump, noticing that a person did work by hand (the human touch).

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: How long did it take to get down to business?

JAMES COMEY: Not long. I think it was probably during the salad, before the shrimp scampi.

I laughed heartily at this point, watching it on TV. Stephanopoulos asked about time and Comey told the time in terms of food courses, as if we know where in the order of things the salad appears. But I guess "shrimp scampi" was the entree, so the salad came somewhere in the beginning, but was there a soup course? An appetizer? And it's also funny for a man who just acted pretentious about he word "calligrapher" to say "shrimp scampi," especially when he's inserting Italian phrases like "amica nostra." "Scampi" just means "shrimp," and educated people are supposed to know that you're saying "shrimp shrimp" and that's silly.

He redirected the conversation-- I think we started talking about how the beautiful the White House was. He redirected the conversation by saying, "So what do you want to do?" And I kinda gave him this look...

No words, just "this look." Why couldn't he say something forthright? Why not make a connection to Trump and show him something about how you think of your work? Why is he so passive, so wary? If the idea is to stand strong on principles and traditions, why not let that show in a real and honest way at this point? I think this is where he lost Trump. Trump had to take the lead...

... and then he explained what he meant. And he said, "You know, a lot of people would want to be F.B.I. director and given all you've gone through, I would understand if you want to walk away but it would look like you'd done something wrong if you did that. But I figured I should meet with you and-- and see what you want to do," which was really odd because I think, by that point, at least three times, he had said he hoped I was staying and looked forward to working with me. But there was no acknowledgment of that.

... and then Comey just found it "really odd." What seems odd to me is how awkward and passive Comey is. Even in Comey's own telling, he seems inert:  he's waiting to follow instructions and trying to please a man he feels no connection to. Comey doesn't come across here as the embodiment of FBI tradition and integrity. He seems like a man hoping to hold onto his job and unsure how to make that happen, hoping to be told what to do. He's so wary, and I assume Trump did not like him or trust him.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Do you think he wanted you to walking away [sic]?

JAMES COMEY: No. No, I think he wanted me to say, "Sir, I'd very much like to continue to serve and be your F.B.I. director." And then he would say, "Okay, but I need loyalty, I expect loyalty," which is exactly what he did say, the-- the second part. So I think it was about-- again, this is just a guess but it's an educated guess, that someone had told him or he had concluded that he gave the F.B.I. director job away for free by telling this guy you hope he's going to stay. You oughta get him in front of you and make sure he's a friend of ours. And-- and have him promise he's going to be loyal, 'cause the F.B.I. is a dangerous organization.

And that's the weather inside the cranium of James Comey. He talks so much about how Trump felt, but he's revealing how he himself felt and what kind of man he is. For all his rectitude and sermonizing, there is something needy and pliable about Comey.

Why did he do anything he didn't choose to do? Why did he fail to speak forthrightly? If Trump really said "Okay, but I need loyalty, I expect loyalty," I wonder if Trump wasn't giving him a test to see if he was a weak man or if he offered a substantial counterweight to presidential power.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Why not say no?

Exactly! Let's see how the head of the FBI answers:

JAMES COMEY: That's a fair question. I think because I was caught totally by surprise. 

Cat Person!

And again, I'm operating in an environment where I don't want-- I'm going to be director for another six years. This man's the new president of the United States, I do not need a war with him. I have to find a way to work with this administration and protect the values of the F.B.I. 

Why not just forthrightly explain what the FBI stands for and let the consequences follow? Why make yourself weak for the President? Why think that's what the President wanted? You don't have to find a way to work for him! You can stand on principle — you who want to be Mr. Principle today — and let him decide if he wants to keep you or not. Maybe if you'd done that he would have kept you.

And so-- and part of it was just sheer surprise. I couldn't think of a clever response. 

Why would you need a clever response?! Stand on your rock-solid principles. That was the time. That was the test. You failed right then, so don't preen now.

And by the second time he came back to it, he didn't respond at all. We just stared at each other and then he went on eating. 

How awkward. Why couldn't he talk to the President? He's staring?!

And then he came back to-- he didn't-- he noticed that I didn't answer. He came back to it later in the dinner. And by then, I had my wits about me and had a better answer. 

So before, he didn't have his "wits about" him. Later, he had his wits, and he could think of something clever enough to make speaking an option.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: What was the second time?

JAMES COMEY: The second time was later in the conversation. He said, again, "I need loyalty." And I said, "You will always get honesty from me." And he paused and then he said, "Honest loyalty," as if he was proposing some compromise or a deal. And I paused and said, "You'll get that from me."

Well, then, you made the deal. You went ahead with what you felt was expected, even though you felt queasy about it the whole time.

And, of course, in between those two-- the loyalty sandwich, in between those two, I had-- I had an opportunity to explain to him the F.B.I.'s role and how important it was for the F.B.I. to be independent and how I thought about it.

He's almost incoherent here — "the loyalty sandwich, in between those two...." But I guess this means he managed to get out some words about his principles, even as he ate the shit sandwich, which might have happened after the shrimp shrimp and before the dessert.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: But did you cross a line there-- did you cross a line when you promised him honest loyalty? Did-- would it be fair for him to think, "Wait, I have a deal here."

Yes, you made a deal and then you violated it. You called it a deal. If it's a deal, why didn't you keep it? It's incoherent to say, because it violated principle, since it violates principle to break a deal.

JAMES COMEY: Yeah, I-- I don't think so. Given the context and the other things I'd said, I thought-- and look, it was a compromise on my part to try and avoid a really awkward conversation, get out of an awkward conversation.

Why were you so awkward? From my point of view, it seems as though it would have been easy to have a conversation, if you were devoted to principle and knew who you were and had integrity from the very start and had spoken with clarity and straightforwardness. Even after all this time and while posing as the embodiment of lofty values, Comey looks weak, confused, and dithering.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Was it a mistake?

A mistake to make the deal?

JAMES COMEY: Yeah, I don't know. But-- maybe, maybe. 

Still dithering!

And maybe I should've said in the moment, "Sir, as I told you, the F.B.I. has to be--" and then give him the speech again, maybe. But-- and so maybe I should've been-- yeah, that's fair feedback. Maybe I should've been tougher or more direct, especially given what I know now.

Maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe! Of course he should have been tougher and more direct! That's obvious, and if he had, Trump might have liked him.

At the time, I obviously couldn't see the future. But given what I know now, maybe it would've been better to give a more explicit-- say, "Sir, I can't promise you loyalty. Given the nature of my role, I can promise you I always tell you the truth," which I had already told him. "That's my role. And that I'm not part of it."

That would have been perfectly easy to say at the time.

I should've given that whole speech then. But in the moment, frankly, it didn't occur to me. 

Cat Person! Somehow, his own mind was too fuzzy to see and it didn't even occur to him that he had preferences and he could just say what they were.

And I-- maybe I didn't have the guts to do it. I wanted to get out of this conversation without compromising myself. 

Well, that didn't happen.

And I felt like, given all I've told him already, he has to understand what I mean by honest loyalty and he's kidding himself if he thinks I just promised that I'm-- I'm “amica nostra.” But-- in hindsight, you're probably right. I probably should have done it differently.

Probably. Even now — flogging a book flaunting integrity — he won't forthrightly say: I had the power to clearly state what was right and wrong and I just didn't have the presence of mind to figure out what it was. I was lost in a fog and imagining the man to be dominating me when in fact, I could have said no and walked away. I did what was put in front of me, and I didn't even do it well. I did it so lamely and awkwardly that I inspired no trust, even though I compromised myself trying to hold on to what I'm finally realizing I didn't even want.