Good Thursday morning, I'm Anna Palmer and welcome to your Politico Playbook Audio Briefing, sponsored by Farma.

And welcome to day three of what we're starting to call Comeygate.

The past 48 hours have been a political and PR disaster for President Donald Trump and the White House.

By all accounts, Trump's decision to dump FBI director James Comey wasn't based

on a methodical review of the facts. Instead, it appears like many of Trump's more controversial

decisions to be a gut check-driven response based purely on personal animus. Comey wasn't loyal enough.

He didn't support Trump's claims that the former President Barack Obama wireta. Comey wasn't loyal enough. He didn't support Trump's claims

that the former President Barack Obama wiretapped him

and wasn't moving fast enough

to find those responsible for leaks about Trump.

Quinnipiac is out with a new poll

that found voters are giving Trump

a near-record negative,

36 to 58% job approval rating.

The poll found big losses among white voters with no college

degree, white men, and independent voters. Those numbers are brutal for Trump, particularly the

losses among key demographics of the Trump coalition. It's important to note, the poll was

commissioned before Comey's firing, so Trump's approval

is unlikely to rebound anytime soon. We're focused on a replacement watch with top Republicans

on Capitol Hill telling us that Trump has been soliciting suggestions on who should be the next

FBI director. The fact that Trump went ahead with firing Comey, without a replacement in mind, is stunning.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions and his deputy, who played key roles in Comey's ouster,

...