Shell Game
the real meaning of 86 47
Shell Game
Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche has secured an indictment against former FBI Director James Comey for threatening Donald Trump, the 47th President of the United States, after Comey posted on Instagram a seashell arrangement spelling “86 47” that he found on a North Carolina beach in May 2025.
Mr. Comey’s defense is that he believed the number “86 47” meant “cancel Donald Trump,” not “kill Donald Trump.”
I’m not an attorney, nor do I play one on TV, but I’m not certain the Comey defense is strong enough, and I wish to offer him several alternatives that I find more convincing.
Several atheist friends of mine have argued that, given billions of years of evolution, it is inevitable that seashells will, by trial and error, form the numbers 8, 6, 4, 7 on this North Carolina beach, and therefore Mr. Comey is not responsible for their arrangement. However, this is no defense, because Mr. Comey isn’t charged with arranging the seashells, only with posting the arrangement on Instagram.
Who is responsible for arranging the seashells? Given that no footprints were evident on the beach, one can only assume it was God. Furthermore, since the indictment claims that 86 47 calls for the death of Mr. Trump, who is currently at war with Pope Leo XIV and appears to identify himself with Christ, this God is probably Catholic.
This shifts the blame from James Comey, who left the Catholic Church for the United Methodist Church years ago, to Vice President J.D. Vance, a recent convert to Catholicism and the person who has the most to gain from the 86ing of 47.
On the off chance that Mr. Comey’s defense team isn’t persuaded by this argument, let me suggest several others.
If you check the numbers 8, 6, 4, 7 on your smartphone keypad, you will notice they spell UNIS, the name of a South Korean girl group that debuted in March 2024. The Comey team could argue that the Director’s 86 47 post promoted his favorite K-pop group without naming the girls: Hyeonju, Nana, Gehlee, Kotoko, Yunha, Elisia, Yoona, and Seowon, which would require him to find and add many more shells.
UNIS also stands for the United Nations International School, established in 1947 by parents at the UN who sought to provide their children—pre-K through 12th grade—with a culturally diverse, international education. One could argue that Mr. Comey was simply signaling his support for education for UN families.
Even as I pitch these options to Mr. Comey’s lawyers, I remain skeptical of each. Given the deeply religious nature of Trump’s supporters who might serve on Mr. Comey’s jury, perhaps a kabbalistic defense would be more effective.
8647 is a kabbalistic puzzle revealing a deep mystical message. 8+6+4+7=25. The 25th word in the Hebrew Bible is ohr/light. The numerological value of ohr is 207: alef/1 + vav/6 + resh/200. The 207th word of the Hebrew Bible is et: alef, tav, the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Et is shorthand for the totality of all existence.
In other words, 8647 is a revelation from God, reminding us that all reality is divine light. This is clearly what James Comey intended to convey in his Instagram post.
Not so with MAGA influencer Jack Posobiec, whose January 29, 2022 post “86 46” on X can only be a call for the assassination of President Joe Biden.
Not surprisingly, Todd Blanche is targeting the wrong man.
Since you are providing expert counsel to Comey's defense, I hope you are charging him the same $1000/hour that his hotshot lawyers probably get.
When I was a kid, my father taught me that 86 was diner slang for "cancel the order." https://www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/eighty-six-meaning-origin