A 1961 "Twilight Zone" episode starred Peter Falk as a Central American revolutionary whose paranoia eventually leads to his destruction. The dictator he has deposed tells him about a mirror given to him by "an old woman," a mirror that will show him who's plotting to assassinate him. The revolutionary soon sees enemies everywhere and begins to unravel, picking off his comrades one by one, believing they are out to get him.
Fantasy, sure. But President Trump and Vice President Pence could use such a mirror to reveal those partisan forces attempting to carry out political assassination on the entire Trump administration.
The latest assault comes from another anonymous "whistleblower," who told The Washington Post a Treasury Department official appointed by Trump sought to interfere with an audit of the tax returns of the president "or" vice president. Doesn't that sound vague? On Sunday, the attorney for the first whistleblower told ABC News he is representing a second whistleblower who has "firsthand" knowledge of the president's call to the president of Ukraine.
The first anonymous whistleblower has tentatively agreed to meet with congressional lawmakers, according to CNN, on the condition that his or her legal counsel is cleared to accompany the whistleblower to the meeting. No word yet on the second whistleblower's conditions.
This is all political theater and bad theater at that. Democrats are going through the motions of impeachment, hoping to thwart the president's re-election. They know the Senate is unlikely to convict him should impeachment articles be approved. It's all about pleasing their base and fundraising, which both sides are doing. This is one of many reasons Congress' approval ratings remain low.
Ruslan Ryaboshapka, Ukraine's new general prosecutor, told Reuters that he was not aware of any evidence of wrongdoing by the son of former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, but would be reviewing criminal cases opened by his predecessor, including some that could relate to the Ukrainian gas company, Burisma, a natural gas company that paid Hunter Biden.
If John Durham, the Connecticut prosecutor tapped by Attorney General William Barr to look into the origin of the phony Russian collusion probe, comes up with facts that lead to the indictment of anti-Trump Democrats, will that make any difference to those smearing the president? It might in public opinion, which Democrats are trying to shape against the president, but probably not to the real conspirators and colluders, except perhaps some lower-level types. The Establishment always protects its own. Could it be possible that Democrats are rapidly pursuing the impeachment inquiry to soften any blows that might come from Durham's report?
That the president had to suggest Ukrainian and even Chinese leaders look into Hunter Biden's possible corrupt activity is its own indictment of the anti-Trump media, Obama administration holdovers and career prosecutors.
The conservative organization Judicial Watch has been relentless in its pursuit of collusion by anti-Trump actors. It has released 145 pages of communications between former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and others which it says include a one-line email to special counsel Robert Mueller. It said, "The boss and his staff do not know about our discussions." The communication included "off the record" emails with major media outlets (collusion?) around the time of Mueller's appointment and "show that Rosenstein did not dispassionately go along with the fraudulent probe in an attempt to get at the truth, but was an active participant in the deep state coup, secretly plotting with other FBI and DOJ officials against the president of the United States."
Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton said, "the astonishing emails further confirm the dishonest corruption behind Rosenstein's appointment of Robert Mueller. The emails also show a shockingly cozy relationship between Mr. Rosenstein and anti-Trump media reporters."
If true, why is that shocking, given the nonstop media assault on Donald Trump even before he took office? Their goal has been to impeach, or damage him sufficiently so a Democrat will win the White House next November. Consider the one-sided "coverage" in major newspapers, the broadcast and at least two cable networks.
More facts will emerge that undermine the Democrats' narrative, but it won't matter to anti-Trumpers. They live in the Twilight Zone.
(This year marks Cal Thomas' 35th year as a syndicated columnist. Readers may email Cal Thomas at tcaeditors@tribpub.com.