Just a week ago, President Trump was embattled. Democrats were lining up to go before cameras to ask, "Did [Trump associate X] meet with the Russians?  When?  What did they say?  We need a full investigation!"

Trump was clearly on the defensive.

And then, on Thursday, all of a sudden, talk show host Mark Levin connected the dots.  He asked himself a simple question: how did the media and Democrats know that Trump associates had talked to the Russians, however innocuous the contacts may have been?  The information had come from government leaks.  And how did the government know?  Quite obviously, it must have been monitoring members of the Trump campaign.

It was at that point that Levin pieced together the scattered press reports showing that the Obama administration had, apparently, been monitoring members of the Trump campaign – a very, very political thing to do during an election campaign.

Once Mark put it out there on Thursday, there was a media explosion.  Other outlets picked it up.  President Trump himself raised the issue, comparing the situation to the Watergate scandal.  Democrats on the offensive suddenly found themselves on the defensive.

And they all have Mark Levin to thank.

Breitbart didn't break the story.

Drudge didn't.

Neither did Fox News.

It was Mark Levin, a former chief of staff to an attorney general, who knows how the government works.  He also thinks things through on his own.  A Mark Levin show isn't a Mark Levin show unless he is heard screaming into the microphone, "I WRITE MY OWN BOOKS!!!!"  Exactly.  He's analytical.

Some Trump supporters have been critical of Levin for not supporting President Trump down the line.  And it is true that Levin has been critical in a number of areas, notably:

1) Trump's support for tariffs (a tax on consumers),

2) Trump's trillion-dollar infrastructure plan (more debt),

3) Trump's plan for paid family leave (make jobs more expensive),

4) Trump's possible failure to keep his promise to end the DREAM Act,

5) Some questionable Cabinet picks like Steven Mnuchin (a George Soros associate) and a John Boehner crony as director of personnel at the White House.

But Mark has supported President Trump vociferously in his appointments of Jeff Sessions as attorney general and Scott Pruitt as EPA director.  He lavished praise on the president's address to Congress and his plans to control entry into America from dangerous countries.  Mark has also defended the administration frequently when it has come under attack from Democrats.

And now Mark, working from "The Bunker," has launched a political ICBM that has struck the heartland of the Democrats.  Given that, shouldn't we show him a little gratitude?

Questions for discussion:

1) Look at the policy disagreements above Mark has with Trump.  Do you disagree with any of them?

2) Do you think President Trump should be grateful to Mark for turning the rhetorical tide of this political attack, when no one else did?

3) If you feel that Mark helped the President, don't you think it's time you signed up with AMAC or shopped for window dressings at Blindster.com, as Mark often suggests?

Ed Straker is the senior writer at NewsMachete.com.