As if the stresses of the holiday season weren’t enough, harried Americans find themselves tumbling deeper and deeper down a rabbit hole of political insanity.  Originally orchestrated by Mad Hatter Adam Schiff, the plot of the impeachment hearings has been every bit as preposterous as that of the Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, written over a century and a half ago.  And the current cast of characters is eerily reminiscent of those in that childhood classic -- if not even more bizarre. 

You may recall that the original tale was about a young girl who nods off to sleep and dreams that she runs after an agitated white rabbit and unexpectedly falls into a warren of  strange misadventures from which she finally awakens -- just in the nick of time to avoid the evil Red Queen’s edict, “Off with her head!”

Thus far, however, Americans have unfortunately not awakened from the nightmare of the contemporary “Malice in Blunderland,” the congressional impeachment hearings whose shifting Schiff-controlled narrative has been advanced by Trump-hating  Democrats and likeminded loathers brought into the proceedings to validate their biased claims. With its bungled series of changing charges, the presidential impeachment scenario can aptly be described as “curioser and curioser.”

If any “fun” is to be found in all of this nonsense, it might come from comparing the current wild-eyed crop of impeachment pushers to the hodgepodge of  fantastical characters Alice encounters in Wonderland.  The scampering white rabbit, for example, could well be white pants-suited Nancy Pelosi, nervously flitting here and there, eager to retain her  personal power by acquiescing to the demands  to impeach Trump, and then acknowledging -- as she scurries off  to join her colleagues -- “I’m late, I’m late, for a very important date.”

But the current impeachment hearings have been anything but a tea party. Mad Hatter Schiff and Dormouse Nadler – who snoozed at his own hearings! -- have  played their  parallel roles looking  much like Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumber.  Meanwhile, at the prospect of finally impeaching her nemesis in the White House, perennial Congressional rabble-rouser Maxine Waters has been grinning like the Cheshire Cat .

California Congressman Eric Swalwell might  be the perfect fit for the role of the arrogant caterpillar, smoking his hookah while emitting a gaseous, hypocritical brand of liberalism from the one end of his body  to the other. 

As for Americans, the majority of us seem to be resisting the temptation to swallow malicious sound bites concocted  by the Democrats for our consumption, their object being to  cut Trump and his supporters down to size.  In fact, polls show that voters have increasingly avoided the assortment of “eat me” goodies labeled “collusion,” “ corruption,” “obstruction,”   “quid pro quo,” “ bribery,”  and the latest crumbs claiming to be “abuse of power” and “obstruction of Congress. “

Unfortunately, no matter how weary we grow of the whole tawdry spectacle, there seems to be no end in sight.  At the eleventh hour, and after interminable months of inaction, Democrats in the House suddenly agreed  to  “take up” the matter of  the USMCA trade agreement.  Ironically, they announced their newfound do-diligence at the very moment they delivered their pathetic articles of impeachment.  Is it unreasonable to ask why these anti-Trumpers felt compelled to do something that would hand this president a victory? 

Their immediate  impulse was to deny that such an action in any way supported Trump.  Instead, they insisted that their version of the USMCA treaty was far, far better than the one drawn up months ago by this administration.

More likely,  however, their cooperation on USMCA was undertaken to defuse the  growing impression that they have been a bunch of duly-elected “do nothings.” During the off-year election of 2018, campaigning Democrats  hewed to the party line of zipping their collective lips on the subject of impeachment. Instead, they solemnly pledged to address more substantive voters concerns, such as health coverage, immigration and trade.

This never happened.  So after more than a year of dilly-dallying, why were House Democrats in a sudden lather to take up the USMCA trade bill?  Possibly they hope that the focus on its enactment will stave off the less popular matter of impeachment hearings in the Senate.  Part of this tactic may have been to focus the Senate’s immediate attention on something more palatable to most Americans.  After all, ‘tis the season to be jolly. 

Perhaps Democrats, not illogically, figured that after all their delay in addressing the USMCA,  Senate Republicans would be overjoyed to immediately give it their full attention and pass it into law.  Thus when Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, announced that the impeachment hearings would take precedent over the finalization of USMCA , even some Republicans reacted with dismay.  

But in the present madcap political world, things are seldom what they seem.  So if most of America has by now lost its appetite for impeachment, why not keep serving up that unpalatable fare until it becomes a full-fledged bellyache for the Democratic party in 2020?  It makes sense to turn the tables on the likes of Adam Schiff and Joe Biden, the real culprits, who consider themselves “above the law.” 

Let them get a taste of their own medicine.  Or as Alice proclaimed in the final moments of her surreal adventure, “Who cares for you?  You’re nothing but a pack of cards!”