For Democrats, it's come down to 'Just Get Someone'
The November 2016 election of Donald Trump has so incensed the liberal mainstream media and the Democratic establishment that they've become virtually unhinged emotionally in their zeal to delegitimize and torpedo his presidency. Far from "coming together as one country after a hard fought election campaign," the Democrats and their liberal media collaborators have embarked on a nonstop, all-out crusade to destroy the Trump administration, thereby somehow reversing and overturning last November's election result. That is their objective, make no mistake: disqualify, reverse, and oust.
The Democrats' disqualification vehicle of choice is some vague, unspecified illegal connection the Trump people had with Russian operatives before the election that enabled the Russians to manipulate the American voting process in a targeted manner to alter the vote, away from Hillary Clinton, and give it to Donald Trump.
There are a lot of words and phrases being tossed around by hysterical, sanctimonious, hyperventilating sources, saying things like "Trump colluded with Russia to influence our election!" "The Russians hacked our voting process!" "Clinton's insider information was revealed by the Russians to Trump's benefit!"
Beyond these breathless, screeching headlines, there aren't any real specifics of any kind. When the question is asked to define "influence," or "hacked," or "colluded," the answers that come back are mostly along the lines of "Well, you know! They did! Trump lied! Our democracy is at stake!" But exactly what was done, the actual methodology, where, the specific people involved, how many votes were altered, how many counties were illegally shifted from Clinton to Trump, how those counties added up to state wins for Trump instead of Clinton – none of that information is forthcoming. After seven months of nonstop Democratic investigation, none of those details is forthcoming.
Absent any tangible, verifiable proof of Trump-caused election manipulation, we've now entered the next, highly predictable phase: the Get Someone phase. The Democrats already "got" Michael Flynn, since Trump fired him early on for not being forthcoming about some foreign contacts and financial arrangements. The president fired him. He was criticized for it by the liberal media and the Democratic establishment. If he hadn't fired him, he'd have been criticized for it by the liberal media and the Democratic establishment.
But Flynn wasn't high enough; he wasn't a big enough scalp to satisfy the anti-Trump fervor. Besides, President Trump fired him; he didn't defend him and try to keep him on. It'd be oh, so much better if we could force the resignation of a truly high-level administration official the administration is actively defending. The bigger the scalp an opposition party can claim, the more embarrassment and damage they can show the world they've inflicted on their enemies. When the embarrassment and damage reach a tipping point, the media talk about it nonstop, night and day, and the issue manages to pierce through the fog of indifference that surrounds most casually attentive, non-partisan-engaged swing voters.
Here, the Democrats have a huge advantage. The sources from which those aforementioned "casually attentive, non-partisan-engaged swing voters" get their news and form their opinions are overwhelmingly liberally biased. Whether late-night like Colbert and Kimmel, Comedy Central's Daily Show, the network morning shows like GMA and Today that people watch while dressing or having a quick breakfast, and of course, CNN and the N.Y. Times, these are all Democratic-sympathetic sources. The common default mode among them all is positive Democrat, anti-Trump. Operating under the reasonable 40-20-40 rule that says 40% will always vote Dem no matter what and 40% will always vote Repub no matter what, the fact that the 20% swing segment gets their impressions and form their opinions from overwhelmingly liberal sources means there is a very high likelihood that the majority of the 20%-ers will swing Dem once the liberal media start harping on something "important" day after day after day.
The Democrats' goal with nonstop hearings, investigations, panels, and special counsels is to break through from being unidentifiable background white noise to being something important and significant that will become the overriding issue on people's minds every day.
If the Democrats can get someone of high standing, anyone, and force that individual to resign or be fired in disgrace – casting a huge negative pall on Trump's presidency – then the Democrats will consider themselves successful. That's the endgame here.
Although Republicans may try to run some offense of their own in reverse (for instance, trying to subpoena former Obama administration officials over their role in supposed questionable "unmasking" activities or unethical behavior), history shows us that Republicans are astonishingly bad at playing hardball partisan games of this sort. When they do manage to get a witness before a congressional panel, they never seem to have prepared the questioning strategy needed for unequivocal success. Instead, they meander with peripheral questions, grandstand for personal gain, or – incredibly – fail to hold together as a party, and some "flexible, high-minded" Republicans actually undercut their own party's efforts in order to seem "reasonable" to the general public. That never works, of course. The liberal media never give any Republicans credit for being "reasonable"; all that happens is that those misguided Republicans sabotage their own party's chances for success.
For the Democrats, the goal is get someone. Anyone. Call for endless panels, hearings, and investigations. Hold press conferences. Show off for the cameras. Ignite the passions of the hosts at CNN and MSNBC. Provide humorous fodder for The Daily Show, Saturday Night Live, and Stephen Colbert at the Republicans' expense. Make Trump and his administration look like buffoonish lying thieves, and use the overwhelmingly liberal media to influence the 20% undecideds.
Getting someone of significance – holding a scalp up high for all to see (metaphorically, of course) – accomplishes that goal.