The institutional might of the Trump-hating establishment was mobilized Friday to deflect the impact of release of the Nunes Memo. Faced with evidence that the FISA Court was deceived in order to use the awesome electronic spying power of the NSA against a presidential campaign, there is ample reason for panic.

As the day unfolded, watching Trump-hating media (with a focus on CNN, the most vehement member of that group), several different tactics were visible. In their panic, metaphorically they were throwing anything at the wall to see what would stick

The first of tactic was to contest the factual assertions, using anonymous source (of course). Jim Sciutto of CNN did the dirty work, claiming that the FISA warrant didn’t really rely on the Steele Dossier, apparently implying that even if the FISA Court was deceived about dossier, it doesn’t matter-- a very dubious argument.

New: Two Democratic members of House Intel tell me McCabe did not say dossier was basis of FISA warrant, disputing central claim of #NunesMemo

— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) February 2, 2018

It did not take long for Representative Lee Zeldin, who actually heard McCabe’s testimony and knows that the transcript of it can and will be released after going through the declassification process used on the Nunes Memo, to destroy this argument:

McCabe did in fact testify under oath that there would not have been a FISA warrant if not for the dossier. It was recorded.

— Lee Zeldin (@RepLeeZeldin) February 2, 2018

This tactic of contesting the facts won’t stand the test of time but that is almost beside the point. The initial strategy of the media is to comfort their constituency that the Nunes Memo is no big deal, not really worth taking seriously. They don’t want them to focus on the seriousness of the abuse, the weaponization of the universal electronic monitoring capabilities of the NSA to spy on the political opposition.