For the past several years, it has become a cute aspect of Democrats in the media and in elected office to allege, without any evidence whatsoever, that their Republican opponents are operating in service of Russia. It has been repeatedly stated on cable news by a litany of Democrats – without any demands they prove such claims – in behavior that hosts on MSNBC and CNN treat as cute commentary instead of what it really is: allegations of the deepest kind of treachery to the nation they serve.

It’s sickening in a way that goes far beyond Harry Reid’s obvious lies about Mitt Romney not paying any taxes. Hollywood glorifies members of blacklists and politicians decry McCarthyism when it comes to the political associations of the likes of Barack Obama – but when it comes to just dropping the idea that Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy are working for a foreign power, that’s just politics. People who in the same breath decry Donald Trump’s assault on civility will turn to saying the his fellow Republicans work for Putin, and no one calls them out on it.

Imagine for a moment what would happen if top Republicans started alleging that Chuck Schumer was working at the behest of a foreign power – that he was a tool of Communist China. Would any Republican be able to appear on-air without being asked about such allegations? They would have to confront them, and be asked whether they supported or disassociated themselves from the obviously controversial remarks.

But when Nancy Pelosi appeared on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday – being interviewed by former Democratic PR expert George Stephanopoulus, who is somehow only the second most biased Sunday host, unable to scale the heights of utter hackery achieved by NBC’s Chuck Todd – there wasn’t a single followup question asked of her about the bombshell allegations she advanced concerning Mitch McConnell. Look at this crazy talk:

NEW: "No, and the president is in complete denial about Russia's role," Pelosi tells @GStephanopoulos when asked if the U.S. is doing enough to stop 2020 meddling. "Sometimes I wonder about Mitch McConnell, too…why is he an accomplice to all of that?" https://t.co/G6Ef3GUsED pic.twitter.com/Id9VTzmY9f — This Week (@ThisWeekABC) January 12, 2020

“Sometimes I wonder about Mitch McConnell too. What’s he — why is he an accomplice to all of that? He has resisted sources going in a manner commensurate with the threat for state agencies, whichever they are in a state, could be the secretary of state or whatever, to protect our infrastructure, our critical infrastructure of elections.”

She repeated these allegations again, speaking to the Democratic conference of the U.S. Congress yesterday. And her claims have been echoed by other prominent Democrats and noted workplace lover Joe Scarborough, who branded McConnell “Moscow Mitch”. Last summer, McConnell branded such efforts “modern-day McCarthyism” in what was for him a particularly emotional speech on the Senate floor: “Over the last several days, I was called unpatriotic, un-American, and essentially treasonous by a couple of left-wing pundits on the basis of boldfaced lies. I was accused of aiding and abetting the very man I’ve singled out as our adversary and opposed for nearly 20 years: Vladimir Putin.”

But in a certain sense, McConnell is being too polite. What Pelosi and other Democrats are actually engaged in is much worse than McCarthyism (which, fwiw, had a record of accuracy that was not zero), because it achieves a goal they know to be a priority of the Kremlin. Alleging that your political opponents, one of the two major parties in America, including the Minority Leader of the House, the Majority Leader of the Senate, and the President of the United States are wholly owned assets of a foreign power is the height of irresponsibility.

How can we take anything you say seriously if you engage in such utterly baseless allegations? Are you really too stupid to understand that by making such claims, you are becoming an asset in exactly the kind of undermining effort the Russians have advanced to run down trust in our representative government? The effort to seed distrust has been one of the best returns on investment of any foreign power – and when Pelosi and her fellow leading Democrats engage in such crazed speculation, they are doing the work of America’s enemies. Today, she named New York Congressman Hakeem Jeffries an impeachment manager – one day after he suggested his political opponents are engaged in “a coverup” led by “Moscow Mitch and the Senate Republicans.”

This goes beyond stupid and irresponsible. It is a vile failure of leadership that will have long-ranging ramifications and do damage to the country should the president be re-elected – an effort which such allegations only help.