The Russia Hoax was never about Russia. It was always a cover story to unleash a legal assault on Team Trump, the sole aim of which was to look for, and create, secondary crimes (e.g., decades-old loan applications [Paul Manafort], a misremembered timeline [George Papadopoulos], raiding the son of a top-tier target [Michael Flynn] to compel a guilty plea, or the ever-reliable "lying" charge [Roger Stone]).

That's it in the shell of a nut. A single sentence.

And guess what: that single sentence is the current legal strategy for the Democrats, the Deep State, and the NeverTrump Republicans for the impeachment inquiry, which seeks to expand the probe well beyond Trump's call to Ukraine. The process works in three easy steps: (1) accuse Trump of any wrongdoing, no matter how baseless (e.g., Russia collusion); (2) turn the accusation over to a politically allied Department of Justice (DOJ) official (i.e., Robert Mueller); and (3) the politically loyal DOJ official (who understands the real purpose of the initial accusation) will look for (and create) any crime committed at any time in history on anybody associated with Trump. With any luck, he'll find an old Trump school buddy and raid him (for failure to pay parking tickets 10 years earlier, for example). The friendly DOJ official will then hold a legal gun to Trump's buddy's head and say, "We'll hit you with 10 counts of perjury, 20 counts of indecency, 30 counts of being a Republican, and we'll bankrupt you and your miserable family...unless you publicly say what we tell you to say about Trump." I'd squeal under those conditions. And after Trump's buddy has been sufficiently terrorized and "groomed" for public display, the friendly DOJ official will turn the buddy over to Congress, where his public testimony will sound exactly like Democratic talking points (i.e., "Trump's a racist, Trump's a misogynist, Trump's a xenophobe, Trump's a homophobe," etc., etc., ad nauseam). Does that scenario sound too far-fetched to believe? Just ask Michael Cohen.

This legal strategy, even if it hasn't yet resulted in criminal charges against Trump, has proven an enormous success in terms of inflicting massive political damage. Many Democrats lamented the outcome of the Mueller Witch Hunt and the fact that it did not result in criminal charges against Trump, but that was never Mueller's true intention (any more than "Russia Collusion" was the real purpose of his investigation). Mueller, knowing he had an innocent man on his hands, decided the best course of action would be to target Trump's associates, drag Trump's name through the gutter, and leak like mad to the establishment Democratic media (e.g., CNN, NBC, N.Y. Times, WaPo, which obligingly created sensational and damaging headlines). A mere accusation, planted by Obama loyalists, was all it took to inflict a thousand wounds on Trump. The Mueller Witch Hunt, founded entirely on a baseless allegation, was actually successful beyond the Democrats' wildest dreams — it inflicted enormous damage at zero cost to the Democrats.

Given the success of the Mueller Witch Hunt, it only makes sense the Democrats and their allies in the media would want to repeat this successful "legal attack" formula. Enter Russia Collusion 2.0 — the Ukraine sequel. The Democrats followed the exact same playbook by (1) accusing Trump of a crime (Ukraine "quid pro quo"), (2) turning the accusation over to a politically allied legal official (Adam Schiff), and (3) having the politically loyal official (who understands the real purpose of the initial accusation) look for (and create) any crime on anybody associated with Trump at any time in history. Did Don Jr. rip off a mattress tag in 1992? If so, prosecute! Did Laura Trump forget to pay a hairdresser bill in 2003? If so, prosecute! Did Eric Trump forget to mention an email he sent in 2008? He lied to investigators! Prosecute with extreme prejudice! And the Democrat-controlled DOJ will.

If this article is to impart one truth, it is this: Washington's "official story" is invariably a lie to conceal its true intentions. The official story about impeaching Trump owing to the Ukraine phone call is a lie, just as the official story about investigating Trump's supposed "Russia Collusion" was a lie. The lie of Russia Collusion (and now Ukraine quid pro quo, or bribery, or whatever) is the cover story to unleash yet another mass legal assault on Team Trump in search of secondary crimes. I daresay they will find (or manufacture) these secondary crimes during the impeachment process, just as Robert Mueller did during the Russia Hoax.

To the few remaining Trump loyalists in the Republican Party, if you don't stand with Trump now, you're next. They'll use this legal strategy on you, your associates, your family. If you have any instinct for self-preservation, speak now or content yourself with losing forever (and perhaps much, much worse).