ANALYSIS/OPINION:

Do Democrats even care about the truth any more? At all?

A California Democrat, Rep. Eric Swalwell, who also serves on the House Intelligence Committee — there’s an oxymoron for ya — called for his chairman, Republican Rep. Devin Nunes to step down, saying his interactions with the White House seem a “cover up.”

A “cover up” for what, exactly?

As Swalwell suggested: for criminal behavior. That’s an astonishing claim.

It’s like Democrats have become so wrapped in the idea of taking down President Donald Trump’s administration, and any Republicans who happen to stand in their way, they’ve become this strange mix of Wonderland Red Queen-meet-Salem witch trials, screaming “off with their heads” while desperately fumbling with matches to fire up the stakes. Reason has long ago left the room.

First the backstory.

House Intel Chairman Devin Nunes came out in recent days to say that Trump’s wiretapping claims may actually have some legs, given the surveillance operations of overseas’ entities conducted by feds that oftentimes rope in innocent Americans. The left couldn’t let that stand, and responded, after a little think session, by saying that Nunes had been spotted on the White House grounds the day before he released that shocker statement — and therefore, must have been there for one thing only, and that one thing only was to receive his marching orders from Trump.

Nunes, for his part, said he was on White House grounds, but not in the White House itself, and that he was simply there to “confirm” what his independent research had already shows — that Trump’s transition team had in fact been swept into the whole federal surveillance activity that went forth under Barack Obama. He also said Trump’s staffers weren’t even aware that he was on White House grounds.

Well, the left’s got to respond to that — you know they do.

So Swalwell did his part to undo Nunes‘ claim, during a Tuesday appearance on “Morning Joe” on MSNBC picked up by The Hill. But he didn’t just poke holes — he basically blasted Nunes as a criminal.

“You can’t just walk in and receive classified information,” he said, scoffing Nunes for saying his White House visit flew under the radar. “Everyone in the building knows that [when you visit] you’re there in the building.”

OK. He could’ve stopped there, point made, suspicions raised and passed along. But he didn’t. And here’s the shock and awe.

“This is done because the White House wanted it to be done,” Swalwell said, of Nunes‘ statement about the surveillance. “And this is what a cover-up to a crime looks like. We are watching it play out right now.”

Did he just label Nunes a criminal? Oh yes, he did — Nunes, along with whomever his helpers in the White House might be. But Nunes for sure. This is not only political partisanship at its worst — it’s pretty shameful, given the amount of evidence Swalwell supplied was this: Zero.

Actually, what’s really playing out right now is the next phase of the left’s concerted attack on Trump.

The battle plan is simple: Stir the unrest against Trump in whatever way possible. And use whatever methods or means possible. We’ve seen the calls for Trump’s impeachment by Rep. Maxine Waters and others. We’ve seen the win over Jeff Sessions that now has the attorney general removing himself from any investigation into Russia interference with U.S. elections. We’ve seen the blast after blast about Stephen Bannon as a racist, Ivanka Trump as an inexperienced, improperly placed insider and most recently, Jared Kushner as tied to Russia.

We’ve seen the calls from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer for Nunes to step aside as chairman; the similar calls from House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, and fellow left-leaners, Reps. Ted Lieu, Adam Schiff and Jackie Speier.

But calling out Nunes as a criminal is ratcheting the game. And what it shows is that Democrats will stop at nothing to disrupt the Republican leadership, even if it means breaking ranks with truth and painting someone a criminal, absent evidence.

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