The self-contradictory testimony of Michael Cohen apparently was irresistible bait. They are, in some other immortal words from General Russell Honoré, “stuck on stupid.”

Yesterday, on the Sunday morning political interview TV talk shows, Democrats made it clear that they have learned nothing from the apparent failure of the Mueller witch hunt to find anything actionable, nor from the disastrous Republican attempt to impeach Bill Clinton more than 2 decades ago. In the words of Talleyrand , they have “learned nothing and forgotten nothing.”

Former Clinton political operative George Stephanopoulos peepared his viewers on ABC’s This Week:

For now, party lines holding fast, but six House committees armed with subpoena power are now poised to examine every facet of President Trump’s life — his campaign, his White House, his foundation and the business that made him famous.”

Despite his own star witness Michael Cohen flaming out, Adam Schiff just can’t let go of the famous Trump Tower meeting with Russians seeking to repeal the Magnitsky Act:

MARGARET BRENNAN: Cohen said though in that open testimony, he had no direct evidence of collusion with Russia. The Senate Intel chairman also said at this point no evidence of collusion at this point. Have you seen— do you have direct evidence of collusion with Russia? REP. SCHIFF: Well I think there is direct evidence in the e-mails from the Russians through their intermediary offering dirt on Hillary Clinton as part of what is described in writing as the Russian government effort to help elect Donald Trump. They offer that dirt. There is an acceptance of that offer in writing from the president’s son Don Jr. and there is overt acts in furtherance of that. That is the meeting at Trump Tower and all the lies to cover up that meeting at the Trump Tower and apparently lies that the president participated in. That to me is direct evidence but there’s also abundant circumstantial evidence. There is for example evidence of Manafort sharing internal polling data with someone linked to the Russian intelligence services.

Even more damning, speaking to Stephanopoulos, Gerald Nadler -- even as he acknowledges the need to bring along public opinion for impeachment -- seems to have stumbled over his words and admitted that impeachment is about trying to “steal” (his word) the 2016 election (Rush transcript via Grabien):

NADLER: “No. We have to – we have to do the investigations and get all this. We do not now have the evidence all sorted out and everything to do – to do an impeachment. Before you impeach somebody, you have to persuade the American public that it ought to happen. You have to persuade enough of the – of the opposition party voters, Trump voters, that you’re not just trying to …” STEPHANOPOULOS: “That’s a very high bar.” NADLER: “Yeah. It is a very high bar. The United States trying to steal the (inaudible) to reverse the results of the last election. We may or may not get there. But what we have to do is protect the rule of law.”

The New York Post editorial board sees clearly that this is a doomed enterprise:

Key House chairmen on Sunday made it plain they’re charging ahead on what President Trump calls a “witch hunt” — talking as if they already have proof of impeachable offenses even as they announce they’re going to keep looking for something, anything, that actually fits the bill. (snip) Look: Special Counsel Robert Mueller has been looking into all of this and more for nearly two years. Any effort to suppress his findings is sure to fail thanks to leaks. “New” investigations will give Nadler & Co. regular opportunities to posture. But it all boils down to the Keystone Kops’ effort to restage “All the President’s Men.”

Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) is a real phenomenon, a psychological condition that suspends the normal faculties of discernment and judgment in otherwise-intelligent people, leading them to self-destructive behavior. We are in the midst of watching a mass delusion playing itself out over the next 20 months until the electorate speaks in November 2020. The full court press of the mainstream media in support of the Democrats’ agenda misleads them into thinking the public isn’t getting tired and angry over repeated unsuccessful attempt to prove something for which there is no evidence