Where it all began. Photo from ABC News

Because there's nothing else on their minds - Syria, Gaza, racism, gun violence, bridges tumbling, safety nets shredding, say what? - the ostensible leaders of one of this country's purported major political parties is going all out against the greatest threat now facing the nation: "A Higher Loyalty," the upcoming book by former FBI director James Comey, who apparently has some bad things to say about Dear Leader, including referencing the "forest fire that is (his) presidency," and who can argue with that?

With Comey scheduled to make multiple media appearances before next week's release - including a much-hyped upcoming interview on ABC in which he reportedly likens Trump to a "mob boss," a comparison that should surprise exactly nobody who hasn't been in a cave lo these many sordid months - GOP leaders have launched a preemptive, Normandy-style campaign to discredit Comey through a bizarre website cleverly called "Lyin' Comey," along with electronic ads, personal smears and widely disseminated talking points. This blitz against the former head of a key law enforcement agency - and a lifelong Republican - has been choreographed under the honorable auspices of the Republican National Committee.



The website offers ersatz warnings - "Comey may use his book tour to push the phony narrative that President Trump obstructed the Russia investigation" - priceless "fact-checking" - to rebut Comey's claim he was never an anonymous source of leaks, a tweet from Trump saying he's lying - and a three-pronged-attack on Comey's credibility: He "has a long history of misstatements and misconduct," his attempts to "smear" (pot/kettle alert) Trump are just "retaliation by a disgraced former official," and, most weirdly in this most weird of political seasons, "Comey isn't credible - just ask Democrats," featuring several quotes from Dems rightly blasting Comey's last-ditch electoral focus on those ridiculous Clinton emails that likely helped get us here in the first place.

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"Comey is a liar and a leaker," declared GOP chair Ronna McDaniel to CNN. She declined to call Trump any bad words, but we all know what they are - one reason White House Officials who haven't yet abandoned ship are reportedly "not amassing an official rapid-response operation" but strategizing a plan "to accommodate however publicly furiously Trump reacts." Just to be clear: The world is burning, the country is unraveling, and the GOP is super busy trying to placate the toddler in charge if and when somebody says something mean to him. Damn we love the current state of the union.