Meet the Press moderator Chuck “The Presidential Race Is Over” Todd went the full-Joe McCarthy Sunday with one his wackiest Russia conspiracy theories yet.

As I’ve documented before, while Todd has always been a left-winger, there was a time he was an intelligent political analyst capable of legitimate moments of insight. In fact, for years, I considered him one of the smartest guys on television. Now he’s practically crying on TV for the CIA and bragging about how he suppresses the news.

Unfortunately, Donald Trump broke the poor guy. Ten years ago, Todd would have been one of the few guys on TV expressing caution about what turned out to be the Russia Collusion Hoax. His instincts were just too good, his antenna too tuned to fall so hard for what was, on its face, a pile of hysterical nonsense.

Well, not only did Todd eagerly join the Russia Collusion Hoax herd, months after Special Counsel Robert Mueller debunked that nonsense, Todd is still making a jackass of himself spreading all kinds of fake news with his latest conspiracy theories.

Todd’s become a full-blown McCarthyite, a red baiter, attacking people without evidence for colluding with the Russians, as Putin Stooges… It’s unbelievable, and it happened again on Sunday with Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA).

Kennedy appeared on Meet the Press to express his concern about Ukraine’s meddling in the 2016 presidential election on behalf of Hillary Clinton, and…

Kennedy brought his receipts. He cited his numerous sources to back up his claim of Ukraine’s meddling — a documented fact fake journalists like Todd refuse to acknowledge. Those sources include the far-left Politico, along with the Financial Times, the Economist, the Washington Examiner, CBS News, and — get this — the government of Ukraine. All have detailed how Ukraine tried to rig the 2016 election in Hillary’s favor.

“In fact, in 2018, a Ukrainian court ruled that Ukrainian officials had violated Ukrainian law by meddling in our election, and that was reported in the New York Times,” Kennedy told Todd.

Todd, who wasn’t even listening because he was too busy savoring his coming gotcha, didn’t acknowledge anything Kennedy had just said, he just launched into his Joe McCarthy act.

“After Fiona Hill’s testimony, U.S. Senators were briefed [by the intelligence community] that this entire effort to frame Ukraine for the Russian meddling of 2016, of which you just made this case that they had done it,” Todd said with a straight face. “Are you at all concerned you’re doing Russian intelligence work here?”

What the hell is Todd talking about? Where did this flaming strawman with fireworks shooting of its butt come from?

Kennedy didn’t even come close to claiming Ukraine was responsible for whatever meddling Russia is guilty of. He merely said, accurately, that Ukraine had meddled in the 2016 election, and while doing so listed a half dozen sources to back that claim, including Ukraine’s own government!

But what Todd is deliberately doing is conflating the issue with a wild-eyed conspiracy theory about how anyone who brings up the fact that Ukraine meddled in our election — see if you can follow this nuttery — is actually DOING PUTIN’S BIDDING because what they are really saying is Russia is innocent of meddling!

After Kennedy said that Fiona Hill is entitled to her opinion about Ukraine not meddling, Todd jumped in to spread another debunked conspiracy theory, this one about the infamous “17 intelligence agencies” all agreeing that Russia meddled in the election.

The actual number is four.

Four.

But Chuck Todd stopped caring about facts a long time ago.

“When does opinion become fact?” Todd asked. “Does the 17 intelligence services — There’s every Western intelligence ally saying Russia did this… at what point it is no longer an opinion for you?”

Now look at what Todd is doing here… Again, he is falsely and deliberately smearing Kennedy as a Putin puppet simply because Kennedy had the audacity to accurately inform the public that Ukraine meddled in our election.

You see, in Todd’s fevered, Trump-addled mind, if you believe Ukraine meddled you are denying Russia meddled — which no one has said! — and this makes you a dirty red, and better red than dead and why do you hate America and not salute the flag as I do every night before jumping into my GI Joe sleeping bag.

Now Fiona Hill, the former National Security Council official and coup plotter who wants to see Trump impeached, said during her impeachment testimony that Ukraine did not meddle in 2016, even though she admitted they “bet on the wrong horse” in Hillary Clinton, even after Ukraine’s own government admitted the meddling.

Kennedy responded beautifully. Rather than take Todd’s red-bait, he calmly (again) listed the media sources who reported on Ukraine’s meddling. “Now, I didn’t report those facts,” Kennedy said. “Reputable journalists reported those facts. Does that mean Ukrainian leaders were more aggressive than Russia? No, Russia was much more aggressive and much more sophisticated.”

“But the fact that Russia was so aggressive does not exclude the fact that [Ukraine’s then-president] actively worked for Secretary Clinton,” he added.

This is where things get hilarious, where Todd lost whatever’s left of his mind.

“You now have the president of Ukraine saying he actively worked for the Democrat nominee!” Todd yelled.

And to prove just absurd Kennedy’s accurate statement is, Chuck “Joe McCarthy” Todd hurled his dumbest red herring of the day.

“Come on,” Todd yelled. “You realize the only other person selling this argument outside the United States is this man, Vladimir Putin.”

Things got really bizarre when Todd threw out a quote from Putin that is a laughable non sequitur: “Thank God nobody is accusing us anymore of interfering in U.S. elections. Now they’re accusing Ukraine,” Todd quoted Putin as saying as that as though it meant anything about anything.

But look at what Chuck “Roy Cohn” Todd is doing now: citing the evil Putin as a legitimate source to prove Kennedy is, as Todd put it, “doing exactly what the Russian operation is trying to get Americans to do.”

“Are you at all concerned that you’ve been duped?” Todd asked.

And once again, Kennedy calmly referred back to all the credible reporting on Ukraine’s meddling.

Kennedy believes both Russia and Ukraine meddled in the 2016 election, which is accurate.

Todd, on the other hand, is so blinded by his hate for Trump, that he can’t bring himself to admit Ukraine also meddled. And in order to hold on to that belief, Todd is creating out of whole cloth this lunatic idea that Putin is behind all the facts that prove Ukraine meddled, and that Putin somehow convinced the Ukrainian government to admit it meddled.

Poor Chuck Todd, he’s seeing Russians under his bed and has fully embraced they were very worst aspects of McCarthyism — hurling hysterical charges in the hope no one notices he has nothing to back them up.

Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC. Follow his Facebook Page here.