President Trump is the little push that sent an already-deteriorating Republican Party plunging into full-blown madness. There are signs of this every day, from the congressman who runs away from reporters at the Capitol yelling, "Fake News!" to the activities of International Man of Stupidity Devin Nunes.

But Thursday brought a true milestone in the party's descent into lunacy, as CNN revealed Trump's allies have drawn up "battle plans" ahead of the release of former FBI Director James Comey's book next week. Part of that plan is a website, "LyinComey.com," established in an effort to discredit him:

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If you scroll down to the bottom, you can see who is funding this gift to our national discourse:

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That's right: This plan to drag the former FBI director's name through the mud with schoolyard insults will be overseen not by Nunes or some other fringe Trump toady, but by the Republican National Committee—the party's central apparatus. This quintessentially Trumpian strategy has the express approval of the Party Establishment, because the party is Trump. There is nothing else. In fact, the RNC seems downright giddy about the whole thing.

“James Comey’s publicity tour is a self-serving attempt to make money and rehabilitate his own image," RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said in a statement. "Comey is a liar and a leaker, and his misconduct led both Republicans and Democrats to call for his firing. If Comey wants the spotlight back on him, we’ll make sure the American people understand why he has no one but himself to blame for his complete lack of credibility.”



Just to recap:

Comey is a Republican who was appointed deputy attorney general by President George W. Bush.

Comey is the former FBI director because Trump fired him amid an FBI investigation into ties between Russian officials and Trump associates.

Trump claimed initially that he did so—on "advice" from Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein—because Comey mishandled the inquiry into Hillary Clinton's emails. This was an appeal to Democrats, but it doesn't pass the laugh test: Trump milked the email issue relentlessly during the campaign and even praised Comey's work at the time.

Trump told NBC's Lester Holt on national TV that he was always going to fire Comey regardless of any recommendations and was considering "the Russia thing" when he did it.

(For the record, Trump also had effusive praise for Rod Rosenstein in that NBC interview: "He's highly respected. Very good guy, very smart guy. The Democrats like him, the Republicans like him." Trump is now reportedly considering firing Rosenstein, who oversees Mueller and the Russia probe.)

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In a true sign that Republican rhetoric is now just Trump's rhetoric, and that lies will never die, the site focuses almost exclusively on sharing prominent Democrats' criticisms of Comey. Of course, most Democrats criticized Comey's handling of the Clinton email investigation and his decision to speak publicly about that ongoing probe—a breach of Justice Department protocol—but not about the FBI's simultaneous investigation into whether Trump campaign officials were conspiring with operatives of a hostile foreign power in Russia.

Comey's unconscionable decision-making deserves criticism, but that's not what Trump and his allies are doing. They are concern-trolling, just as Trump did when he fired Comey, to undermine his credibility ahead of a media blitz to promote his forthcoming book. That media blitz includes an interview on Sunday night with ABC News' George Stephanopoulos. According to an ABC promo, Comey compares Trump to a "mob boss." Comey's remarks, Axios reported this week, left people in the room stunned.

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This is apparently just one part of the plan, which the White House signed off on. It will also include digital advertising and talking points distributed to Republican lawmakers ahead of Comey's publicity tour. Apparently, Comey's comparing Trump to a "mob boss" on national TV has got the president reacting accordingly—and the entire Republican Party now serves as his foot soldiers. (RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel even quit using her maiden name—Romney—at Trump's request, because we know how he feels about Romneys.) They threw Comey, a lifelong Republican, under the bus at a moment's notice because the generalissimo insisted on it.

Can anyone really be that confident that Trump firing Special Counsel Robert Mueller or Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein would really be "suicide"? Doesn't it seem like the vast majority of Republicans will simply go along with anything the president does? Talk is cheap, and the word of a couple Republican senators who have so far shown zero desire to act will matter little in a true constitutional crisis.

Jack Holmes Politics Editor Jack Holmes is the Politics Editor at Esquire, where he writes daily and edits the Politics Blog with Charles P Pierce.

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