As the week has worn on, the danger represented by the Trump–Nunes attempt to damage the FBI to benefit Trump has started to sink in, and the ludicrous nature of the claims being made has become grindingly obvious.

But even as Trump inches closer to approving its release, the document has divided Republicans on Capitol Hill and led to calls from top Democrats for the removal of House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), who spearheaded the document.

But that sinking feeling in the stomach of many Republicans that they’ve found themselves on the wrong side of a bridge too far, hasn’t affected Donald Trump, who started the morning attempting to sell this rotten fish despite growing trepidation.

x The top Leadership and Investigators of the FBI and the Justice Department have politicized the sacred investigative process in favor of Democrats and against Republicans - something which would have been unthinkable just a short time ago. Rank & File are great people! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 2, 2018

The FBI hasn’t had a Democratic director in its entire history. The idea that the organization has a Democratic tilt is ridiculous to anyone who has ever been involved with the FBI, and FBI agents find themselves caught out by a party they’ve always considered their true home.

There is deep anger in the law enforcement community at Nunes and the Republicans, who had long been seen as allies of the FBI. Ron Hosko, a former assistant director at the FBI, expressed disbelief that the bureau is at the mercy of Schiff and the Democrats to defend its integrity. “We have a cloud over the FBI and Justice Department and it was put there by Devin Nunes,” Hosko said. “I don’t believe it. It’s not what you’d expect from our Congress.”

If Trump and Nunes follow through on the release of the document cobbled together between Nunes’ staffers and Trump’s White House, it will represent a bigger attack on the American intelligence community than anything ever attempted by any external enemy of the United States.