In what feels like the 27th year of the Trump-Russia-Collusion Investigation, what we have most recently learned is that a lawyer no one ever heard of may have made a false statement to the FBI and even erased a few emails concerning events that happened years before the election and have something to do with Ukraine. We have further learned that a group of Russians in St. Petersburg have been trolling us since at least 2014 (what took them so long?), playing both sides against the middle and even going so far as to organize a post-election demonstration in front of Trump Tower featuring Michael Moore assuring us that “he’s not my president!” while being cheered on by some extraordinarily credulous women with microphones from CNN.

Forget going from the sublime to the ridiculous. This has gone from the ludicrous to the harebrained. The fact that anyone could be taking this nonsense seriously anymore boggles the proverbial mind, but they do — especially at that antediluvian relic known as the mainstream media.

And therein lies the treachery — not for Donald Trump, who spends far too much time paying attention to it himself, but for the Democratic Party because, seemingly entranced (even hypnotized) by the non-stop (even now) coverage by CNN and other so-called serious outlets, they have completely forgotten who they are, i. e. a political party with policies, goals, etc.

Lost in a Russia-induced haze, the Democratic Party virtually no longer exists. They have no ideas, no proposals, nada. There’s nothing but Nancy Pelosi whining about “crumbs” while genuine tax reform is appearing live in people’s paychecks. The Democrats can dream about a “wave election,” but the only wave that seems to be coming their way is a surfer’s wipeout.

Nevertheless, CNN et al. bleat on about Russia, Russia, Russia. I have news for Zucker, Tapper, Acosta and company. No one’s interested. This is the boy who cried wolf times twenty. The public has been on to the game for months now. It’s even beginning to show in the polls.

In the process, Adam Schiff may have become the most visible Democrat on the planet, but his face is the image of slimy prevarication. He’s Nixon with less hair. Everyone sees it — except for that same loyal media claque. It’s hard to understand how they could have been so clueless.

They also didn’t get that Devin Nunes is a natural born Mr. Smith, an honest guy from the heartland (Fresno), while Schiff is a natural born hustler representing the Hollywood Hills and Burbank. It’s basic casting. The media is supposed to know something about this, but they miss it by a mile — and have been unwittingly destroying the Democrats in the process.

As one who has been more than once to Russia and, yes, even knew people in the KGB back in the day (please don’t surveil me, Mr. Mueller. I’m a loyal American), I am certain that Donald Trump is correct in at least one of his tweets. The Russians are laughing their asses off about this. And they deserve to. We are the biggest doofuses of all time.

Something has gone very wrong here. The question is how to correct it. Harvard’s esteemed Alan Dershowitz has been everywhere insisting that the special counsel investigation should never have occurred. Without a specific crime cited, it had no basis and should have been an internal national security matter and conducted as such.

That’s undoubtedly true, but leaves outstanding the question of what to do about some real specific crimes that do seem to exist — actions taken by the FBI itself, the suborning of the FISA court, etc. This opens a giant can of worms that leads back to the Clinton campaign and foundation, all the unfortunate detritus that has been filling an hour of the Hannity show for over a year.

Dershowitz suggests we forget that too. For whatever reasons — I could speculate, but I won’t — he’s a “let bygones be bygones” guy. He says it’s all political in the end and should be decided at the ballot box.

I disagree. But maybe I’m too sentimental about the rule of law. It’s a brave new world out there, after all, where we live by the rule of trolls. Who knows what they’re cooking up now for their willing stooges in our media?

Roger L. Simon is an award-winning novelist, Academy Award-nominated screenwriter and co-founder of PJ Media. His latest book is I Know Best: How Moral Narcissism Is Destroying Our Republic, If It Hasn’t Already.