And so it happened, live on TV. U.S. Republicans on Friday released the disputed, erstwhile classified memo that they say shows "surveillance abuses" in the FBI's investigation into the Trump election campaign and Russia. Donald Trump put it out there because, well, go figure.
"A fabricated, hack, partisan sideshow," declared pundit Ana Navarro on CNN. You could tell which team she supports. Some other guy on the panel – it can be hard to tell Republican proxies apart – smiled smugly.
The President told reporters "A lot of people should be ashamed of themselves. I think it's terrible. You want to know the truth? I think it's a disgrace. What's going on in this country, I think it's a disgrace."
Somewhere, on some channel, on some panel, somebody must have said, "Liar, liar, pants on fire." The sad circus of spinning, weaving, accusing and preening that is U.S. politics has long since descended into the bedlam of childish taunting. Metaphor is beggared by the antics. Some days, it's like sports. Like supporters of one team bickering with supporters of a rival team. The ardency is shocking, but it's only inconsequential sports talk. On other days, such as Friday, different metaphors come to mind.
It seemed oddly appropriate that the disputed memo would be released on Groundhog Day. Not only did members of the rodent family appear blinking in the light to presage the climate of the coming weeks, but one had the feeling of reliving the same day over and over and over, with people saying the same things and doing the same things over and over. Watching the grind of it becomes a melancholy experience – the marrow is sucked from the bone of logic and acumen, and two-bit rabble-rousing thrives.
Except, on this day, Friday, there was an actual paper memo to pore over and extrapolate from. Not a tweet or an off-hand remark. A piece of paper with words on it. That didn't improve the level of debate. Hell, no. Most of those reporting, commenting and accusing on TV took the same positions they always do. The texture and dimension of the partisan bickering might be a little bit elastic, but everybody knows their role.
On Fox News, shortly after 1 p.m. ET, anchor Harris Faulkner was listening impatiently to colleague Chris Wallace contextualize and analyze the memo. Wallace, no slouch in anti-Democratic susceptibility, was trying to give a measured reading of the memo. He said it seemed unlikely that the judges in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court would rely entirely on the Christopher Steele dossier to make decisions about surveillance. Wallace was doing what nobody in this bizarrely partisan war ever does these days – suggesting respect for an institution and cautioning against instant accusations of malice and bias. Foolish man.
The anchor was having none of it. Faulkner repeatedly interrupted him to ask why this "anti-Trump British spy was in on it" and assert that the "anti-Trump British spy" had "coloured the investigation by the FBI."
It would be pointless to assert that the "British spy" was wary of Trump being elected because he had formed the opinion, based on research, that Trump was already compromised by the Russians. Nope, no use saying that. Faulkner continued to assert that the FBI had been "zealous" in investigating Trump associates. There followed a hard-to-follow mini-rant about some guy from the Obama-era Department of Justice feeding negative information to the FBI. On the screen, in large print, Fox News asserted the memo "shows surveillance abuses."
Over on CNN, Wolf Blitzer was trying to get a word in edge-wise. No luck. The panelists kept on talking, arguing and asserting things about a "dishonest, misleading memo." Those words actually quoted a tweet from former FBI director James Comey. Inevitably, Carl Bernstein came on, this time on the phone, to talk about "a dark day for American democracy." His usual thing.
Back on Fox, Ari Fleischer, former White House press secretary for president George W. Bush, was declaring, darkly, "We need to hear from Comey." After a pause, he noted that, "J. Edgar Hoover abused the power of the FBI." Faulkner found this encouraging and wanted to talk more about "how dirty the process was" for the surveillance of Trump associates.
A circus, that's what it is. That's the metaphor. On Thursday night, Jimmy Kimmel, in his monologue, said this: "Paul Ryan is sitting there, he could stop it. He's watching all this happen like the ringmaster at the world's most perverted circus. The lions are eating the horses. The tightropes are snapping, clowns are attacking children."
That's it exactly – we all have tickets to the saddest, most debased circus ever. With people from the circus saying the same things and doing the same things over and over and over.