Without Russia hoax, Dems will have to look for new scandal to run on

Democrat presidential candidates like Cory Booker and Kamala Harris are already spinning forward the release of the Mueller report in a clear indication that this dead horse has a lot of beating yet to endure.

Mueller must appear before Congress. The unredacted report must be made available. Trump must be marched down the street naked like Cersei Lannister to pay for his grievous sins. Yada yada yada.

On the other hand, more honest progressives like FiveThirtyEight’s Nate Silver are stepping on the breaks a bit. He said via Twitter that “It seems like if you're really surprised in either direction by what's in the Mueller Report, you should probably re-evaluate your news consumption habits ... Overall, the impression one gets from Vol. I (of the report) is there was rather explicit flirting between the Trump campaign and Russia, even some making out, but it was a sloppy night and they didn't get around to hooking up, although they might have if circumstances had been a bit different.”

Now, Silver still has a data-based business to run, wherein he must maintain at least some level of objectivity in order to be respected and profitable. So he can’t go full bat-crap cray-cray like Booker and Harris when it comes to keeping the mob outside Lot's house at full froth.

But there’s another aspect to why Democrat candidates for president will continue to try to squeeze more blood out of this bloodless turnip, which has largely gone either unnoticed or unsaid by the smart set.

Unless the economy tanks, it's really the Democrats' only issue.

Since the leftists began their ascendancy within the Democrat Party with the nomination of George McGovern in 1972, the Democrats can only win the White House with the backdrop of scandal (see the post-Watergate election of Jimmy Carter in 1976), or economic anxiety.

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Such a reality, after all, is how Bill “It’s the economy, stupid” Clinton took down George H.W. “No new taxes” Bush. As well as how Barack “Hope and change” Obama knocked off John “TARP is my jam” McCain. America as a whole would have taken the Republicans in most blind taste tests on the issues in those races, but their wallets ultimately convinced them to take another path.

Thus, unless the economy tanks between now and Election Day 2020, scandal it is for Democrats. Even a proven fake one like Russian collusion.

What else are they going to run on? Infanticide? Medicare for all? More MS-13 gangbangers and human traffickers crossing our southern border? Anti-Semitism? The Green New Deal? Gun confiscation? All of their signature issues are loss leaders politically. Just as capable of rallying the base against them as the base for them. There's a reason more people are leaving progressive utopia New York than any other state.

The inconvenient truth for Democrats is they've driven themselves so far Left they're outside the American mainstream on virtually every other issue of consequence. So they need to root for an economic downturn (and thus root against America), or ‘Orange Man Bad’ is all they've got.

The 2020 election is still 564 days away. Donald Trump still has a combustible and at-times contemptible persona to many Americans. So with those givens, it's way too early to say now he has re-election in the bag.

However, we can say with certainty now the environment necessary for him to defy the odds once more, and be re-elected to a second term next year, is taking shape. Democrats are primarily to blame. All they had to do was not be crazy, but that's apparently too much to ask.