Here I use one of Rush Limbaugh’s favorite theses to put a little more meat on a new thesis that he has developed.

The new one is that the whole, so-called impeachment inquiry is an illusion. By that, Rush means that the Congressional Dems are using the inquiry to generate an illusion. But how many Democrat-generated illusions are there? And what are their purposes?

It’s more than one illusion. For that reason, I refer to them collectively as a grand illusion. It’s a Styx song name, and that song has stuck in my mind after all these years, as have other Styx songs. Here I invite you to “come sail away with me”, as I delve into the grand illusion. Caveat: If where I am going is better than where I came from, I will not go back to where I came from. I might not burn my sailboat, as did Hernán Cortés in 1519. That’s because, living on my boat is better than living in a lean-to. But I’m not going back.

Illusion 1: that the Democratic-run House is impeaching President Trump.

The House Dems want everyone, especially federal judges, to think that they are impeaching Trump. But they are not. You see, the Trump Administration has refused to comply with House subpoenas, because the House’s inquiry is only that: an inquiry, not an impeachment. The House Dems are not doing much else besides the inquiry. But no articles of impeachment have been brought. No official case has been made against the Trump Admin. Why not?

It’s because the House Dems have not found anything to impeach him on. The Dems have essentially turned the U.S. House into Fishingexpedition 2.0 Clearinghouse. They are using all of their federal powers to try to find something, some charge to hang around Trump’s neck, so that they can impeach him. That is what all of the subpoenas are about. But it’s just an inquiry, because so far, they haven’t found anything. And Trump, knowing that they have nothing to impeach him on, is rightly refusing to cooperate.

The recent House vote on H.Res.660 was to reinforce the illusion that the House Dems are impeaching Trump, and that therefore, he is an outlaw for refusing to comply with their subpoenas. But H.Res.660 did not bring articles; it did not start an impeachment. H.Res.660 merely polled the whole House on whether or not to continue the inquiry. The way they put it in the bill was,

Resolved, That the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the Committees on Financial Services, Foreign Affairs, the Judiciary, Oversight and Reform, and Ways and Means, are directed to continue their ongoing investigations as part of the existing House of Representatives inquiry into whether sufficient grounds exist for the House of Representatives to exercise its Constitutional power to impeach Donald John Trump, President of the United States of America. (from H.Res.660)

They are calling Fishingexpedition 2.0 an “inquiry into whether sufficient grounds exist” for the House to impeach Trump. So, it is still just a fishing expedition. And Trump is still right to refuse to comply, because the Dems have brought no articles of impeachment. There is nothing for Trump to comply with, except a fishing expedition. And there is no reason for him to comply with it. The goal of the Dem’s illusion of impeachment, then, must be to try to convince federal judges, and as many people as possible, that the Dems are impeaching Trump, and that he is an outlaw, because he is not complying.

Illusion 2: that something is seriously wrong in the Trump Administration.

This illusion involves one of Rush’s perennial theses: that Democratic Congressmen and -women pursue charges against Republicans, because of the seriousness of the charge, even though the charge holds no water. This has been their tactic against Trump from day one. None of the charges against him hold water. But the Democrats have pursued them, because they can make them seem serious. They can, with help from their friends in the mainswamp media, make themselves look very seriously concerned that Trump did something impeachable. They aren’t. But they want you to be.

We are supposed to believe—and feel—like the Democrats want us to, viz, like Trump did something seriously wrong and impeachable, and to be deeply concerned for the nation, as long as Trump is President, even though they don’t have a real charge to impeach him on.

This illusion is an emotional image of false seriousness—a conviction, based on nothing but emotion, that President Trump has done something seriously wrong and impeachable. I call it an emotional illusion of seriousness. And anyone that is not feeling that emotional illusion—that phony conviction—is just a Rube, a Gomer Pyle. So really, this emotional illusion has a secondary purpose: that, if you don’t feel this illusion and its seriousness, you are just a dummy.

The latest, super-serious thing that they are looking into is that Trump posted a photoshopped picture of a dog on twitter. It was just Trump having fun. The picture is of him decorating a stand-in for an American, military dog that helped cause the ISIS teacher, what’s-his-name, to blow himself up. I am having trouble publishing ISIS teacher’s name. But I have no trouble writing about the photoshopping.

It was very serious, photoshopping the dog. Maybe impeachable. Even though it looks like the Daily Wire did the photoshop, maybe they photoshopped at the behest of someone in the Administration. We’ll have to wait and see if Rep. “SCIF” Schiff (D-CA-28) thinks it’s worth investigating. Maybe he will subpoena a witnesses that was there, or who knows someone that knows someone that witnessed the photoshopping. Maybe he’ll find a dog whistleblower. And we must find out about the real dog that helped to cause Al-what’s-his-name to blow himself up. Is the real dog a German Shepherd, as the photoshopped image suggests? Could it have been an Australian Shepherd? Was the dog trained in the Russian Federation? Has the dog been to the Ukraine? Did Trump pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to feed and house the dog, prior to the raid on Al-what’s-his-name? If so, was there a quid-pro-quo for caring for the dog? Can Mr. Ed communicate with the dog, and get his or her story? Do dogs have preferred pronouns, like Democratic candidates and college kids? If Mr. Ed can find out, can we please subpoena him as a fact witness?

These could be very serious questions in the so-called impeachment proceedings, which are not really impeachment proceedings, because the House has brought no article of impeachment. They are only fishing for one. Even so, we are all supposed to believe this is a very serious! This is not one of those fun fishing expeditions, where you grab a case of Bud, some sleeping bags and a tent, hitch up the sixteen-footer and drive up to Castiac Lake to knock-em dead. No. This is serious, very serious. You are supposed to feel its weightiness, and internalize it. But really, it’s a lightweight inquiry.

For instance, they are still calling in witnesses to testify about the Trump-Zelensky phone conversation, the one that we have a transcript of! Where’s the weight?

This is an illusion of weighty seriousness. Everything that the House Dems do and say is now super-hyper serious and heavy.

For instance, the reason, in my opinion, why Rep. Adam “SCIF” Schiff is holding secret hearings in a SCIF is simply to bolster the illusion of seriousness and importance. We are supposed to think, “Wow, this must be very serious, and really important, otherwise, Schiff would not be holding the hearings in a SCIF. Oh my. What has Trump done now?”

The seriousness and the gravity¹ of it are illusory. And the Dem tactic is not necessarily to get a conviction in a Senate impeachment trial—although they would gladly take a conviction—but to generate an illusory, emotionally-significant cloud of seriousness-n-gravity that the hearts of voters can internalize, and associate with President Trump.

Illusion 3: That the House Democrats are acting responsibly.

On the contrary, the House Dems have hijacked the U.S. House unto no demonstrably legitimate purpose. If the House Dems wanted to, they could turn the House into a fishing expedition against Saint Bernard of Clairvaux. It would be a complete and ridiculous waste of federal power, money and time, but they could do it. Not that Trump is a Saint Bernard—he’s more like an American Pit Bull—but that is sort of like what they are doing here. They don’t have thing one against Trump. And this, after two years of Director Mueller’s Fishingexpedition 1.0, which came up empty against Trump. The House inquiry is an abuse of our federal government’s power. But it keeps Trump on the defensive, and the House Dems like that, because they’ve got skeletons to hide. Speaking of which,

Illusion 4: That the Democrats are above reproach, and no one needs to investigate them.

If you are falling for any of their illusions, the Democrats that are trying to pull them off are laughing at you behind your back. Trump is not doing much that the Dems are concerned about. Maybe they don’t like him looking in the Ukraine for Democratic Party misdeeds. According to Glenn Beck, there are plenty of them to find there. But I think that the main thing that the Dems hate is that Trump occupies their Oval Office; they are concerned that he might continue to do so until 2024.

If you think that the House Dems are really concerned about any of the stuff that they want you to think is very serious—stuff that they want you to be concerned about, and feel the gravity¹ of—then the trick that they are trying to play on your mind and heart is working.
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Note 1: Known elsewhere in the media as gravitas.