UPDATED — 09.29.19, Late Night: Mr. Hinderaker is FINALLY acknowledging at least a sliver of the emerging reality. As of tonight, he admits that impeachment may well be the end of Trump’s chances, in 2020. Or, perhaps he thinks he is engaging in a form of Plato’s Wager — so as not to appear foolish. I do not know, or care — really. But this was before he knew that Trump had arguably violated three more federal felony statutes [in a series of truly “cra-cra” Sunday night tweets, no less]:

18 USC 18 USC § 2383 — it’s a felony to threaten civil war;

18 USC § 1512 — it’s a felony to threaten witnesses; and

18 USC §§ 875-876 — it’s a felony to threaten a member of Congress. End, update.

John Hinderaker persisted in tilting at a windmill — one that has already been scorched clear off the face of the political planet, reduced to a smoldering and small… ash pile….

That is, tonight, rather than address the breadth and depth of the plainly system wide corruption this Ukraine cover up entailed [Trump, Manafort, Guliani, Barr, Pence and others, minimum] — John complains about the tone of Chairman Schiff’s opening [morning] remarks.

Okay. And he also pretends that the whole affair is about the “memo” — massaged, drafted, edited and re-drafted — by Trumpians — of one single phone conversation, with the Ukraine president.

Nope. As the full whistle-blower’s complaint makes painfully clear, this is a wide ranging pattern — likely involving a way to allow Trump the “political cover fire” — to ultimately pardon Manafort (and thus echoing much of Mueller’s report).

You remember… Manafort, right, John? That unctuous guy who ran Trump’s 2016 campaign — that same guy… now in MDC lockup, and likely to end up doing what will amount (for him) to natural life — in a federal lockdown? It will be… for both foreign corruption, and for aiming toward corrupt attempts to manipulate the outcome of the 2016 US elections. Yep, that guy.

All with multiple credible fact witnesses, career professional CIA folks, detailed to the White House, inside the complaint. the one Bill Barr vainly tried to… bury.

And John has (curiously, indeed) not addressed Trump’s open threats leveled, toward the involved CIA professional — calling him/her “like… a spy” — and saying “in the old days, we dealt with spies… differently.”

 Yes folks, before  a video camera, Trump this very afternoon threatened the life of the whistle-blower. if it was a nothing, I doubt the preznit — even this one — would go so far, in his rhetoric.

But John? As I said… he tilts at a windmill long gone from the face of the Earth… while the dragon Trump scorches every village in his path, with wanton, brazenly lawless, felonious corruption.

All to… nothing but the chirps of crickets… from John.

He himself is a corrupted, bought and paid for shrill little shill, now — nothing more. Sad, actually — because many in his own party are finally standing for the rule of law.

He will soon be a man on a very small island, one called Trumplandia — a hallucinatory place [one Trump hoped Greenland could be]. But we will protect Greenland, from them both. And Rudy and Bill and Mike.

I suppose, on the other hand, the smallish silver lining, for John, at least — is he is NOT likely to end up in jail. The rest… may.

H I L A R I O U S.