For months now, fringe elements located exclusively on one end of the political spectrum have launched an all-out assault on the credibility of Special Counsel Robert Mueller, the man tasked with leading the collusion investigation. However, these unashamed partisan actors haven’t limited themselves to festooning Mr. Mueller with their manufactured malice, but have bludgeoned the FBI with their disdain as well.

Yet we’re continuing to watch a relatively peripheral ensemble of irascible characters forcefully-channel their inner-thespians, casting-off the publicity-inhibiting shackles of decency and logic once and for all. With great fervor, these individuals have flocked to hospitable media outlets to air their bevy of poorly-articulated and ill-conceived grievances about seemingly everything concerning the Trump-Russia probe.

Television hosts have casually implied that we may very well “have a coup on our hands in America.” Other publications of a similar ideological stripe have trotted out thinly-veiled assertions that some sort of “soft coup” has already been initiated by the “deep state,” apparently at the behest of America’s “shadow president,” Barack Obama. We’ve even been treated to a few marginal sitting congressmen echo these bizarre sentiments on both the airwaves and the House floor. Even the “tame” variety of partisan criticism labels Mueller’s investigation as “aimless.”

Together, we’ve been forced to take a front row seat as this insidiously-toxic brand of invective has been recklessly thrust into the mainstream. Nefariously, all of this rabblerousing has been proffered with reprehensibly little concern for the consequences such over-the-top hyperbole could unleash. But really, what’s the harm in polluting potentially unsound minds with patently fictitious and incendiary babble of the most hazardous variety if it can either fatten your wallet, or facilitate your absorption into a bureaucracy you supposedly detest.

Despite the ferocity of their clamoring, we’re not witnessing the airing of righteous concerns by a band of ardent patriots, we’re watching the blatant conniving of profiteers. We’re not viewing the dutiful defense of American rule of law, we’re seeing the deployment of determined efforts guaranteed to hasten its erosion. We’re not observing the reinforcement of truth, but rather, its subversion.

Yet the most revolting aspect of this nauseating spectacle is the tactical depths to which these veritable mercenaries gleefully sink. For example, Sean Hannity has labeled Mueller as “corrupt,” “crooked,” and “a disgrace to the American justice system.” Meanwhile, several guests on the aforementioned political shock jock’s show, have likened the FBI to the former Soviet Union’s murderous secret police, the KGB.

For the record, Robert Mueller has given five decades of selfless service to this nation. He’s bled on distant battlefields as a United States Marine, stared down mob bosses and dictators as a federal prosecutor, and stood up to presidents in defense of our constitution as FBI Director. Likewise, the courageous men and women of the FBI, the organization he formerly led, work around the clock to protect us from the predatory entities that lurk within the shadows of our society, those which actively seek to do us harm. An honorable charge that includes shielding us from the duplicitous machinations of hostile foreign governments, particularly those which have flagrantly violated our sovereignty by attempting to unduly influence our elections, the policy consequences of which could affect each and every American.

At the end of the day, and as lucrative as hysteria-peddling can be, there is no coup in motion, nor is there a modicum of veracity to the scurrilous claims levied against Mr. Mueller, a man so esteemed that he was twice unanimously approved by the Senate to sit at the helm of the “Bureau,” the world’s premier law enforcement agency.