CARLTON FLETCHER: Democrats no match for political Keyser Soze

“A man hears what he wants to hear and he disregards the rest.”

— Simon and Garfunkel

I’ve written in this space before about the, let’s just say “antisocial behavior” and move on, of many of the men who’ve held high office in America, including the presidency.

And still I continue to marvel at the way supporters of our current president make excuses for his boorish behavior, language and actions that fall well below standards most of us expect of people who hold such office.

But as I’ve read about and listened to all of the hoopla surrounding Trump’s latest PR debacle, two words — or maybe it’s just one compound word, not that that matters — come to mind. Witch. Hunt.

Democrats in the House of Representatives — and the dozen-plus who are running for president — have joined their Republican colleagues in the Senate in doing nothing now that they’re salivating like a hungry dog staring down a juicy T-bone steak over what many are saying is their opportunity to “get” the president.

I am not privy to the unedited transcript of the president’s conversation with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky — sorry, true believers, none of us is … politicians have a way of releasing to the public what they want the public to hear when they “reveal” such tidbits — but the transcript that has been released offers nothing that screams “impeachment.” Hell, I wouldn’t even put this in the Top 10 Most Egregious Things the President has Done Since Taking Office.

But — and I hate to sound like a true believer myself, but despite what that group seems to think, I like to base my opinions on available reliable information — Democrats who must have decided, “Hey, the Republican Senate does nothing but sit around and, well, sit around … that’s cool, can we do that too?” have now quit doing what they were elected to do and are climbing aboard the Whistleblower (Whoo! Whoo!) Express and champing at the bit to impeach Trump.

Two things about that:

1) Based on the evidence made public, I can’t see anything that would even infer that the president was trying to coerce (that means bribe with taxpayer money) Zelensky to investigate Joe Biden’s son for, let’s be honest here, seemingly very shady dealings with business and political interests in that country. Again, based on what’s been reported (by journalists, not the TV network and partisan newspaper editorialist cheerleaders who are nothing more than spin doctors for their political parties of favor, no more journalists than Florida-Georgia Line are hip-hop stars), it appears that young Mr. Biden might have thrown around political weight that his papa can’t carry.

2) Sure, you can get a vote in the House to impeach Trump — see above, which can be subtitled partisan politics 101 — but Democrats are about as likely to get a two-thirds conviction in the Senate on any article of impeachment as a Trump loyalist is to utter the words, “You know, on second thought, Hillary Clinton is not so bad a person. If I could do it all over again, I’d vote for her.”

You’d think these Democrats who consider themselves astute readers of a room would realize not only the futility of voting for impeachment based on this latest kerfuffle (you mean, Nancy Pelosi, you’re ready to put your political future in the hands of some unnamed “whistleblower,” when, in the end, after impeachment fails, the fallout will rain down on your head? I thought you were smarter), they’d understand that the energy they’re putting into this is doing nothing but hurting their chances of nominating a candidate who could challenge Trump and a base — and, yes, it’s only around a 30% base, but it’s a base that would vote for Trump if he offered to trade Hunter and Joe Biden for two future Ukrainian brides for when Melania gets tired of him — that will turn out for him en masse.

Democrats seem hell-bent on listening to the far-left outliers in their party — the ones who, quite frankly, will only ever attract the votes of the overzealous loonies who think the way they do — and that means they’ll pat each other on the back and say they have the president “right where we want him.”

Which only shows how far out of touch they are.

Donald Trump facing charges as lightweight as the ones Democrats are so excited over is right in his sweet spot. He’ll make a few crude comments on Twitter, come up with a new slogan for his minions to chant and then — like a magician who’s a master of sleight of hand — do something outlandish that will divert the short attention spans of the two partisan media groups. And just like that, poof, impeachment will be nothing but fodder for late-night talk show hosts’ monologues, Trump will be stronger than ever, will win at least four more years in office and Democrats will be left with a big ole dose of egg on their faces.

Democrats just don’t seem to get it: When you deal with the Keyser Soze of American politics, he limp/walks away at the end with a huge grin on his face while you’re left to ponder: “What just happened?”