Caricature by DonkeyHotey flic.kr/p/Ct4G4K https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

If life gives you lemons, you turn them into bullsh** and throw them at people. That is essentially what the progressives and, sort of unsurprisingly, the media are doing in the wake of Paul Manafort’s indictment. As you probably know by now, Manafort was hit with a twelve-count indictment (a lot fewer than I would have guessed) that has its genesis in his lobbying for Ukraine. This is the way Andy McCarthy at National Review describes it:

On first glance, Mueller’s case, at least in part, seems shaky and overcharged.

This is the part that, along with the Papadopoulos guilty plea, is acting like catnip for progressives and the media:

COUNT ONE
(Conspiracy Against The United States)

There it is. Treason. In black and white.

The charges against Paul Manafort and Richard Gates include "conspiracy against the United States" https://t.co/IpOn4sqcqo pic.twitter.com/WiVgW1DQV1

— POLITICO (@politico) October 30, 2017

The SecondMostSlappableFaceOnTheInternet^TM weighs in:

From Special Counsel's office: Manafort and Gates are charged with 12 counts, including conspiracy against the United States. pic.twitter.com/wtlGQqlsbe

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) October 30, 2017

Today, the FBI charged the campaign manager for the “Make America Great Again” candidate with conspiracy against the United States.

— Molly Knight (@molly_knight) October 30, 2017

Just in via Mueller Spox: Manafort and Gates each face 12 charges, including conspiracy against the United States

— Garrett Haake (@GarrettHaake) October 30, 2017

Trump’s campaign chair has been charged w conspiracy against the United States. Time for the GOP to commit to protecting this investigation.

— The Democrats (@TheDemocrats) October 30, 2017

“Conspiracy against the United States…” https://t.co/9Ng9qq42ft

— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) October 30, 2017

You get the picture. What is this notorious conspiracy against the United States, again Andy McCarthy:

Do not be fooled by the “Conspiracy against the United States” heading on Count One (page 23 of the indictment). This case has nothing to do with what Democrats and the media call “the attack on our democracy” (i.e., the Kremlin’s meddling in the 2016 election, supposedly in “collusion” with the Trump campaign). Essentially, Manafort and his associate, Richard W. Gates, are charged with (a) conspiring to conceal from the U.S. government about $75 million they made as unregistered foreign agents for Ukraine, years before the 2016 election (mainly, from 2006 through 2014), and (b) a money-laundering conspiracy.

That’s right. The conspiracy against the United States is one based on defrauding the United States of taxes. This is something of a national pastime…until you get caught.