A little earlier in the week, Wisconsin Republican Sean Duffy was interviewing New York Republican Lee Zeldin on Duffy’s podcast. The subject of “the memo” came up and this is what Duffy had to say:

Rep. Sean Duffy (R., Wis.), speaking about the decision, said allegations in the memo “will be shocking to many Americans and warrant the removal of a number of high [level] FBI and DOJ individuals as well as at least one of those individuals being prosecuted,” according to comments made in the lawmaker’s podcast, an advanced copy of which was obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.

“There is a lot of smoke blowing around the FBI, the DOJ,” Duffy said during a chat with his colleague, Rep. Lee Zeldin (R., N.Y.), on national security issues and Trump’s upcoming State of the Union address.

I wish our guys wouldn’t say stuff like that because it is ultimately dysfunctional. One of the primary rules of sales is “under-promise and over-deliver.” The same in politics. For instance, don’t promise a wall from the Gulf to the Pacific when a) it isn’t necessary and b) it is virtually impossible to do. Don’t promise DREAMers a path to citizenship and protected status for their parents/siblings when you don’t control either house of Congress or the Presidency.

Don’t get me wrong. I’d like to see a reenactment of Tamerlane’s capture of Bagdad, with Trump in the starring role, and have it end with him building a freakin pyramid of heads outside the FBI and Justice Department buildings. But, unless I’m totally shocked, the body count is not going to move. Comey, McCabe, Baker, and Rybicki are gone. Bruce Ohr is on life support at Justice. Most of the other players in this drama were political appointees and they have already departed and I doubt anyone has the stomach for prosecuting them.

Sometimes, though, I get a little twinge of hope when I see the abject panic that is hitting a lot of quarters.

https://twitter.com/omriceren/status/959098154540036096

BREAKING: Minority Leader Pelosi calls on Speaker Ryan to remove Devin Nunes as chair of the House Intel Committee pic.twitter.com/o6V1Uv70Om

— NBC Politics (@NBCPolitics) February 1, 2018

Schumer, Pelosi ask Ryan to demote Nunes over memo
https://t.co/6i1mOgSRK6 pic.twitter.com/5nEoapXg3A

— POLITICO (@politico) February 1, 2018

The FBI confirms that the memo contains “material omissions of fact” that “fundamentally impact” its accuracy. Nunes used this memo to mislead the House. Will the President now use it to mislead the country? pic.twitter.com/J7LNg47p9f

— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) January 31, 2018

Dear @realDonaldTrump: The @FBI states the #NunesMemo contains "material omissions of fact." The Democratic memo puts forward those omitted material facts. And I will guarantee that when the American people see those omitted facts, your approval ratings will plummet even more. https://t.co/N4RE0I5vho

— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) February 1, 2018

Ron Wyden threatening to release "classified information"if the FISA memo is released sounds an awful lot like blackmail… which is kind of a big no no — via: @KerryPicket https://t.co/tFh6PfbKPL

— Christian Datoc (@TocRadio) February 1, 2018

.@realDonaldTrump tells GOP conference: "We believe in the rule of law and we support the men and women of law enforcement" as he is about to defy FBI and DOJ warnings and release Nunes memo

— Andrea Mitchell (@mitchellreports) February 1, 2018

Ex-CIA director tears into GOP's "reckless partisan behavior" over Nunes memo https://t.co/hIbKjyIx2l pic.twitter.com/E5F3EfP99u

— The Hill (@thehill) February 1, 2018

Dem senator: Release of Nunes memo "reminiscent of the darkest days of the McCarthy era" https://t.co/SAsaR4vk95 pic.twitter.com/DBkFfAsla5

— The Hill (@thehill) February 1, 2018

How weird is this? In ANY other admin if the press got the Nunes memo the admin would come to the editor/owner and ask that they not print to protect sources and methods

— Jennifer Rubin (@JRubinBlogger) February 1, 2018

I will say D's are remarkable on message: 1. Nunes and Trump are in cahoots 2. Release of the memo endangers the country 3. Wait till ya see what we got

— Jennifer Rubin (@JRubinBlogger) February 1, 2018

I suspect there is going to be stuff in there that will reveal the FISA Court as the sham rubber-stamp operation many of us have always thought it was. I suspect that there will be other things that are going to show both FBI and Justice in a very bad light. I doubt seriously, seriously to the point of utter disbelief, that any classified sources or methods are going to be revealed. I also suspect that some of the findings are going to be ambiguous and how you look at them is going to depend upon your predisposition (or not) to assume the FBI was action non-politically and in good faith.

But the panic is there. There’s no doubt about it.