A few weeks ago the left and some of the extreme fringes of the Never Trump spectrum were flogging a story that the NRA had received all manner of monetary contributions from Russian sources. These stories were just part of a conscious effort by the parties pushing them to color every possible conservative organization or cause as being influenced by Russia. We saw that with the shameful and grotesquely dishonest assertion that the #ReleaseTheMemo push was Russian inspired. The motive is simple. This is just a cheap way of marginalizing conservative voices.

The basic allegation is that unnamed Russians donated lots of money to the NRA which ended up being used to support Donald Trump’s election. The use of foreign donations is illegal (unless you are a Democrat, then all is fine. As Johnny Chung, who funneled money from Chinese military intelligence to the Bill Clinton campaign said, “I see the White House is like a subway: You have to put in coins to open the gates.”) If this were the case, then the orgasmic groaning you’d be hearing from the Russia-collusion crowd would be deafening.

Now the real story has come out.

The National Rifle Association tells ABC News that it has received a single contribution from a Russian individual of less than $1,000 during the 2012-2018 election cycle.

“We have one contribution from a Russian,” Steven Hart, outside counsel to the NRA, said in an interview with ABC News.

Hart said it was the “life membership payment” made by Alexander Torshin, a Russian politician who contributed to the NRA’s non-profit parent organization which is not required by law to disclose the donation. Hart added, “The donation was the person’s membership dues” and was not used for election-related activities. “That was not a major donor program,” he said.

NRA General Counsel John C. Frazer, in a letter to Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, made public Tuesday, said the gun-rights group accepted foreign donations, though not for electioneering purposes. The group’s disclosure that it received only one donation is new.

Alexander Torshin is the guy who has, to all appearances, been trying to organize a Russian gun-rights movement that the left claims is merely a front to influence the NRA.

NPR’s Tim Mak, a dimwitted little mouthbreather who’s been flogging this story relentlessly, is reduced to this:

The National Rifle Association is now telling ABC News that it has received a single contribution from a Russian individual of less than $1,000 during the 2012-2018 election cycle. https://t.co/uTuaPWEKJ0

— Tim Mak (@timkmak) March 29, 2018

News flash, there is no such thing as a 2012-2018 “election cycle” in America. And the NRA spent $54 million in 2016 alone.

This kind of crap is really tiring because absolutely no one pushing these stories actually believes what they are saying. They are simply linking Russia to the GOP for electoral advantage. I don’t care if the Russians, for their own reasons, support the NRA and its issues because I know the NRA supports me and my issues.