Democrats' lawsuit is a risky publicity stunt

Conspiracy theories are strongest when their claims and evidence are kept vague and shadowy. When they meet the cold light of day — for example, when they are put into writing in a lawsuit — their flimsy nature is revealed and elicits laughter rather than fear.

This week, the Democratic Party seems to have proven this by filing a civil RICO lawsuit against President Trump’s campaign, various campaign staffers (including Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr.), WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, the Russian Federation, and specific Russian officials and operatives.

The DNC has a legitimate grievance against the Russian operatives who hacked their computers and released their emails to the world. The operatives broke the law, and some of them have been indicted. No one disputes that.

But the inclusion of Trump’s campaign as a defendant appears to be a publicity stunt. This might just be the Democrats’ way of keeping the torch of conspiracy theory burning bright after special counsel Robert Mueller wraps up his investigation without charging anyone with treason, or “influencing an election” (which isn’t a crime), or whatever crime they think must have been committed in 2016.

It is noteworthy that Trump himself is not a defendant in this case, and also that there is no allegation that campaign finance laws were broken because of a foreign in-kind contribution. That’s because charges like that one are cut and dry. Either they happened or they didn’t, and clear evidence has to be presented one way or the other.