Within days, a conspiracy theory went from the lunatic fringe to the White House and the Department of Justice.

The problem with running a successful freak show is that your customers continually ask for more, and you end up slouching toward human sacrifice or gluing horns onto the heads of ponies and calling them unicorns. American conservatism has been on an extended trip to Bedlam for decades now and, given the antics of the previous administration, the envelope of krayzee has been pushed close to the limits of its tolerance. And the crowd calls out for more.

As the Washington Post demonstrated over the weekend, American conservatism has a vast supply of that peculiar element upon which to draw. Last week, the New York Times revealed that, while White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows pressed the Department of Justice to investigate phony claims of “voter fraud,” including one exotic example that had eluded my notice.