As former FBI Director James Comey prepares to testify in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee today, Senate Democrats, anti-Trump media forces, and an army of progressive Twitter trolls are firing up the innuendo machine and getting ready to add more condiments to the meatless-thus-far Trump-Russia burger.

CNN is treating today’s hearing like the Super Bowl of politics. They’ve been using a special countdown clock graphic all week long and have already spent 10 hours on pre-game coverage — most of it doom-and-gloom speculation from their cavalcade of left-wing pundits.

The apocalyptic, end-of-democracy prophets of the mainstream and progressive media are predicting Comey’s testimony will destroy Trump’s presidency. Have a grain of salt handy for the main event, because these are the same pundits who predicted Brexit’s failure, Trump’s plummet in the primary polls, a contested GOP convention, a Hillary Clinton landslide, an Evan McMullin victory in Utah, dozens of faithless electors, an emoluments-clause impeachment, a Thompson victory in Kansas, an Ossoff victory in Georgia, and a Quist victory in Montana. They have all the predictive powers of a 10-year-old with a Magic 8-Ball.

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So, with progressive crowds all hyped up, Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee will have their work cut out for them. First, they will try to make a graceful shift from their “Trump colluded with Russia” narrative to a “Trump obstructed justice” narrative.

Comey’s pre-released statement makes explicit President Trump himself was never under investigation. Despite leak after leak from anti-Trump bureaucrats and government contractors, not one shred of evidence of this supposed “collusion” has ever been produced. Innuendo, yes. Out-of-context, hearsay snippets, yes. Basically, the leakers have created a build-your-own-scandal kit that the media and the Democrats can’t stop playing with. It’s a regular left-wing fidget spinner.

Trump-Russia collusion is the unicorn of left-wing politics — beautiful, divine, and wholly mythological. The mainstream media narrative and the impeachment-happy Democratic grandstanding have about as much substance as a “Trump + Russia 4-Ever” Trapper-Keeper doodle.

Democrats and the media, fueling each other, overreached big time, and many of them are starting to realize it.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, told Wolf Blitzer, “There are all kinds of rumors around, there are newspaper stories, but that’s not necessarily evidence.” Even Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), who has been calling for President Trump’s impeachment for weeks, admitted on Morning Joe that there’s no evidence. And multiple politicians and pundits have dropped the “smoke but no fire” cliché.

In a world where CNN chyrons were evidence, President Trump would be in deep trouble. In reality, Democrats know they need a new narrative fast, now that their collusion overreach has been stretched way too far. Today, they’ll pivot to a new overreach and accuse the president of obstructing justice.

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Another tricky pivot the Democrats will have to make today is in how they characterize James Comey.

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During the hearing, Democrats on the committee will try to frame Comey as Captain America in a business suit. Honorable, trustworthy, incorruptible James Comey who stood up to mad-with-power, evil incarnate, comic book villain President Trump. They’ll have to create a sense that Comey’s every motivation is pure and trustworthy. It will be a task made all the more difficult given that a few months ago Democrats and the media were skewering Comey as an incompetent, untrustworthy, politically motivated stooge.

The week before the election, Chuck Schumer declared that he no longer had faith in Comey. Kurt Eichenwald of Newsweek wrote that Comey should be “barred forever from any form of public service.” Maxine Waters said he had “no credibility.” Rep. Butterfield, a Democrat from North Carolina, said Comey needed to “fade into oblivion.” Nancy Pelosi said he was in the wrong job. Harry Reid accused him of violating the Hatch Act. Rep. Steve Cohen from Tennessee said he should resign. The list goes on and on.

By the end of today, Democrats and the media will have invented a thousand sinister definitions of the word “loyalty,” they will have mischaracterized President Trump’s hope that Mike Flynn wouldn’t be dragged any further through the mud, and they will have made a thousand fallacious comparisons to Watergate. They will instantly declare the testimony a resounding defeat of Trump’s presidency and a harbinger of doom. But, in the end, their “Trump obstructed justice” narrative will yield the same results as their “Trump colluded with Russia” narrative. None at all. Because it’s based on wishful thoughts, while facts and evidence are treated as optional but ultimately unnecessary accessories to their accusations.

At the end of the day, the left-wing narrative will have changed, but its complete lack of substance will remain.

Eddie Zipperer is an assistant professor of political science at Georgia Military College and a regular LifeZette contributor.