“What a revoltin’ development this is.” — William Bendix (and Daffy Duck).

Way back in 1966, Hollywood made a movie. It was a comedy, directed by Norman Jewison and starred the likes of Carl Reiner, Eva Marie Saint, Alan Arkin (in his first role) and Jonathan Winters.

Something of a Cold War spoof, it was about the hijinks that ensue after a Soviet submarine accidentally runs aground off a New England island community and it was titled “The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming.” And it was funny. Of course, even a funeral that featured Jonathan Winters would be funny.

Without him and in real life, it’s not so much so. Because the Russians aren’t coming, the Russians are here.

It isn’t so much that the Russians are meddling in our electoral process “again,” like they did in the 2016 one, rather, the unfortunate truth is they have never really stopped and are still at it.

And nobody should be surprised. The Mueller report told us were. The last two FBI directors told us they were. All 17 of his country’s intelligence agencies unanimously agree that they are.

A month ago, the intelligence types briefed the Bernie Sanders campaign that the Russians were interfering in the 2020 Democratic Primary process with the hope of helping Sanders secure that party’s nomination and just last week, the former Director of National Intelligence briefed the House Intelligence Committee that Vladimir Putin’s pals were once again trying to put a thumb on the general election scales in order to help re-elect President Trump, who for reasons related to his ego and prevailing narcissism has never publicly admitted that it happened the first time.

And what did the commander-in-chief do when he learned that a foreign adversary was effectively attacking the sovereignty of the nation’s most sacred civic process? How did he retaliate against the evil Ruskies?

Why, he promptly and rather unceremoniously fired the highly-respected retired Navy admiral acting as his only his latest Director of National Intelligence for having the unmitigated temerity to tell, in a classified setting, that House committee such a thing. Never mind that he was specifically required to do so under the law. And he replaced him with some joker who may not be able to even spell intelligence but is deemed to be a sufficiently loyal Trump toadie.

And, of course, he called the whole thing a “hoax.” Has anybody else noticed how the president always calls things hoaxes that we later find out to be true?

In fact, that’s what sealed it for me.  I was a bit skeptical at first, but as soon as I heard Trump say “hoax,” I said to myself, “oh, hell, this ain’t good.”

So, what do we know? We know the Russians’ overall aim is what it has always been, to sew discord and undermine the confidence of the American people in the sanctity of our elections, and thereby, cast doubt upon our entire system of governance itself.

We also know that the Russians want to do all they can to help see that Trump is re-elected because, after all, he is the first American president since the end of World War II to not recognize the Russian nation state for what it is, this country’s preeminent geo-political foe.

And, we also know that the Russians, who quite naturally want Trump to win the general election, think the best way for him to do that is to run against Bernie Sanders, the Sam Jaffe look-alike, who self-identifies as a Democratic Socialist, and who after the first three contests of the election cycle, the fool Democrats have elevated to the position of clear front runner for their nomination.

Oh, and please spare me the outrage.

If any of my self-described “progressive” friends honestly believe that 2020 America is going to elect a socialist president, then Vladimir Putin knows more about the reality of American politics than do they and I have a luxury time-share in Holly Bluff to sell them.

Look, folks, Putin is an avowed enemy of America. Putin is KGB. There is no such thing as “ex-KGB.” Once KGB, always KGB, albeit by any other name.

Putin is dedicated to the diminution of the United States role on the international stage and seeks to do so through the promotion of discord among the American people and the pitting of one against the other. So, do you think it coincidental that he would seek to advance the political fortunes of the two most divisive political figures in the entire country?

That sound you hear is laughter and back-slapping in the Kremlin.

Ray Mosby is editor and publisher of the Deer Creek Pilot in Rolling Fork.