By Sal Bommarito

Is it a shock to learn that the Democratic National Committee Chairman Debbie Wasserman Schultz and other party leaders acted to sabotage the efforts of Bernie Sanders? Is it a surprise that nobody to this point has even suggested that Hillary Clinton played a role in the conspiracy? Is it startling that the Democrats are saying that Russian operatives hacked their email on the orders of Vladimir Putin because the Russian leader would prefer Trump to be elected our new president?

Rep. Schultz is an ambitious political hack who was hoping to ride Clinton’s coattails to a greater role in government. Until today she had every reason to help Clinton win the election, even if she had to ignore her implicit responsibility to conduct a fair primary process for her party.

As Chairwoman of the DNC, Schultz was supposed to give all Democratic contenders an equal opportunity to compete in the presidential selection process. She didn’t, and Sanders supporters are rightly irate. It’s expected that they will now be a major disruptive force during the convention.

Ms. Schultz’s political ambitions overwhelmed her sense of good judgment and fair play, and so she conducted a crooked campaign for Crooked Hillary. Isn’t it eye popping how scandal follows the Clintons?

The 800 pound gorilla at the convention is whether the Clinton campaign knew about, or worse, coordinated with Schultz as a co-conspirator. Ironically Sanders, the socialist, had no real chance to win the Democratic primary. Yet he was tarred and feathered by the Democratic establishment.

This episode is reminiscent of the 1972 presidential election, when Richard Nixon’s henchmen tried to disrupt the Democratic campaign, even though Nixon was surely going to win  (George McGovern won only 17 electoral votes in 1972). One wonders whether a cover-up is now underway (the ultimate reason for Nixon’s resignation), to protect Hillary Clinton. So far the press has not focused on Clinton’s role, if any. I’m puzzled. It would be the first thing I’d investigate if I worked at the New York Times.

And finally we hear that the Russians are involved. The emerging conspiracy theory is that Trump and Putin are expected to become bff’s if Trump wins the election. Where have I heard this prediction before? Fact is that there is no chance the U.S. and Russia will develop close ties so long as Putin is in power. Nevertheless it is not out of the question that Russian hackers might have disclosed Schultz’s nefarious activities to WikiLeaks. Associating Trump to this whole thing is laughable. When will the bad guys  (and bad girls) learn that documenting stuff on email (and other types of social media) is risky especially if you’re contemplating something illegal or unethical?

This election, if possible, has become even more ridiculous over the weekend. The problem Americans are facing is not that hackers, disreputable political operatives or sore losers (like Sanders) are creating a fuss. The real issue is that we have two ruthless and undeserving megalomaniacs competing to become president of this nation.