Columbo

I had mentioned my recent discovery of American news shows available on YouTube, and I will say that what I'm finding in the daily coverage of the Trump-Russia-Stormy-mob money-tax evasion-courtroom-flippers-and-back-stabbers drama is pretty much as interesting, or more so, as any television crime series. In my 64 years here on earth, I have really never seen anything like this. I mean, sure, there was the Nixon-Watergate thing, but that was really pretty tedious in comparison; and of course there was the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal, which possessed the smarmy appeal of illicit sex and infidelity; but truly, this intricate tangle of so many plotlines, what with an adversarial foreign power, collusion, treachery and treason, election interference, funny-money, corporate crime, crooked lawyers and porn star payoffs goes far beyond anything we have seen before. There must be hundreds of mystery novelists and television script writers out there saying, "Damn, why didn't I think of this?" But the answer to that, of course, is that no one would have believed it. Truth is forever stranger than fiction. What strand will be unraveled next, what missing piece of the puzzle discovered, what actions will the prey take as the net draws tighter and tighter? I keep waiting for Columbo to appear with that one small yet critical piece of evidence that cannot be escaped. You almost got away with it, Mr. Trump--but you forget just this one little detail. It is a sad time for America to be sure--but at least it's entertaining.