RACHEL MADDOW PRESENTS "FROM RUSSIA WITH LEV"

"BEING THERE" MEETS "THE BOURNE IDENTITY"

Spoiler alert. The stunning documentary produced by Rachel Maddow, “From Russia with Lev,” could have been written jointly by Jerzy Kosiński, author of Being There (satirical book and movie), and thriller writer Robert Ludlum: a couple of goofy Ukrainian hustlers turned “Florida Men,” Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, by funneling a Russian oligarch’s money illegally into American elections, including Trump’s America First PAC, rise to prominence as fixers for the President of the United States. In 2018, the duo is tasked with arranging for Rudy Giuliani to meet with high officials of newly elected President Zelenskyy’s government to find dirt on the Bidens and undermine Special Counsel Mueller’s investigation into Trump’s Russia connection. They fail because, unlike the corrupt President Poroshenko before him, Zelenskyy’s a stand-up guy who refuses to go along with Trump’s corrupt plan to discredit Biden before the 2020 election, just as he (Zelenskyy) did in the infamous telephone call leading to Trump’s first impeachment. Parnas, repenting his involvement in Trump’s scheme, cooperates with the Democratically controlled House impeachment committee, bringing receipts constituting about a third of the evidence presented to the committee -- none of which brazen Republicans, then in control of the Senate, will allow to be presented at the trial. Trump, meanwhile, forcefully, falsely, and repeatedly declares: “I don’t know these guys” (despite dozens of photos of them together). In a calculated act of betrayal, Trump sicks Bill Barr’s DoJ on Parnas to discredit his evidence. Parnas and three other defendants are convicted of campaign finance violations and sentenced to 20 months in prison. Throughout, Parnas’ steadfast wife, Svetlana, the show’s wry Deus ex machina/Cassandra, sees all, explains all, and futilely warns Parnas that Trump will dump him when he’s no longer useful.  After serving his sentence, Parnas writes a tell-all book expressing repentance for his participation in Trump/Giuliani’s harebrained schemes and contrition for the damage inflicted on the Bidens and U.S. Ambassador Yovanovitch to Ukraine, summarily fired by Trump for her principled resistance to Trump’s machinations. In a touching finale, Parnas meets with Hunter Biden to express a heartfelt apology, graciously accepted.

Intrigue, skullduggery, criminality, betrayal, persecution, and prosecution at the highest levels of government meld with personal ambition, ephemeral success, repentance, contrition, redemption, and forgiveness – all the elements of an airport novel are present to inform, entertain and bedevil the Trump campaign. To Ms. Maddow and her crew – chapeau.