The US government has been shut down by a guy who the FBI thinks might be a Russian operative. And we’ve arrived at an American moment where that news doesn’t seem all that shocking. But just consider the gravity of these two weekend headlines. From the NYT: FBI Opened Inquiry Into Whether Trump Was Secretly Working on Behalf of Russia. And from WaPo: Trump has concealed details of his face-to-face encounters with Putin from senior officials in administration. In a normal presidency, these headlines would stop the country in its tracks. Even in a normal abnormal one, it would be pretty big news that we’ve not only learned of several examples of collusion and witnessed several acts of obstruction, we’ve actually reached a point in the saga where it seems entirely plausible that the president is a Russian agent. Trump is dismissing the insinuation, “I never worked for Russia. It’s a disgrace that you even asked that question because it’s a whole big fat hoax. It’s just a hoax.” If that’s true, it’s the most detailed and elaborate hoax you could imagine. WaPo came up with 18 reasons Trump could be a Russian asset. (I can’t even come up with 18 reasons why I could be exactly who I am…)

+ How has our national frontal lobe been softened up to the point where we can absorb reasonable suggestions of this magnitude without our heads blowing off? A good place to search for an answer is The Atlantic’s look at 50 Moments That Define an Improbable Presidency.