I am so unbelievably sick of American politics.

Remember when Donald Trump was supposedly a Russian asset? When we were told his presidential campaign had conspired with Vladimir Putin to steal the 2016 election? When practically every news cycle seemed to bring another bombshell, another anonymous intelligence source, another breathless prediction that the walls were finally closing in?

Well, Mueller investigated it. He didn’t establish a conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia. Then Durham investigated the investigators, and what did we discover? Serious failures at the FBI, politically funded opposition research treated with insufficient skepticism, and surveillance applications riddled with significant errors and omissions.

And who could forget the infamous pee tape? Remember that little gem? We were supposed to believe Trump hired prostitutes to urinate on a bed in the presidential suite of Moscow’s Ritz-Carlton, where the Obamas had supposedly slept, and that Russian intelligence had it all on video. Absolutely spectacular political ammunition. Except nobody ever substantiated the tape, the hotel manager denied knowing anything about the alleged incident, and Durham found that Trump hadn’t even stayed in the presidential suite where this supposedly happened. The story was never credibly established, and a key detail was flatly contradicted by hotel records. But that didn’t stop the allegation from becoming international news. Apparently, in American politics, you don’t actually need evidence anymore. You just need a sufficiently disgusting story and enough people willing to repeat it.

And what happened?

One FBI lawyer pleaded guilty to altering an email and got probation. Two other defendants were acquitted. The Clinton campaign and DNC paid civil fines over how they reported their opposition-research expenditures.

Meanwhile, the American people got years of political theater, millions of dollars in investigative costs, and enough finger-pointing to power a small city.

Now, yes, Russia interfered in the election. That’s established. But Russian interference and Donald Trump secretly conspiring with Russia to steal the presidency are two entirely different accusations. Why the hell did so much of our political discourse treat them as interchangeable?

And before somebody starts screaming that I’m defending Trump, let me explain something.

This isn’t about defending Donald Trump. It’s about defending a country that is slowly forgetting the difference between an accusation, an investigation, and a conviction.

And frankly, I’m getting just as fed up with Republicans.

They’ve spent years promising accountability. Investigation after investigation. Hearing after hearing. Press conference after press conference. Every few months we get another politician announcing that the biggest scandal in American history is about to blow wide open.

Okay. Wonderful. Where’s the evidence that can survive a courtroom? Where are the convictions? And if a crime can’t be proven, why do we keep getting promises that somebody is about to go to prison?

I don’t want political prisoners. I want actual criminals prosecuted, regardless of which political party they belong to. And I want federal agencies held accountable when they violate the public’s trust, even when their conduct doesn’t rise to the level of a crime.

Because a government that can’t distinguish political warfare from criminal justice is a government that has a serious problem.

At some point, we need to stop asking which political party is winning and start asking why the American people keep losing.