Small minds think alike.

After Mueller’s last indictment of Russians, a chorus went up from Democrats and Never Trumpers. Podesta and David French had the same idea. It can’t be a witch hunt if there really are witches.

But a witch hunt has nothing to do with the existence of witches. That’s not the issue. You can have witch hunts for things that really do exist. Like racism.

Take this story from John Hinderaker at PowerLine about two employees being fired from a bakery because they refused to serve a woman who came in after closing time. She happened to be black. The usual hysteria took hold.

Here’s the bakery’s explanation.

“In this situation it doesn’t really matter that the two staff members working are not themselves racist because the call they made to deny Lillian service caused her to feel like she had been discriminated against. Sometimes impact outweighs intent and when that happens people do need to be held accountable. Since both Lillian and the clamoring public were demanding that these staff members be fired that it is what we did putting these two young women out of work.”

No one denies that racism exists. But this is what a witch hunt looks like. Innocent people being sacrificed to a mob that is equal parts self-righteously angry and feeling helplessly out of control.

Those are the two core emotions of the witch hunt. Self-righteousness compensates for personal inadequacies. Helplessness becomes power, whether in Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union or on Twitter. The cultural revolution is everywhere. Just pick a target, smash in their face, scream in rage, triumph and fear. Be the animal you want to be. When they go low, we bite their ankles.

Every person whose life we destroy makes us feel less helpless. And then addiction sets in. Destroying people becomes a form of self-medicating. It provides a sense of power and control. And then redemption.

That’s what a witch hunt looks like. And it has nothing to do with the existence of witches. Because the witches do exist. They’re usually the first people shouting, “Burn the witch.”

House Democrats chanted “USA!” on the floor on Thursday in response to a speech by House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D., Md.) about protecting the integrity of American elections against foreign meddling.

“This amendment responds by providing for us to partner with our states to slam the door in the face of the Russian bear or any other adversary who seeks to steal the integrity of our elections,” Hoyer said. “Surely, we can rise above pandering to party and Putin to act on behalf of our freedom and our security!”

The last refuge of a scoundrel indeed.