Watching a skilled person do something well is one of life's great pleasures.  And when that skilled person is Sen. Ted Cruz slapping around ex-deputy FBI chief Andrew McCabe...well, the satisfaction is that much greater.  Watching the show also reminds us that these swamp creatures draw their power from the positions we give them.  Without those positions, they're very unimpressive.

In case you've forgotten, McCabe was a power player in the Russia Hoax, with a starring role in persecuting General Michael Flynn.  He's also a liar, a leaker, and a bully.  With his crew cut, (semi) horn-rimmed glasses, and regulation gray suits, McCabe looks as if he had been peeled out of a 1964 advertisement for stalwart FBI agents.  In fact, he is the bad guy.

One of McCabe's pivotal moments in the Russia Hoax was his presence at the January 5, 2017 meeting in the Oval Office (with Obama and Biden both present), to discuss ways to destroy Gen. Michael Flynn.  When Biden heard that Gen. Flynn had talked to then–Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak as part of the Trump transition, Biden came out with the bright idea to prosecute Flynn under the Logan Act.

(As I discussed here, the Logan Act is a dead letter.  I also discussed that, per Ben Rhodes, Obama's former deputy national security adviser, it's Biden himself who's violated the act's literal terms.)

Most recently, McCabe was another leftist who used the coronavirus to his benefit.  In his case, he used it to avoid appearing before the Senate to testify about his role in the Russia hoax.

Pushing back his testimony meant McCabe could be relatively assured that nothing he said could be used against him or his fellow coup-plotters in the lead-up to what they assume will be Biden's ascension to the White House.  At that point, any investigations into the attempted coup against President Trump will vanish.

With the election over and an apparent Biden victory, McCabe no longer can or needs to justify avoiding the Senate.  That's how he ended up in Senator Ted Cruz's crosshairs.

Thanks to his presence at that January 5 meeting, we know that Andrew McCabe, a lawyer, is entirely conversant with the Logan Act.  However, when Ted Cruz pressed him about the act and Ben Rhodes's claim that Biden talked to foreign leaders, McCabe put on the most craven, dishonest performance you're likely to see from a witness before Congress.

McCabe's quivering fear had the same effect on Cruz as a bunny racing down the road would have on a fox.  Ted Cruz, a great trial attorney and a master of cross-examination, instantly launched into attack mode.  He verbally slapped McCabe around as if McCabe were a thuggish mafia foot soldier on trial for some brutal gangland murders.

What you're about to see is a wonderful example of what can be done with guilty people who are trying to avoid a perjury charge:

Ted Cruz just curb stomped Andy McCabe. pic.twitter.com/Ui4iUhyR1Q

— President-Elect.357 (@ASimplePatriot) November 10, 2020

Shorn of the power the FBI gave him, McCabe is a genuinely unimpressive man . That's an important thing to remember about most of these Deep Staters.  They are not "big" people, with grand visions and tremendous courage and intellect.  Instead, they are petty bureaucrats who have forgotten that their power comes not because they are worthy, but because the American people, acting with trust and generosity, have given them that power.

Hat tip: Red State.

Image: Andrew McCabe testifying before the Senate.  Twitter screen grab.