It's pretty simple. They don't want to run in 2018 as a progressive party.Their leadership actively rejects progressive policies, as do conservative Democrats they support. They would rather simply run against Trump, rather than provide the American people with an alternative vision. That's why #Russiagate is important to them. Not to impeach Trump. No, for Dems it is strictly business. They're using it to fund raise and run against their GOP opponents by labeling them traitors rather than addressing the serious issues that confront our nation. The Nunes' memo (technically the House Intelligence Committee memo) threatens that strategy.

If you look at the major figures among the Democrats, they have consistently focused on Russiagate and all the other nastiness of Trump to the exclusion of promoting any part of the progressive agenda. Bernie Sanders has been, for all intents and purposes, the only prominent national elected official who has kept his politicking focused on issues and policies popular with a majority of Americans. Policies such as the following:

1. Medicare for All
2. Raising Minimum Wage
3. Free College Tuition
4. Give relief to those burdened with Student Loan Debt
5. Preserving and Expanding Social Security
6. Increase Taxes on the Rich and Stop Corporate Welfare
7. Invest in Critical Infrastructure (including renewable energy)
8. Climate Change
9. Reverse Our Massive Levels of Income and Wealth Inequality
10. Support Job Creation and End Monopolies

Obviously, he's campaigned on other issues, as well. Where he stands apart from his colleagues in Congress is his consistent campaigning on these issues and attacking Trump and the Republicans on the issues, rather than on Russiagate. Yes, I know that he also either capitulated (if you like that word) or made a strategic decision to condemn Russia for its election meddling. However, where he has differed from almost every elected Democrat is his refusal to make Russiagate the centerpiece of his attacks on Trump and the Republicans. He has promoted progressive candidates and a progressive agenda since Trump's election. Almost every other major political figure associated with the Democratic Party has done the opposite.

The reason is simple. They do not want to campaign on a progressive agenda. They have actively opposed progressive candidates for elected office running as Democrats to the extent that they filed lawsuits to keep progressives off the ballot. They refused to share voter data with progressive candidates, and the establishment Dems (i.e., DCCC and DSCC) have thrown money and support toward neoliberal/conservative Democrats, even when they have a record of voting with Republicans, while refusing to support progressives at all costs.

What the Centrist/Neoliberal faction that controls the Democratic Party apparatus wants is to maintain the status quo, even if that means they lose and remain a minority party. The reason for this is clear - they continue to rely on donations from Big Wealthy Donors (see, e.g., Stephen Cloobeck) and corporate lobbyists. That's why they chose a non-entity, anti-progressive, wealthy and big donor dependent centris Democrat, Rep. Joe Kennedy, to give the official Democrats rebuttal to Trump's state of the Union speech the other night. Not surprisingly, it was filled with empty platitudes and said little of substance. Equally unsurprisingly, his "hollow man" speech received kudos from all the usual establishment and corporate media suspects.

This is why the Democrats, despite their talk of being a progressive party, are liars. They don't want any progressive candidates, even if they want the votes of progressives. That pretty much leaves them with attacking Trump anyway they can, and they have pushed most of their chips into the Russiagate pot. That's a big gamble. Anything that damages the narrative that Trump actively colluded with the Russians to steal the 2016 election damages their best talking point in the upcoming midterms.

Without Russiagate, what do they have to appeal to voters who aren't solidly in their corner? Nothing. They didn't come through for the Dreamers. They supported and passed a larger defense bill than Trump asked for. They continually warmonger and attack Trump for not being tough enough against Putin, suggesting he is Putin's puppet for refusing to increase sanctions against Russia. Yet less than a month earlier they passed a bill that expanded Trump's power (and that of the NSA, FBI and CIA) to electronically spy on American citizens.

Their worst nightmare is the Russiagate narrative falling apart before the elections in November. And that is why they are throwing a fit about the Nunes' memo and its expected release by the Trump administration. Polls already indicate that Russiagate is not a primary concern for most Americans (though Democratic party diehards may be obsessed with it).

If the Democrats lose the ability to effectively brand Trump as a traitor in their races against Republicans this Fall, they have nothing else to fall back on that will motivate left-leaning independents and voters to go to the polls. Thus, all the hysteria about the release of a document that tells us what many already suspected: the Obama administration violated the FISA law in its actions with respect both the Trump campaign and the American people.

Who but the most dyed-in-the-wool party members will come out to vote for the Dems if the narrative of Russiagate is exposed as not only false, but as a deliberate political hack job? Not many. All of Trump's base and other Republican-leaning voters will show up. They always do. The Dems base and any Independents that would support the progressive policies I've mentioned above, will not, unless the Dems adopt a progressive platform ASAP. And we all know that isn't going to happen under the current Democratic leadership. Win or lose, it's not in their best (financial) interest to do so.