OK, people, as Rachel Maddow explained Friday evening, this Russia Trump story is a very big deal, picture the Oroville Dam spillway crumbling at warp speed.

“Since January 20, we’ve assumed that the Kremlin has ears inside the SITROOM (Situation Room),” a Senior Pentagon intelligence official is quoted as saying. Adding, “There’s not much the Russians don’t know at this point.”

This shrieking crumb, so quietly laid down, was provided by security expert and former National Security Agency analyst and counterintelligence officer John Schindler, who dropped a few more trails leading to alarm Sunday in his Observer column.

In terms of the Trump-compromised-by-Russia he left classified bag with the key in it on his desk while non-cleared people were in his office.

Schindler corroborated what our editorial board suspected (and why we didn’t run any of the salacious accusations in the dossier), “As I’ve previously explained, that salacious dossier is raw intelligence, an explosive amalgam of fact and fantasy, including some disinformation planted by the Kremlin to obscure this already murky case.”

The dossier corroborated the more damning and less salacious bits, at least in part.

What appears to be happening is exactly what I have been predicting. That is, given the Republican cowardice (I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt and surmise that many of them are also compromised by Putin, but still – patriotism anyone) in light of Trump’s Russian connections, there would be no one left to save this country but the intelligence communities.

Schindler, in fact, warned Republicans to get on the bus before it’s too late, “Republicans on the Hill who would prefer that the White House stop lying to the public about its Kremlin links ought to get behind Schiff’s initiative before the scandal gets worse.”

There are two issues at stake: Is Donald Trump compromised by Russia and did the United States President conspire with Russia to impact the U.S. election.

So far, we have a yes to the first. That in and of itself puts our country in danger and means that Donald Trump can’t be trusted to put America first.

I suspect there is at least a dim yes to the second, or the IC wouldn’t be reminding Trump that they know. They know. For God’s sake, man, THEY KNOW.

The security expert also warned the Trump administration (yet again), “Our spies have had enough of these shady Russian connections—and they are starting to push back.”

I’m no spy and I have no spy connections. Given that caveat, even I have seen what looks to be a warring drop of warnings from the Kremlin to Trump and from the United States Intelligence Communities to Trump.

The Kremlin lets something leak that could harm Trump, possibly to keep him in line or warn him of what they have. Our IC tries to warn Trump with a leaking drop that isn’t exactly hard to read at this point.

The message is clear. Get your act together, put some non-Russian hands on the wheel, put America first, or else.

I suggest the intelligence community break this threat down to its most basic, second-grade level in hopes that the Trump administration finally grasp that they aren’t going to win this one.

It is only a matter of when and for what, not if.