Conspiracy theories like this are common on the web, and no one should think that only conservatives are vulnerable. An alarming number of implausible and outright bizarre Russian narratives lurk in the leftist quarters of the Internet, but saying “they’ve got crazies too” is hardly an adequate defense of absurdity, and in this circumstance there’s a very real human cost. Seth Rich had a family, and that family is watching their son’s name get dragged into a bizarre and dishonest series of claims and counterclaims. They’ve begged for conspiracy theorists to stop. In a Washington Post op-ed, they made their feelings clear, explaining that the “amount of pain and anguish this has caused us is unbearable. With every conspiratorial flare-up, we are forced to relive Seth’s murder and a small piece of us dies as more of Seth’s memory is torn away from us.”

For Trump’s most loyal defenders (and Hannity certainly fits that bill), the story has an obvious appeal. It’s a dramatic and lurid misdirection, one that even the writers of House of Cards would find far-fetched, and it has the benefit of tricking gullible Trump supporters into further mistrusting the media. After all, the real story is over at Gateway Pundit or at Breitbart or Drudge, or on Fox News at 10:00 p.m. The true facts are known only to those who can perceive the pure evil of the Clintons, the deep state, and the rest of the establishment media…

Every time Hannity and his allies hyped this story, they disrespected their conservative audience, they hurt a grieving family, and they violated their own professional obligations to carefully check facts rather than engage in wild speculation. Decent people fell for this con. Decent people even spread it online. It’s time for Hannity and his allies to stand down, permanently, and relegate this story to the place where it belongs — right next to UFO documentaries, flat-earth videos, and “proof” that NASA faked the moon landing.