Gov. Phil Scott is kinda busy these days with, among other things, talking to the Biden administration and our Democratic Congressional delegation about federal flood relief.

So naturally, Vermont Republican Party chair Paul Dame thought this was an ideal moment to flog the “Biden Crime Family” nonsense. Dame’s weekly commentary, delivered today to the select few on the VTGOP mailing list, is loaded with conditional assertions and misleading phraseology, all in service of the long-discredited narrative that Joe and Hunter Biden are international racketeers of the basest sort.

Good thing for the governor that nobody takes Paul Dame seriously outside his tiny band of true believers (who, unfortunately, occupy most of the leadership positions in the state party). Otherwise, Scott would have some ‘splainin’ to do the next time he picks up the phone to talk to administration officials.

Dame does his level best to whomp up some outrage from the steaming “Biden Crime Family” pile of Santorum. And fails. But his effort is yet another stain on the reputation of a once-respectable political organization — one that ruled Vermont for more than a century and produced remarkable figures like George Aiken, Bob Stafford, Dick Snelling, and Jim Jeffords.

Let’s tally up the conditionals, shall we?

Biden “may have accepted bribery payments from a foreign national.” He and Hunter “may both be guilty” of money laundering. The meager results of persistent Republican digging “could suggest multiple criminal violations” by Biden. It would be a betrayal of the public trust “if it turns out to be true” that Biden accepted a bribe.

Yeah, and “if it turns out to be true” that pigs have wings, then maybe they can fly.

Dame floats that one again a bit later: “If these allegations are true,” Biden would have betrayed the public trust. Also, the Democrats might need to find another candidate “if the recent evidence leads to a criminal case against President Biden,” which it won’t.

And finally, the whopper to end all whoppers:

[The allegation of bribery] begs the question whether there are other policy decisions made by Biden that were improperly influenced by foreign actors, either during his time as Vice President, or may even be in force right now

There is absolutely no hint of truth whatsoever in that paragraph.

This is all based on that unverified FBI source document that was released last week by Sen. Chuck Grassley. The document recounts an unsubstantiated allegation that the FBI — then under the management of Donald Trump, don’tcha know — didn’t do anything about because there was no evidence to support it.

But hope springs eternal in the dank Republican heart. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if they started ranting about Benghazi again.

Meanwhile, Phil Scott is doing the work to the best of his ability — and that includes dealing with the Biden administration. He doesn’t need Paul Dame fluffing up baseless conspiracies behind his back.