Come Heller high water …

∫ So, did you watch? If your answer was, “Watch what?,” you’ve confirmed my belief that most Americans don’t care all that much about impeachment, the government, or anything else going on in Washington. Impeachment, to most, is just one more bit of partisan squabbling. “Let us know when you’re done, OK?”

∫ On the bright side, we may be divided about politics, but we’re united in not caring very much about it. That’s something, right?

∫ Among those who do care, many, I suspect, keep waiting for that moment of shame where Republicans in Congress flip from defending the indefensible to voting the president out of office, as they did with Nixon. Good always wins in the end, right? But I don’t think that’s going to happen this time. There’s something different these days, something missing. The Republican Party has moved from country first, party second to themselves first, party second, country … what’s that?

∫ Hey, Republicans, don’t worry about it. The House will impeach Trump but the Senate will save him, thereby making it OK for future presidents to thwart investigations and do as they please, including blowing off the views of the judicial and legislative branches. Neat, huh?

∫ The GOP added Rep. Jim Jordan to the House Intelligence Committee shortly before the impeachment hearing, as if he was a top draft pick coming off the bench to save the game. He didn’t. His grand gambit was to portray the testimony of the witnesses as hopelessly complex and therefore likely false. It fell flat. Jordan also — like a rookie — opened himself up for the zinger of the day. Griping about the whistleblower, Jordan whined, “There is one witness that they won’t bring in front of us, they won’t bring in front of the American people. That’s the guy who started it all.” To which Rep. Peter Welch responded, “I’d be glad to have the person who started it all come in and testify. President Trump is welcome to take a seat right there.” Zing! Perfect.

∫ Republicans keep insisting the whistleblower should be outed despite the fact that the whistleblower is no longer relevant. The whistleblower said Trump did it. Trump said Trump did. Trump’s own appointees said he did it. Which tells me that (stay with me here) he did it.

∫ Bill Taylor and George Kent were outstanding witnesses. They were serious, forthcoming, prepared and not in the least intimidated by the nonsense lobbed their way from GOP questioners. They outshone everyone in the room, including the Democrats. They were so good they somewhat restored my faith that adults still exist in government. I’ve heard it said that the bureaucracy is the most powerful part of the government. Let’s hope that’s so.

∫ Republicans clearly scored few if any points on substance, but I don’t think that was their point. Their goal, I think, was simply to be seen asking “tough” questions. The answers didn’t matter, because their base already believes the hearings are a sham.

∫ Trump said Wednesday that he was too busy to pay attention to the hearing, although not too busy to retweet 22 posts from GOP leaders about it. He also said the hearing was “boring.” How would he know if he wasn’t watching?

∫ “These are not grounds for impeachment. These are grounds for divorce.” — Maureen Dowd, on Bill Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky.