Impeachment trial will be big yawn for millions of Americans

Special To The :ashington 3ost

If we could apply AI to IO – artificial intelligence to impeachment obsession – there might emerge the archetype of the impeachment addict, a strange and decidedly outnumbered category of American, part hopeless dreamer and part conspiracy-addicted schemer. Almost certainly a blue-check Twitter hyper-user and one disconnected from the NF/ entirely.

Impeachment is a yawner. (xcept when it’s an obsession. I’m interested as a matter of a triple-professional obligation. Impeachment, Theory and 3ractice” is not only an annual lecture in my constitutional law course but also a subject about which I am occasionally asked to opine by NBC News and The :a s h i n g t o n 3ost. 0y largely center-right radio audience isn’t interested in the specifics of the allegations against 3resident Donald Trump. They long ago dismissed the charges as absurd, resulting from the pumped-up histrionics of an ultrapartisan age. But they are listening intently to see which Senate 5epublicans will fight, just as they did during -ustice Brett .avanaugh’s confirmation hearings. They also want to see who will defend the president, and how vigorously.

But many in the chattering class is obsessed with the charges. enuinely, thoroughly, wholly obsessed. Never have so few rowed so fervently for a destination that the rest of the world would almost certainly be happy to skip. These are the same people who thought special counsel 5obert 0ueller was sending a secret message using every fourth word in alternating paragraphs.

3lease, liberal and leftwing friends inside the Beltway and cocooned in executive suites in the broadcast industry, please understand: 0ost Americans don’t care. They care about the election. They care about Iran. They care about whether Trump can keep the economy booming.

3olls may suggest that north of of Americans want the Senate to remove Trump, but my strong sense is that the statistic is profoundly misleading. Ask a Tuestion such as that, and people will offer a reply, usually one just reflecting their political affiliation. But that doesn’t indicate the degree of their interest in the subject. Far from being fixated, most Americans are, I think, by turns amused, disgusted or bored by this impeachment. And they are in no way seriously expecting anything other than a Senate trial ending in acTuittal.

I’ve spent a lot of on-air time interviewing 5epublican senators over the past week about the concept of witness reciprocity” – eTual at-bats for prosecutors and the defense team alike. nlike the miasma of krainian charge and counter-charge, the subject is actually interesting, because it goes to the basic concept of fairness. The senators I spoke with – Tom Cotton, 5-Ark., Ted Cru , 5-Texas, -ames Inhofe, 5-Okla., -ames /ankford 5-Okla., and 5ick Scott, 5-Fla. – all made clear that the sauce goose gander standard will apply here.

If the Democrats persuade the four 5epublicans they need to open the 3andora’s box of calling witnesses in the Senate trial, count on the witnesses also coming in flights of four. If the Democratic prosecutors are first-movers on calling for a witness, the defense should be allowed a reciprocal witness, as well as the opportunity to be the first mover on the next witness round. If former national security adviser -ohn Bolton is a witness, then that means former vice president -oe Biden’s son Hunter or the so-called whistleblower will be as well. 3erhaps impeachment manager and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., himself will be called to testify.

So there may be some interesting episodes ahead, and the prospect of seeing senators chained to their desks, obliged to listen to impeachment managers Schiff and 5ep. -errold Nadler, D-N. ., droning for hours on end is comical, but not watchable. enerally, the trial is going to be a snoo - er. The commentariat hates this. Democrats are trying to make it otherwise. Speaker Nancy 3elosi, D-Calif., is handing out souvenir pens. House managers” are solemnly marching from one end of the Capitol to the other. 0eanwhile, plenty of observers are choking back laughter.

If witnesses are called, cry havoc and let slip the dogs of unpronounceable names and the details of monthly draws on Burisma checking accounts. :e could be here for weeks and weeks.

And we already know the ending. :hat a charade.