An Overwhelming Success.

“How close we came” has been the mainstream narrative since the storming of the Capitol on 6 January. It was the b-roll of this past week’s impeachment trial. How many times did you see Vice President Pence and Senators Romney and Schumer being hustled to safety, steps ahead of the marauding mob? I saw it 20 times, at least, and I didn’t watch most of the coverage.

Op-ed pages and their digital equivalents were chock-a-block with “how close we came” commentary. It was the Big Talking Point of every talking head on every cable news program not carried by the Fox News Channel. And it hung over every word spoken by the House impeachment managers, most chillingly during Rep. Jamie Raskin’s presentation on the opening day of the trial.