One thing floating around seems hopeful.  Several times today you hear a version of "remember, many Senators will be hearing this evidence for the first time".

Putting aside if you believe that just saying it seems notable.  Things like that don't generally just get said on cable.  Reporters are hearing this from, probably Republican, senators watching this unfold with serious fear and loathing and looking for a exit.

Moreover, the GAO Report was able to address the funding freeze from the Pentagon but not from those funds channeled through the State Department.

It's probably not a good look for a GOP senator from an increasingly purple state who's already trailing her likely Democratic opponent next November by a fair margin in the polls. But then, anyone who thinks Republicans on Capitol Hill aren't feeling the stress of impeachment's moment, guess again.

By now, most GOPers are likely aware that their codependent relationship with Donald Trump has evolved into a political high-wire act which, as new revelations of his administration's wrongdoing and chicanery continue to unfold in public, holds an ever-increasing potential for a spectacularly messy pratfall.

Bill Maher Warns of `Civil War' If Democrats Don't Embrace Trump Supporters

That's a bit of a misrepresentation of what he said but he did in fact say something like that.  His point was, I think, what he said.  We can hate Trump but we can't, meaning it's not really smart or productive, to hate his supporters.  And I agree.  I totally do.  I understand as well as anyone and better than most that many Trump supporters are not evil and cutting them off will just leave them to fester.
I have really tried to be open and direct and willing to talk.

Yesterday I had lunch with a group of them.  All except the guy who invited me were Trump supporters.  One even wore red a Trump 2020 hat.  I have know most of these guys for most of my life.  Politics was not once mentioned at lunch and the conversation was pleasant retelling of old tale tales.

So it was like half fun and half twilight zone episode.
These are old friends but they are like pod people.  I truly don't hate them but I don't know what to do with them.  Or to do for them.   It does strain small talk when the first thing you want to say is I hate everything you believe and you are enabling evil incarnate but hey, how about that local sports team.

I honestly worry about these people.  Not really with fear, and not really not, but more like worry for them

Democratic Senator `Fine' if Hunter Biden Testifies

January 19, 2020 at 3:03 pm EST By Taegan Goddard 50 Comments

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) told CNN it would be "fine" if Senate Republicans requested Hunter Biden as a witness in the impeachment trial against President Trump in exchange for House Democrats' requested witnesses.

Said Brown: "I think you bring in -- We take the position that we want to hear from the witnesses. I don't know what Hunter Biden has to do with the phone call the President made."

He added: "The point is we need witnesses, we need to know who they are with the right to call witnesses, additional witnesses later. But I don't understand how you come to the American public, make the case that this is a real trial, if there are no witnesses and there is no new evidence."

And, with a Republican controlled senate, the irrelevancy could readily be  made to outdistance the relevancy with the Biden's being subjects of impeachment rather than Trump.  

In a fair fight,  it would be a reasonable bargain to achieve witnesses such as Bolton, Mulvaney, Pence, and Pompeo as well as Lev and others down the information chain.  But, these are Repunlicans we are afflicted with for whom their is no bottom.  

I would not be surprised too, if the Biden's would seek to have any subpoenas quashed for irrelevancy to the impeachment charges.  

He has, pretty successfully, convinced much of the country this is a foregone conclusion.  I don't think it is.   But I was saying how Trump supporters don't think removal is even a remote possibility.

So what happens if things start getting dicey?  Which it will when we get additional evidence.  We will get additional evidence.  What seems likely is Trump supporters are likely to lose their minds.  If they had been ever made to understand the seriousness of the situation they might have been eased harmlessly into it.

I think that is not the plan.  I think they literally expect, and want, the insanity level to jump so high so fast some may literally be scared into falling in line.

Yeah, it's a crazy risky thing.  But it's all they have.