Testifying as a supposed impeachment expert on Wednesday, professor Pamela Karlan showed she isn't really interested in applying law to facts. The Stanford law professor is primarily interested in becoming a cable news contributor.

To be sure, President Trump's summer dealings with Ukraine should concern everyone. The facts and testimony of numerous credible witnesses suggest that Trump did indeed prioritize his partisan political interests over those of our country.

But Karlan diluted the importance of that concern on Wednesday. The professor has found new favor and fame on the Left, but she undercut the seriousness of what this is all supposed to be about. Consider this gem of absurdity.

Prof. Pamela Karlan now invoking 13-year-old Barron Trump to dunk on @realDonaldTrump.



Cool cool. pic.twitter.com/gXkgzHB910 — Jason Howerton (@jason_howerton) December 4, 2019

To be sure, that line probably made thousands of people laugh, especially on the Left. But it also proved that Karlan values partisan quips and media contributor opportunities more than fidelity to objective legal assessments.

There's nothing wrong with wanting to be a TV contributor, of course. On the contrary, Karlan's intellect and ferocity of spirit would likely predispose her to be successful and popular in that position.

The problem for Democrats, however, is that Karlan's antics play to Republican talking points — especially the talking point that these impeachment hearings aren't actually about the rule of law, but rather about reaching for a partisan opportunity to damage Trump. With many independent voters already bored of impeachment, Democrats will enter 2020 defined not by ideas, but by emotional resistance to Trump. Polls in the swing states suggest impeachment is unlikely to be a vote winner.

To borrow from Shakespeare's Henry V, then, the risk for Democrats is that come November 2020, Karlan's jest will savor but of shallow wit, when thousands weep more than did laugh at it.