Ross Douthat: Frank, it’s good to be back with you. The last time we conversed, we agreed that the Kavanaugh hearings would be a snooze, all grandstanding and no revelations, leading up to the all-but-foregone conclusion of his confirmation.

We were mostly right about the hearings, but surely we should have anticipated that the Author of our crazy national melodrama had another narrative trick to play. And now we have it: Brett Kavanaugh, just a few days before what was to be his confirmation vote, stands accused of committing sexual assault as a drunken teenager. How are you processing this?

Frank Bruni: Anxiously and with the heaviest of hearts, because it’s unlikely that this ends in a manner that a significant majority of people, including a mix of Democrats and Republicans, find just and satisfying. The Senate was absolutely right to delay a vote on Kavanaugh’s confirmation so that there could be consideration of Christine Blasey Ford’s allegation, because it’s a serious charge to which she has, at a definite cost, attached her name; because this is a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court that we’re talking about; and because it really is possible, in the course of sworn testimony from these two and (I hope) other investigation, that we’ll get a clearer, fuller picture of what happened more than 35 years ago. Agree or disagree?

Douthat: Agree about the investigation, sadly uncertain about whether we’ll get that clearer picture. The story Blasey has told so far seems like something that very easily could have happened without there being a way of getting the evidence that you would need to feel confident about her veracity. So much will depend on whether it’s possible to get more detail on the when and where of the alleged incident — but even then, we may go through a public airing and still be stuck choosing (through the inevitable partisan lens) between his word and hers.