Bret: As for the Senate trial, it’s a bit like watching a recording of a football game when you already know the final score, at least within a point or two. Is it going to be 46-54 on the first count, and 47-53 on the second? Or the other way around? The only suspense here is whether the eye-popping disclosures in John Bolton’s memoir — the ones telling us, for the umpteenth time, that Trump is lying through his teeth about his shakedown of Ukraine — will sway any of the Republican senators.

Gail: I have to admit the Bolton revelation — which, as you point out, is a big moment but not exactly a big surprise — perked me up. But one of the many downsides of the Senate trial is the amount of time people are having to spend contemplating the heart and mind of Susan Collins.

Bret: Or Lamar Alexander and Mitt Romney. About the most we can hope for is that Bolton will somehow get a chance to testify, and that a majority of Americans might be swayed that Trump should be removed from office, no matter how the Senate votes. But the polls seem pretty evenly divided and haven’t yet factored in his defense. I fear the likeliest outcome is that Trump emerges from the trial stronger politically and, if it’s possible, even more shameless.

Gail: Hey, what happened to the bright side of life? Not sure the impact is going to be all that great for Trump politically — he needs more than the base to get re-elected. And even he knows, deep down in his little bitty heart, that he’s going to go down in history as a terrible president.

Let’s move over to the Democrats. I have to congratulate you for taking Bernie Sanders seriously before I did. It’s really beginning to look as if he could win the nomination.