The dictionary defines a conjurer as someone who “practices magic arts” and “performs feats of sleight of hand and illusion.”

Someone like Adam Schiff.

The California Democrat takes his magic act public Wednesday as the impeachment hearings burst out of a Capitol Hill dungeon and onto television. Donald Trump’s presidency and the 2020 election likely hang on whether Schiff’s sleight of hand can survive the bright lights of public exposure and cross-examination.

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Operating in darkness, where he controlled the witness list and leaked snippets of testimony that the Dems’ media echo chamber turned into proof of Trump’s guilt, Schiff has been a first-rate illusionist.

Even his exterior calmness is deceptive; he burns with a zeal to kill the king.

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Scorned by the president as “Liddle Adam Schiff,” and “pencil neck” and “shifty Schiff,” he can taste revenge. To impeach Trump, even if it goes nowhere in the Senate, will make him a man of history and a hero to the millions of 2016 deniers.

But on what grounds will this great deed be consummated? While Schiff and his fellow travelers loudly declare Trump guilty, they’ve yet to settle on a charge that makes sense to the many millions of Americans who live outside a political hothouse.

CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING MICHAEL GOODWIN'S COLUMN IN THE NEW YORK POST