(CNN) Two questions here, as the Stormy Daniels story swirls into another news cycle: Does the President's personal life, much less this one's, really matter? And what would've happened on Election Day in 2016 if voters knew then what they might soon find out directly from Daniels?

The answers here are strictly subjective. But the second one is more interesting. One subjective take is that, no, it would have made absolutely no difference. I'd bet a lot of people agree. And that a lot of those people, for that reason, think the story should be ignored or treated as trashy gossip.

But that's missing the bigger issue. Whether or not one approves of Trump's alleged behavior, or thinks the efforts to keep it hush-hush affected the election, it's most certainly relevant to our politics. Even in this seemingly endless, dense thicket of news, we should be able to hold these competing ideas in our heads and not fall to pieces. (Or feel required to smash those who don't agree to pieces, metaphorically, on Twitter .)

On Capitol Hill, leading figures on both sides of the aisle have — for vastly different reasons — dismissed the story. House Speaker Paul Ryan, asked on Thursday if he thought allegations of hush money payments were a big deal, shrugged and said, "I haven't put in a second of thought into this. It's not on my radar screen." A day earlier, Sen. Bernie Sanders, on Instagram , suggested it wasn't a "real" issue. "There are other things going on besides Trump's alleged affair with a porn star," he wrote.

Sanders isn't wrong. But there's more to it.

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