Bret: Which is to say, a boon to Donald Trump, who is already gloating. “The Democrat Caucus is an unmitigated disaster,” he tweeted. “Nothing works, just like they ran the Country.” If we were to have something like this on Election Day in November, he’d be liable to claim victory before the results came in, or declare a stolen election in the event the Democratic nominee eventually won.

Gail: I have a sinking feeling that whatever happens in November, Trump will be declaring victory. My list of election nightmares range from Russians hacking the system to a massive computer crash in some swing state, to Donald Trump simply claiming “Vote fraud!” and refusing to leave the White House if he loses.

Bret: Or, alternatively, the Democratic Party nominating a candidate who can’t beat him fair-and-square. He previewed his campaign themes in his State of the Union — the first time in history a president delivered a speech to Congress while awaiting the verdict of an impeachment trial in which he will almost certainly be acquitted.

My sense is that Trump has emerged from the impeachment drama no worse off, and possibly politically stronger, than he was at the beginning. Do you agree?

Gail: Bret, it’s sort of cruel of you to pile that on top of the Dems-can’t-run-an-election theme. But yeah, you’re probably right. Trump’s surviving. In the long run, history will judge him as a terrible, crooked president who misused his constitutional powers to try to guarantee himself re-election. And confirm that the House Democrats were right in taking a stand against him.

In the short term, it looks as if he’s going to avoid any punishment for his astonishingly awful misdeeds. Although I nurture hope that before the election there’ll be some new evildoing uncovered that makes the sleaziness and corruption of Trump’s administration clear even to his fans. Looking at you, Rudy.

Bret: Imagine, Gail, if Trump turned the Oval Office into a meth lab. First, the president would call it fake news. Next, Mick Mulvaney would admit it is a meth lab, but that was O.K. because he hadn’t yet cooked up any meth, that his real intention was to teach chemistry to indigent 9th graders, and that Democrats are “anti-science.” Finally, his lawyers would insist that it’s unimpeachable because, if the president does it, it’s legal.