Jonathan Chait, New York magazine: “If you haven’t watched Schiff argue for impeachment, you’re missing something historic. Schiff’s skill is apparent when you watch everybody else — the gap between his ability to synthesize and communicate, and everybody else’s, is cavernous.”

Gail Collins, The Times: “Schiff elevated the saga with a lot of American history. He mentioned the founding fathers 28 times in the first 15 minutes. … For much of our modern history Republicans have tended to be the ones continually quoting the founding fathers, usually in regard to the dangers of an over-powerful federal government. Now the tables have turned.”

An endorsement Argument

The Times started “The Argument” podcast in late 2018 to create a place for something that’s become too rare in American political discourse: deep but respectful disagreement. I’m especially pleased with this week’s episode, which is now available.

Katie Kingsbury, the Times Opinion editor who oversaw the recent presidential endorsement, joined Ross Douthat, Michelle Goldberg and me this week. We had a forthright conversation, in which Ross, Michelle and I shared our questions and criticisms — especially Ross! — and Katie was thoughtful and eloquent in pushing back.

We had originally planned for the discussion to take up only half the show, but were so engaged by the conversation that we scrapped the other topic. Doing so allowed us to talk about not only the two candidates whom The Times endorsed — Amy Klobuchar and Elizabeth Warren — but also Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders. One thing I learned: Katie wrote a 2,000-word draft of a Biden endorsement and decided it felt very wrong for the moment.