Bill Weld used to be a serious guy. A scholar graduated from Harvard and Oxford, a man with gravitas in the legal community. Before he began seeking elective office in the late 1980s, Weld was a high-ranking and extremely knowledgeable federal prosecutor.

For a time, he was the chief of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division under President Reagan. I have not been a fan of his post-DOJ political career, but I’ve never thought of him as a clown.

JOE WALSH, BILL WELD SWING AT TRUMP IN FIRST GOP PRIMARY DEBATE

Now, he has beclowned himself.

It was a “Hold my beer” moment of one-upmanship Monday on "Morning Joe," MSNBC, where the Trump-deranged legions make their 24/7 calls for impeachment. It's one of the few venues where Weld can find an audience for his forlorn GOP-nomination challenge to the president.

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Weld was talking about the president’s conversations with his Ukrainian counterpart. Trump has admitted that he urged President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Joe Biden for corruption. Former Vice President Biden, of course, is a favorite to emerge as the Democrats’ 2020 nominee opposing Trump.

For most of us, the potential removal of a president of the United States over misconduct allegations may seem extraordinarily grave, having never happened and rarely been tried lo these 230 years of constitutional governance. For former governor Weld, though, grounds for Trump’s impeachment are so matter-of-factly to be assumed that he’s moved beyond them.

Way beyond them.

Trump, he asserts (and I’m not kidding, though I wish I were), may need to be put to death.

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