Varad Mehta was good enough to have caught a tweet that didn’t age well from Washington Post Congress reporter and CNN analyst Rachel Bade; you know, the one who tweeted a photo captioned “Merry Impeachmas from the WaPo team!”

The 24-hour news cycle. A tale of two tweets. pic.twitter.com/wU8XJb1eso — Varad Mehta (@varadmehta) January 7, 2020

Here’s Bade on Monday talking about the “seismic shift in leverage” in Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s favor in the impeachment trial.

Quite amazing. A seismic shift in leverage. Before just two hours ago, most Rs and even Ds privately thought Schumer & Pelosi would send the articles w/ no witness agreement since McConnell had the upper-hand. BOlton just changed all that. https://t.co/FCKMMs0Ctx — Rachael Bade (@rachaelmbade) January 6, 2020

And here’s Bade almost exactly 24 hours later:

Several Senate Ds are now saying it's time for @SpeakerPelosi to release the articles and let the Senate take over, despite no witness agreement -> https://t.co/7kraiVYhA3 — Rachael Bade (@rachaelmbade) January 7, 2020

Even Sen. Chris Murphy is admitting she should just send the articles over. Didn’t she just tell us there was a seismic shift in leverage?

McConnell locks it up. Now the question is: what will Pelosi do/does Bolton’s statement embolden her to play hardball to get a commitment from Mitch on witnesses? Pelosi leadership team huddles tonight https://t.co/myJmXdgMaG — Rachael Bade (@rachaelmbade) January 7, 2020

I have really enjoyed this month-long game of pretending that there's a real standoff here. Pelosi has zero leverage. No one cares about this outside the beltway (and hardly anyone cares about it here, either.) https://t.co/UKfGAQYfdX — David Harsanyi (@davidharsanyi) January 7, 2020

So Cocaine Mitch @senatemajldr has the votes to proceed with impeachment. We go now to Charles Schumer and Nancy Pelosi for their thoughts. pic.twitter.com/DrRj4TsKTj — Jay Lampert (@MortChristenson) January 7, 2020

Amazing the amount of people who think she has any say over the Senate. — Ron Rayner (@rrayner007) January 7, 2020

Makes you kind of think that that Impeachmas photo wasn't just about having a few days off. — David Gerstman (@soccerdhg) January 7, 2020

Play hardball? She has NO leverage and say. — Kelly (@KellySunshineT1) January 7, 2020

"hardball" lol — It's still 2016 apparently (@jtLOL) January 7, 2020

He won. She lost. — Flaneur (@FlaneurDuMonde) January 7, 2020

She has no leverage. She never had any leverage. The Constitution doesn’t give her any leverage. — Mark Noonan (@Mark_E_Noonan) January 7, 2020

She gotta try to generate some interest in this farce. — Ed Rotski (@Advanced_COBOL) January 7, 2020

Pelosi isn't a Senator.. She has two choices, turn over the articles of impeachment and end up with egg on her face.. or sit on them and end up with egg on her face. — Mark (@AsSeenOnTv55) January 7, 2020

Why are people still pretending there is a play here? McConnell has everything he needs. His hand is not forced. He will continue to sit back and repeatedly count his votes while he waits for the DOA articles. There is no mystery — Invisible Constituent (@JustGreggo) January 7, 2020

With absolutely zero leverage, how do you suppose she’ll get anything from Mitch? — Jshep72 (@j_shep72) January 7, 2020

Why would he care what she does? — Peasant H (@c_gt1982) January 7, 2020

What hardball? What leverage? — JimNordren (@JNordren) January 7, 2020

Where do you get (hard ball) anywhere in Nancy's current response She could give them the articles, having no say in the Senate She can keep the articles & the Senate can go on without them Should be a short huddle — Mark Larson (@marks96vmax) January 7, 2020

Yes, whatever John Bolton said changed her losing hand into a winning hand as if by magic. (Nope). — MBC (@totter777) January 7, 2020

How is Pelosi is going to "play hardball?" Preventing Cocaine Mitch from doing something he doesn't want to do is the *opposite* of leverage.

Pelosi is out of options & ideas- she can 1. admit defeat & transmit the articles or 2. sit on them & pretend they're a sword of Damocles — chris sullivan (@navillus126) January 7, 2020

She already tried to play hardball with McConnell by holding the articles. He struck her out on just three pitches. — Mike Armbrester (@MikeArmbrester) January 7, 2020

Why would McConnell deal with her? He has basically ended her impeachment dreams and she knows it. She is in a no-win situation. — The New Englander (@NewEnglandTruth) January 7, 2020

Pelosi has no say in the matter. Her attempt at blackmailing Mitch McConnell has failed. Her abuse of power ends in the House. — LC ?? PeopleNeedTheLord (@Laurie710Lc) January 7, 2020

Play hardball with what? Pelosi has nothing – zero leverage. She can either finish doing her job and send the papers to the Senate, or she can not. That's the extent of her input at this point. — Jay Dubb (@JayDubbTX) January 7, 2020

The lib tears over this have already been delicious (as if there was a chance this was ever going to end differently lol)! — ❌ ǝᴉʞoHZ∀ ❌ (@AZHokie54) January 7, 2020

Not sure how one plays hardball with 0 leverage but ok — nick (@aye_Barcelona) January 7, 2020

Remember when you thought Bolton was a game changer? — George Smith (@P1B_WMichigan) January 7, 2020

Yesterday you were claiming Pelosi has strengthened her leverage on the McConnell & the Senate. Now this. So, how do you justify the two? — Andrea Somerville (@asomer) January 7, 2020

You poor thing; Impeachmas wishes falling apart in front of your very eyes. — Jay Dubb (@JayDubbTX) January 7, 2020

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