This seems to be a key part of the Trump administration’s impeachment strategy. If they can’t prove that the president is innocent and they won’t allow witnesses, at least they can create an atmosphere of chaos, even madness, by encouraging Democrats to absolutely lose their minds.

There aren’t too many other ways to interpret the presentation we heard Monday from former independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr. Starr’s addition to the president’s legal team in the first place was curious, to say the least. Previously, Starr was forced out of the presidency of Baylor University over his mishandling of a sexual assault scandal regarding the university’s football team, and he was one of the lawyers that got Jeffrey Epstein a sweetheart deal that kept Epstein out of the lengthy prison sentence he deserved.

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But most notably, of course, Starr was the independent counsel who pursued the contents and activities of Bill Clinton’s pants like he was Captain Ahab going after Moby Dick. Starr’s repugnantly prurient investigation and report became the basis of Clinton’s impeachment in 1998, in which the president was tried for lying about an extramarital affair.

Yet when he stood in front of the senators in President Trump’s impeachment trial, Starr began by inveighing against the now-expired independent counsel statute that made him a national figure and gave him the ability to pursue Clinton with such boundless enthusiasm. That head-snapping bit of rhetoric was only the warm-up. Then Starr got to the real meat of his presentation: That impeachment of a president is so awful, so terrible, so painful that it should almost never be used.

“Like war,” he said, “impeachment is hell.” And while it’s sometimes appropriate for judges, Starr implored the senators “to return to our country’s traditions when presidential impeachment was truly a measure of last resort.”

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Ken Starr said this. Ken Starr.

And, he went on, if impeachment is not bipartisan, it is almost certainly inappropriate. Like the impeachment of Clinton, the articles of which were approved with the support of nearly every Republican in the House and the opposition of nearly every Democrat. So bipartisan.

Why on earth would you put Ken Starr before the senators and the cameras to make these particular arguments, when you know that what will be on everyone’s mind as he makes these claims will be “Are you kidding me?” Isn’t he the last person you’d choose?

Normally, yes. But what if you decided that if you’re going to be hypocritical, you might as well do it in the most flamboyant way possible? What if you want to be called hypocrites, so you can put your finger on your chin, give a little smile, and say, “Who, us?” What if you’ve pretty much given up on persuading anyone and just want to drive your opponents crazy?

This is not how one would ordinarily expect the president’s lawyers to act. But this is no ordinary president. Why would we expect his legal team to be above a little trolling? I’m sure Trump loves it, and every Republican knows that no goal is more important than winning Trump’s capricious favor.

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Trolling has become a core part of the way Republicans do politics, not just online but everywhere. “Owning the libs” and producing “liberal tears” are ends in themselves, proof that you’re succeeding. Want to stick it to the enviro-hippies? Once you’re done sharing memes on Facebook, head on over to the Trump campaign store and get yourself a pack of Trump Straws, because “Liberal paper straws don’t work.” That’ll show ‘em!

The appetite for trolling has evidently found its way into impeachment, too. It’s almost as if they don’t care whether they have a real case to make for President Trump’s innocence.

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