Welcome to Beg to Differ, the Bullworks Weekly Roundtable discussion featuring civil conversation across the political spectrum, from center left to center right.

I'm Mona Charon, syndicated columnist and policy editor at the Bullwork.

I'm joined by our regulars Bill Galston of the Brookings Institution and the Wall Street Journal,

Linda Chavez of the Niskannon Center and Damon Linker of the week.

Our special guest this week is Jay Nordlinger, senior editor at National Review, music

critic extraordinaire, and a full disclosure, my dear friend and former podcasting partner

we did a podcast together for I don't know five or six years so welcome Jay

it's like old home week having you back.

And I have to say it was very difficult to tear myself away from the impeachment proceedings

and to... the impeachment

to record this but so I'd like Jay to start with you there were a lot of people who were

wondering whether it was worth doing this at all in light of the unwillingness of a majority of a majority of the Republican senators to even consider conviction.

I'm glad that this trial is taking place because I think it establishes a record.

It places evidence on the record.

I think the trial will, well everyone thinks it will result in an acquittal, not a conviction.

But at least a record is being established.

It's important to see, to hear, to bear in mind, all of that.

It is almost like an educational exercise, and I think that's to the good, the result aside.

What do you think, Bill? I know you were concerned about the effect of a second acquittal that Trump would trumpet this and so forth.

I'm still worried about that. But as you see how it's unfolding don don't you think there is, as Jay says, some point to this as an educational exercise?

But there was a comma after the words I just said, not a period. I was about to say, I'm still worried about that comma, but my worries I think have been overridden by exactly the factors that Jay put on the table.

I'm a reasonably assiduous newspaper reader,

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