Colbert, Meyers, Noah, and Kimmel take closer looks at the first day of Trump's second impeachment trial

I closed Seth Meyers and FiveThirtyEight take closer looks at Trump's second impeachment trial by telling my readers "I'll have more about impeachment...with more comedy" today. I begin with Stephen Colbert's monologue Cowardly GOP Senators Look Away As Devastating Footage Shows Exactly Who Incited The Capitol Riot.

Republican Senators Rand Paul, Marco Rubio and Rick Scott couldn't bring themselves to watch as House prosecutors opened their impeachment case with a video demonstrating in no uncertain terms that the former president bears responsibility for the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol Building.

While the description called out the Republican Senators who very studiously paid no attention to the House's impeachment managers, the heart of the video focused on the impeachment managers and their counterparts, former President Donald Trump's defense lawyers. The former pointed out that impeachment trials of former officials took place while the Founding Fathers were still alive; if it was constitutional then, it's constitutional now. The latter provided a lot of unintentional comedy by either bumbling their way through their arguments (Bruce Castor) or making stupid and insulting arguments (David Schoen).

While the description of Seth Meyers Impeachment Managers Make Powerful Case Against Trump to Open Trial: A Closer Look focused on the prosecutors more than the jury or defense, Seth himself concentrated more on Trump and his supporters.

Seth takes a closer look at former President Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial, where House impeachment managers laid out powerful evidence of his guilt while most Republican senators had no interest in holding him accountable.

My reaction to Senator James Lankford's assertion that the Senators' votes were "locked down" is to note that the vote on January 26 to proceed was 55-45, while the vote yesterday was 56-44. The prosecutors made progress while the defense lost ground.

Speaking of the defense losing ground, Trevor Noah targeted them in Trump Rolls Out Trash Lawyers for His 2nd Impeachment Trial.

As Trump’s second impeachment trial begins, Democrats show a video of Trump’s speech on January 6 interspersed with scenes of violence from his supporters, and his defense team struggles to make its case.

First, Castor sounds even worse when he's not interrupted. Second, Trevor is right about why the trial should take place; we need to see the evidence and the refusal of the Senate to convict despite it.

I conclude with Jimmy Kimmel's Trump Circus Back in Washington for Impeachment Trial #2.

The circus is back in Washington for the second impeachment trial of Donald Trump, Republicans are too afraid to do the right thing, the two lawyers defending Trump formed a disaster duo and Trump was said to be deeply unhappy, officials in Palm Beach are discussing whether or not he is allowed to live at Mar-a-lago, Trump sycophants always use his middle initial when saying his name, plans are in place to safely re-open Broadway, and while Jimmy is more than happy to wait his turn but with that being said – he gives a list of people he should get the vaccine before, and he chats with a “vaccine hunter” (Andy Daly).

I never tire of writing that Kimmel's videos have the most complete descriptions. I'd write more, but today's proceedings are on, so I'm going to watch that now. See you tomorrow with more comedic observations of the trial!