Missouri Senator Eric Schmitt’s embarrassing gaffe regarding Jack Smith is more than a little puzzling. The sparse evidence Schmitt possessed confirmed absolutely nothing that Schmitt thought he had evidence for.

1. Even if Smith had gone to the game, it only proved he was in Atlanta. Schmitt didn’t have any evidence that Smith had talked to Fani Willis — just that he was in Atlanta at the same time as Willis. This is Schmitt’s best case scenario and, if true, he would have had to provide evidence that the two actually met which he clearly didn’t have. So why would he even pursue this line of questioning is mind boggling?
2. Given this slim gruel of evidence, Schmitt projected Smith into a meeting with Willis based solely on proximity. If Smith had said yes, I was at the Atlanta Hawks game and I was in Atlanta — this hardly proves he talked with Willis. Ok, Smith was in Atlanta, so what?
3. Schmitt, because he had so little evidence, could have approached his questioning more as an inquiry instead of an accusation. In this way, he could have sussed out whether he did indeed have the goods on Smith and saved himself from looking so stupid. A polite question to Smith about where he was, and seeing Smith’s confusion regarding the question, he would have had an opportunity to suss out his next move. If he had listened to Smith, he might have even had realized that their was a problem with his thinking and to proceed with caution. Instead, he was so convinced he had his Gotcha Moment, he didn’t even listen to the confused Smith who was trying to figure out what Schmitt was talking about, and he barrelled a head into ignominy.
4. The worse part of this whole brouhaha is that nobody stopped to think that there was no there there. They had sketchy and, as it turns out, incorrect evidence that Smith was in Atlanta and none that Smith met with Willis. This was the whole basis of the Gotcha Moment and nobody looking at this sparse evidence said this doesn’t really add up. I mean I can accept that one Senator from Missouri might be dim, that is a given, but a whole staff of paid professionals just shook their heads yes and said gotcha.

Then, to hear that Eric Schmitt is being considered as a potential Vice-President candidate. Yes, I realize that Donald Trump as set the bar so low that almost any idiot can clear it but even the Republicans surely can come up someone better than Schmitt.