Robert Mueller’s long-anticipated testimony is turning into a total disaster for Democrats. Drudge’s headline screams the reality:

Underneath the picture read the headline “Dazed and Confused.” That’s perhaps a little gentle. Here’s what Grabien wrote on Mueller’s testimony:

Mueller, who is often celebrated in the media for laser-like thinking, had to ask lawmakers to regularly repeat their questions, seemingly struggling to pay attention. At other points, Mueller got confused about whether the members of Congress were asking him questions or if they were reading from his own report. In just the first 90 minutes of the hearing, Mueller needed help understanding questions more than 10 times.

In one such exchange, Mueller — under questioning from Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wisc.) — asked: “And where are you reading from on that?” “I’m reading from my own question” the lawmaker reminded him. “Then can you repeat it?” Mueller asked, eliciting laughter from the audience.

In another painful episode, Mueller had to ask Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee three times to clarify and restate her question. Under questioning from Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), Mueller failed to follow a question that was merely 14 words long: “Attorney #2 in the Inspector General’s report and Strzok both worked on your team, didn’t they?” “Pardon me?” Mueller replied. After Gaetz restated his question, Mueller replied: “And the question was?”

Katie Pavlich touched on something that I think is significant:

Lawmakers are allowing Mueller to get away with not answering dozens of questions based on information directly from his 400+ page report. He simply keeps saying “not in my purview,” but much of it is, in the “four corners” of the report. And mostly everyone is letting it slide.

— Katie Pavlich (@KatiePavlich) July 24, 2019

It isn’t related but at the end of the House Intel Committee hearing, both John Ratcliff and Ranking Member Nunes simply thanked Mueller for his years of service and yielded back the balance of their times. It was like they knew they’d made their points and were resting their case. I think their instincts were exactly right.

The other thing that came through loud and clear was how authoritative Mueller didn’t sound. He repeatedly asked Republicans on the committees to ask the question again. At other times, he didn’t seem like he knew the contents of the report that bears his name. Clearly, he didn’t write this report.

If today is the last time he testifies on Capitol Hill, it will be a sad final chapter to his career.

Finally, the title I originally wrote said “Mueller’s testimony virtually ends impeachment.” As you can see, I’ve since deleted the word virtually. Democrats will keep investigating but that horse is as dead as our first 41 presidents.