Who is going to watch this? Back in the ‘70s, I remember Watergate hearings were on all the channels, pre-empting the game shows I watched (Eye Guess, Concentration, Joker’s Wild) and also the soap operas on the other channels. Unless you wanted to watch “My Little Margie” or “Hazel” on the non-network channels, it was Watergate hearings or nothing.
Now, you have a handful of cable news channels, PBS and CSPAN, with the news channels spending 90% of the time with voice-overs telling us what we couldn’t hear. Combined, these channels will get 5% of the daytime audience when up against “The Price is Right”, “Young and the Restless”, NetFlix and 24 hour sports channels, etc.
Of that 5%, 80% will be people who already have a formed opinion. So, the main reason for the showing is not for the showing, but for an excuse to generate news stories in the regular news programs, headlines for newspapers and web sites, sorghum for the talking heads to chew on... with nothing to move the public opinion needle very much.
Finally, the fact that it is a nothing-burger is enough for Trump supporters to once again demonstrate that this is a waste of time.
And so it is. A mediocre football team may run the ball repeatedly, even though few yards are gained, with the idea of running the clock down before the other guy can take the field and strike back. They stay on offense, no matter how ridiculous, with the help of complicit enablers, because they dare not be placed on defense.