Pundits Discover Nuance (Briefly) Before Returning to Screaming

Something happened last night at 9:14 p.m. Eastern that has not happened in cable news for well over a decade. Two panelists agreed with each other. In public. On camera.

For approximately eighty seconds, the panel discussed the issue with visible interest, listened to each other's points, and, at one horrifying moment, one of them said the words 'you make a fair point'. Producers immediately cut to a car insurance commercial.

“Never again,” a producer told this magazine, staring into the middle distance.

By the top of the next hour, order was restored. Panelists returned. Volumes were raised. The fair point was denied, denounced, and then, eventually, forgotten. The republic breathed.