If any of the brass at MSNBC wants to know whether they should can Hardball, here is a shining argument for why it might be a good idea.

Watch Chris Matthews parrot the bullshit Republican tit-for-tat talking points about witnesses.

"The word out that Mitch may figure out okay, you guys want witnesses, I'll give you four or five. Two of mine, two of yours," Matthews said to Senator Chris VanHollen. "I want the Bidens; I'll give you Mick Mulvaney and John Bolton. Suppose you are confronted with that? Would you take the whole slate?"

I don't know, Chris, what if we want to call Ivanka and Jared? Would they take the whole slate? Because surely Ivanka and Jared are MORE relevant than anything any Biden has to say, since they're working in the White House and are grifters benefiting from taxpayer-funded nepotism.

Van Hollen, to his credit, immediately shot that nonsense down, saying that the whole request is a "red herring," particularly when the issue at hand is his decision to withhold Congressionally mandated aid from Ukraine.

"What's at stake here in the articles of impeachment is his abuse of power," Van Hollen reminded Matthews. "There is a big difference between relevant fact witnesses, which is what we've asked for."

Now watch Matthews descend into a hell of legal ignorance about issues, facts and what trials are all about.

""But wouldn't you, if you sat on the other side of the aisle, wouldn’t you want to ask Senator Biden just to give him a chance to clear himself?," Matthews persisted. "Did you ever talk to your son about taking that contract with Burisma? Did you have anything to do with him doing it? Did you ever tell him not to do it? Did he ever call you and ask you to do a favor? These seem to be relevant questions, germane.”

THEY ARE NOT RELEVANT. GO HOME, CHRIS MATTHEWS! YOU GET NOTHING! I'd like to call Ivanka Trump and Kellyanne Conway to talk about Lev Parnas. They are surely more relevant than the Bidens, since they actually have direct knowledge of what Trump was doing to shake down the Ukrainian president.

This was a disservice to viewers. It played right to the likes of Ted Cruz and legitimized an absolutely illegitimate premise. Good work, Chris, now leave that slot for someone who can do the job right.