Former President Donald Trump better be thanking his lucky stars that Sen. Rand Paul got 45 Republican senators to vote that his second impeachment trial is unconstitutional on procedural grounds. Based on the opening day of the trial, it’s clear Trump’s legal team has zero strategy on the merits.

Even the most sycophantic of Trump allies in Congress have avoided defending the former president on the merits, but one would assume that those representing Trump himself would at least try to do so. Instead, his lead attorney Bruce Castor launched a meandering soliloquy that can best be described as a filibuster with the sole intent of running out the clock.