You call this a trial? When it comes to impeachment, not so much.

The Senate impeachment trial of President Donald Trump is full of references from both sides to evidence, due process, the Constitution, and of course, fairness.

But it’s important to realize that this is not a trial in the sense of the TV classic “Law & Order,” but a hybrid – part courtroom presided over by the chief justice, and much more a political arena.

Senators sit as jurors and judges. Hardly sequestered, they run to the cameras during breaks to hold dueling press conferences. And they set their own rules, which they can also change.

“An impeachment trial was never meant to be a real trial,” says Ray Smock, former historian for the U.S. House