As I work on a jigsaw puzzle, I have the TV on and I am listening to the Senate impeachment trial. It occurred to me that the House members representing the prosecution are organizing the presentation of the evidence in much the same way that I tackle a puzzle.

On Wednesday, they sorted out and organized the edge pieces, and Adam Schiff put them all in order. Essentially, he created the frame for everything that followed.

On Thursday, they started selecting sections of the case to put together. When I do a jigsaw I select a section of the picture that has a distinctive colour or pattern, find all those pieces, then put them together. At the trial, one aspect of the prosecution’s argument was selected at a time, and each piece of the story related to that one aspect was put in place.

Once that aspect had been covered, they moved on to another section of the story, or puzzle, to delve into. Each time, they didn’t move on until that section was thoroughly covered.

If they continue with the presentation of their case in the same way that I complete a puzzle, they will end up with fewer pieces left to work on, but they might be the most difficult to organize. In the jigsaw that I am working on, the last pieces I will put together are the pieces of black cloud and the ship’s hull. They all look the same, so they are more difficult to place.

At that time, the puzzle will be nearly finished, so the picture will be almost completely evident. That encourages me to get it all done, even though it might be a bit tricky in the end.

In the Senate trial, I doubt the prosecution will have any trouble fitting the last pieces together. The defense, however, will definitely make the most of any parts that don’t look right or seem to have been forced into place. I feel fairly confident, though, that neither Adam Schiff nor I will have any gaps or misplaced pieces.