In the alternate world of normal politics that we used to inhabit, the NYT subpoena debacle — especially what happened in court yesterday — would be the cherry on top of the myriad reasons that neither man could win Senate confirmation even with a Republican majority. The Justice Department withdrew the NYT subpoenas yesterday rather than endure the greater humiliation of U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian ordering them quashed, which he made clear he was prepared to do. “It seems like the inadvertent errors and ‘we should’ve done things differently’ are piling up,” Subramanian said. To say that prosecutors merely mishandled the case is to presume a level of good faith that is not warranted. And the people most responsible for this travesty of justice are the president’s picks to be attorney general and DNI.