The columnist at a tiny weekly New England newspaper usually writes about bake sales, volunteer firefighters, taxes and the weather. I get it.

But the political events of last week were just too much to ignore. There was so much national political news that I switched off the TV set. Even for a news junkie like me, there was just too much of way too much.

For most of the week, TVs self-styled expert cable pundits on the right previewed the pending indictment of the 45th President arguing “What about” and why didn’t they investigate (Hillary Clinton, Al Gore, the Biden crime family), or focusing on Hunter Biden’s alleged misdeeds.

The gaggle of left-leaning soothsayers previewed the filing by playing clips of the Jan. 6 congressional hearings as they told us with bated breath (note to grammarians, bated, not baited is correct) of the importance of the event as historic, as if we couldn’t figure out that the indictment of a former president for actions he took while in office rated more than a footnote on page 354 of the U.S. History books.

It was and is big news. Old editors would rank it alongside other huge blockbusters, like Pearl Harbor, Watergate and the Moon landing. Some would place it just a few points below the presumed biggest news story of all time: The second coming.

When the indictment was handed down, both sides went into overdrive as MSNBC/CNN dubbed it a masterpiece, a master stroke. The right (Fox & Co.) used erudite legal experts and pundits to pooh-poo it as a document crafted by democratic demons deserving of a special place in the fetid dung heap of history.

The left panelists described the indictment and the conduct surrounding the Jan. 6 insurrection in somber phrases warning it posed a threat to end our 247-year-old democratic republic.

The right pundits were more excited, as some used “hair on fire” language. They said the indictment, prepared by a weaponized Justice Department under the Democrat party leadership, was being used to destroy the leading GOP presidential candidate. Thus, it posed a threat to our nation and our sacred freedoms.

The arraignment, held behind locked judicial doors, seemed pretty routine, although both sides spent a lot of precious TV air time chewing on how the magistrate judge called the defendant Mr. Trump and not President Trump.

Then all networks featured too much video of a motorcade slinking through the Manhattan streets to the airport where a private jet awaited the former president.

After the jet took him to his private golf paradise, rather than spend hours of precious couch time watching the pundits pontificate, I took a couple of hours to Google, read and chew over the 45-page indictment.

I encourage you to do the same. While it is long, it is triple-spaced with lots of white space. It is not a tough read as it avoids much of the high-brow legalese prose to slow you down.

In the coming months, you can bet “experts” on both sides will spend a great deal of time commenting on this or that paragraph. If you read it, you will at least have a clue what all sides are talking about.

As I read it, a couple of thoughts jumped out.

First, many, if not all, the key prosecution witnesses are Republicans, some very close to the former administration.

Second, it looks like former Vice President Mike Pence is teed-up to be the star prosecution witness.

Although the Democrats control the Justice Department, the indictment hints the special counsel plans to use Republican witnesses and the former GOP veep to convict a former Republican president, the same guy who is the leading GOP candidate seeking another term.

During Watergate, a congressman once said he didn’t care about the facts. He said he had his mind made up. We know many readers tell pollsters that, too, but Election Day 2024 is 15 months away – and that, dear reader – is a political lifetime.

I know polls say the former president is leading other GOP presidential hopefuls by a huge margin. He should be, for he is not exactly running against the varsity. The biggest stars of Republican land are sitting this one out. So the race seems to be kind of like the New England Patriots playing the Boothbay high school football team.

I am sure some readers will post comments and write letters about this topic, this column, and moi. Do so. The give and take between writers and readers is one of the best features of any newspaper.

Now, I have a question for you. Do you think the nation would be better off if the federal courts allowed the trial to be televised?

Let me know.