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Some of my favorite moments from the Winter Olympics never end up on the score sheet.

Competitors in freestyle events like slopestyle and halfpipe get multiple attempts to put together their best score. In practice, this means that skiers and snowboarders can botch a run without ruining their chances at winning. The set-up of the course and the laws of gravity dictate that skiers and snowboarders keep making their way downhill even after they realize their attempt is inconsequential.

The pressure to perform well at the Olympics is unimaginable, but when that tension is lifted many freestylers will take the opportunity to goof around. They’ll throw tricks they aren’t as confident in or fly up the near-vertical ice wall of a halfpipe just to catch some air. You see, for a moment, that these world-class athletes still enjoy the pleasures of flying through the air or successfully landing a trick. You catch a glimpse of why they started strapping themselves to wood and hurling themselves down mountains in the first place.

I got a similar vibe from Democratic lawmakers in recent hearings on Capitol Hill. Following the release of a massive tranche of Epstein files, the opposition party has taken the opportunity to tee off on Trump Cabinet members, knowing that none of this really matters in the short term.

Attorney General Pam Bondi came in for a grilling in front of the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. The head of the Department of Justice was repeatedly asked why no charges have been brought against anyone mentioned in the case files related to the late sex trafficker. She met the questions with deflections about how great the economy supposedly is under Donald Trump. Bondi frequently seemed flustered by lawmakers’ accusations and questions, lashing out at inquiries over her hiring practices and Rep. Ted Lieu’s assertion that she’d lied under oath. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick fared little better when an unrelated hearing in the Senate became an interrogation over his amply-documented connections to Epstein.

Much like those bungled downhill runs, none of this matters. Bondi isn’t suddenly going to push for the prosecution of powerful men in Epstein’s orbit. Lutnick isn’t going to admit to any wrongdoing. And the Democrats won’t have the votes to force any action until next year at the earliest. Still, kudos to the opposition party for belatedly realizing they’re supposed to hate these guys a little bit, that they should want to knock them around and embarrass them on C-SPAN. After a bleak year of Trumpism, seeing a Dem smile when they realize they’ve walked a Cabinet crony into a trap is mildly exhilarating. In their grandstanding and shouting, you can see glimmers of what got them into politics in the first place.

What do you think? Is there any joy to be found in kicking Trump’s cronies around? Sound off in the comments.

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