The Trump weeks are like a seesaw and the one that ends today is no different. Depending on your perspective it was probably a wash either way. Here's what went down. Michael Flynn reappeared from the shadows in the person of a New York City injury attorney bearing offers of a big story in exchange for immunity from prosecution. Meanwhile, Mr. Nunes who runs the House Intelligence Committee barely managed to hang on as head of an inquiry that has yet to get off the ground.
The Ivanka yawn
Also, this week, Ivanka Trump Kushner was upgraded from unpaid White House daughter of the president to unpaid federal employee.
She will serve as either an advisor or a nurse to Donald Trump, depending on your point of view. This transition seemed to cement the perception of a Trump dynasty. Still, it was a relatively low profile, done to appease ethics criticism.
Seesaw
The ethics experts did not criticize another event this week, the President's executive order rolling back President Obama's environmental and climate change efforts. First things first. If the president's dismissal of science and ecological sensibility was a downward swing there was one positive upward movement. A Hawaii federal court once again affirmed its block on Trump's Muslim ban.
Immune system
It can be surmised that Flynn may prove no trouble to Trump.
If he had a damaging story he was willing to tell he would not be out in front of Congressional committees. He would be closeted with James Comey and assured of immunity. As it is, he is now marketing his story and it seems bound to be unsatisfying to someone looking for evidence of a crime or a Trump coverup. So mendacious is Flynn that, with immunity, he could say anything he pleased.
In this respect, he is like Trump.
Russia on the block
The Senate Intelligence Committee, perhaps seeking to avoid the partisan aura of its House counterpart, said it would concentrate on Russian efforts to influence the 2016 elections. This scarcely moved anyone to excitation. There was talk of hundreds of Russian trolls working feverishly to influence our votes.
It was almost a non-story.
2 White House Officials Helped Give Nunes Intelligence Reports https://t.co/Gd5PwC0ihW
— Stephen C. Rose (@stephencrose) March 31, 2017
Impatient for the end
The seesaw continued. And many were becoming impatient for a denouement, an end, a final climactic moment. For some that would be Trump smiling and saying, I told you so. For others, it would be Trump either resigning or facing impeachment.