Life is full of surprises. Like that time you were counting on a new bike for Christmas, and were totally certain your parents were going to come through, and then – lo and behold! – on Christmas morning there it was: a spanking brand-new Segway! The final evidence that, despite your best efforts, you'd always be a nerdy little dork. (And yes, a pocket calculator turned up in your stocking,)

That's just what happened to #TheResistance this holiday season. For months they've been salivating heavily in anticipation of the turning of Michael Flynn, the former National Security Advisor now charged with lying to the FBI. Flynn has admitted doing so on at least two occasions, both involving his answers to questions about his conversations with Russian ambassador Sergey Kisylak. During the transition – after Trump's election but before he took office – Flynn was talking to the Russians about two subjects: the possible blowback from the Obama administration's decision to impose more sanctions and close the Russian compound in Maryland, and the Russian position on the controversial UN resolution condemning Israel for building yet more "settlements" on Palestinian land.

The incoming Trump team was "intensely focused on improving relations with Moscow and was willing to intervene to pursue that goal," as the New York Times phrased it, even as the war cries in the Democratic party got louder and demagogues like Adam Schiff waved the bloody shirt of Russia-gate. That took balls: and here's another instance where the alleged non-interventionists ensconced in the world of thinktanks and academia fail to give the Trump people the credit that is their due.