The word "immediate" can mean different things to different people. Had the President set a deadline, or had he given the declassification task to his own National Security Council, the word "showdown" might be closer to what to expect.

The tragic-comedy now on stage in Washington is beyond bizarre. Can President Trump be unaware that those he "ordered" to do the declassification — top officials of the Justice Department, the FBI, and the intelligence agencies — have zero incentive to comply "immediately." And they have minus-zero incentive, as the top echelons see it, to throw their former bosses, colleagues, and co-conspirators under the bus by releasing the family jewels.

Most of today's commentary by anonymous officials on declassification are transparently bogus. To suggest, for example, that "death could occur," as one MSNBC pundit predicted this afternoon, is beyond ludicrous. Do not expect Establishment media, however, to stop its feeding frenzy at the Deep State trough.