What happened to Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn?
A highly decorated officer in the U.S. Army, Flynn served with distinction for over 30 years, receiving the Distinguished Service Medal, the Bronze Star, the Legion of Merit among other distinctions. He spent much of his career in military intelligence serving under General McChrystal, successfully streamlining intelligence to degrade Al-Qaeda networks in Iraq.
Cracks began to appear in the ethical underpinnings of Flynn when he was reprimanded for sharing classified intelligence information on the Haqqani Network, an off-shoot of the Taliban, that fought against the Afghan government and U.S. troops in 2009-10, with Pakistani officials.
President Obama nominated him as the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency and in June 2013 he became the first U.S. officer to be allowed into Russian military intelligence headquarters. A follow-up visit was not allowed and his desire to to invite Russian intelligence officials to the U.S. was rejected by the Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper.
In 2014 Stefan Halper, an American intelligence informant, expressed through an associate to American authorities concerns of Flynn’s potential for compromise due to a relationship with a Russian woman.
His style and harsh views about counterterrorism and growing insubordination led to his term at the DIA to be allowed to expire. Officials including Colin Powell felt he was abusive and counterproductive toward agency ends. Subordinates found his grasp of the truth dubious, referring to his declarations as “Flynn Facts”. Flynn retired the same year, a year before anticipated.
His post-military career focused on consulting work and ultimately led to his company working for Inovo BV, a company with ties to President Erdogan of Turkey, earning him over half a million dollars. This work was done in 2016, and included an op-ed that appeared in The Hill on election day 2016 calling for the backing of Erdogan. Subsequent to that Flynn registered as a foreign agent in 2017.
Trump considered him for a running mate but eventually settled on him for his National Security Advisor over the warnings provided by the Obama administration that Flynn may be compromised. This resulted in the shortest tenure in the position in American history.
He lied about his discussions with Russia’s ambassador Kysliak concerning sanctions, first to the press and subsequently to U.S. administration officials, including Vice President Pence. When Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe interviewed Flynn regarding these discussions, Flynn denied it. Unfortunately the conversations had been intercepted by the FBI and now Flynn was caught lying to the Bureau.
You know the rest.
Somewhere along the line, a gear slipped in Flynn. He became increasingly arrogant, acting in self-interest with complete impunity. It started while he was still in the military, accelerating his departure. It gained speed as a private contractor, no longer hemmed in by the exacting expectations of military discipline. His refusal to be accountable to anyone led to his legal troubles and seemed to appeal to Trump and he found a kindred spirit. His unhinged “Lock her up!” speech for the Republican National Convention announced his decline into political jingoism and a similar narcissistic disorder shared with his former boss. Birds of a feather.
And then Big Bird pardoned him.
Now Flynn is calling for Martial Law to overturn the will of the American people. His former oath of allegiance to the country is now in tattered shreds, all semblance of self control gone. Power mad and ravenous with his newfound freedom, there are no limits left to his patriotic betrayal.
What he is doing now, along with the Trump election deniers, is an attack on Democracy. They are inciting a painfully gullible base to a violent solution to a non-existing grievance.
It is true that not all Trump supporters are excited about the prospects of a civil war, but all those who are support the President, and with good reason. The President has provided safe haven for the very worst of our citizens. He pretended not to know who David Duke was when Duke announced his common interests with the POTUS. He has given cover to the Proud Boys repeatedly, first after Charlottesville and again during his debate with President Elect Joe Biden, famously telling them to stand back and stand by. The Boogaloo Boys have declared their allegiance to Trump while salivating at the prospects of Boogaloo, the next civil war. Some imagine the war to be racially motivated, others simply are anti-government, but all are 21st century Johnny Rebs ready to bleed for a cause.
Why are they all “Boys”?
Militias all over the country set up camps in the woods, drink beer and shoot outrageously powerful and perfectly legal firearms with hopes of having more exciting targets soon. The TV show “Vice” did an investigative expose of one of the largest of these groups, showing an embarrassing collection of unprepared fantasizers who nonetheless could cause incredible harm before their suicide mission is completed. Often declaring their willingness to die for what they imagine our country is all about, they completely fail to understand that their wishes will surely be accommodated.
This flame is being fanned by Trump, Flynn and the GOP enablers who simply refuse to stand up for the country. A sad calculus is in the balance for Republican lawmakers as they try to find the balance between governance and power or to decipher the difference. Both Louis Gohmert and Steve King have alluded to civil war as a real possibility. Sitting legislators. The Proud Boys are standing by, energized by the support of officials in the United States Government.
Fifteen years ago I wrote that I was not so much excited about what the new President Obama would do in the office, but by what we had done by electing him. We had removed a stain that said we were incapable of rising above our racial divide. Five years ago the Supreme Court acknowledged the reality of homosexuality by striking down all state bans to gay marriage, recognizing officially what had been part of the human experience for millenia. That is all at stake today.
Where do you stand?