Retired Lieutenant General Michael Flynn is back at it saying we should have a Myanmar-style military coup.
On May 30th, Flynn was one of the key speakers at a QAnon conference.
"QAnon’s biggest celebrities threw a three-day conference in Dallas over the weekend—and it didn’t disappoint.
Whether you wanted to hear a former U.S. Army general calling for a military coup or Roger Stone’s social media adviser calling for Hillary Clinton’s execution, there was something for everyone.
[...]A sitting Congressman appeared on stage and literally embraced QAnon influencers. Dozens of members of a shadowy militia provided protection—some with their own pugs in tow. And then there was Kraken-lawyer Sidney Powell trying to sing the national anthem.
[...]The “For God & Country: Patriot Roundup” event took place over Friday, Saturday, and Sunday in downtown Dallas with thousands of QAnon supporters each paying at least $500 for a ticket to the event.
[...]The organizer of the event, John Sabal (known online as QAnon John), claimed prior to the event that it wasn’t a QAnon conference, despite multiple high-profile QAnon figures speaking there.
[...]The event was a coming-out party for many well-known figures in the QAnon world, but it also highlighted just how far the conspiracy movement is bleeding into mainstream Republican politics, with one sitting Congressman, Rep. Louie Gohmert, speaking on stage, along with the chairman of the Texas GOP, Allen West.
The event continues on Monday morning with more speakers addressing the crowd, but here are the wildest moments so far from the Dallas event:
Former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn called for a coup
[...]For his part, Flynn has attempted to distance himself from QAnon, but that’s hard when you post a video of yourself and your whole family reciting the QAnon oath or, you know, headlining a QAnon conference.
[...]While speaking on stage, Flynn was asked by an audience member who said he’d been in the military: “I want to know why what happened in Myanmar can’t happen here?”
After cheers from the crowd died down, Flynn responded: “No reason. I mean, it should happen here.”"
https://www.vice.com/en/article/n7bebg/qanon-conference-wildest-moments-from-patriot-roundup-dallas
Here's the video of him saying it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76kuhlTQOIg
To see his advocacy for a military coup back in December, see here:
To read about how Trump actually considered the feasibility of his plan, see here:
https://authenticamericandream.blogspot.com/2020/12/trump-considered-military-coup.html
***
Unfortunately, just as before, most people aren't taking his comments seriously enough. Last time, the comments of Flynn and others resulted in an actual coup attempt where people died and the Vice President and members of Congress came within literal minutes of being murdered. Why aren't we taking this more seriously now that we know words have consequences and that the Republican party is genuinely fine with bloody coups if it allows them to keep power?
"Retired four-star Gen. Barry McCaffrey on Monday slammed retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn for calling for a Myanmar-like coup in America during a QAnon conference last weekend.
“This is harmful. This is putting the country at risk,” McCaffrey said on MSNBC. “I have never heard anything like this, probably in the last hundred years. This kind of, just completely irresponsible, provocative language.”
[...]McCaffrey predicted the Department of Justice was going to be “hard-pressed not to consider whether this language is criminal in nature.”
[...]Last year, Flynn retweeted a call for Trump to keep the White House by force, and reportedly urged Trump to use the Insurrection Act to declare martial law to stay in power.
[...]Flynn resigned after just 22 days as Trump’s national security adviser following reports that he had lied about his contact with a Russian official. He pleaded guilty in 2017 to lying to the FBI about his secret dealings with Russian ambassador to the U.S. and suspected spy Sergey Kislyak during the presidential transition, then battled to withdraw his plea.
Trump pardoned Flynn in November after he lost the election. Flynn maintains his military title and collects a full pension."
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/barry-mccaffrey-michael-flynn-coup_n_60b58e6fe4b0ead2796c1d5c
(Was McCaffrey even alive in 2020, when Flynn previously advocated for a military coup and the Pentagon leadership and all former living Secretaries of Defense had to make public declarations reassuring the public that they wouldn't support a military coup??? We were within minutes of Trump being able to carry out his plan to declare martial law).
Meanwhile, the Lieutenant Colonel punished by Trump because his brother spoke out against corruption is stating the plain facts:
"A colonel fired by Trump offered to prosecute Michael Flynn by court-martial for calling for a military coup in the US
[...]Army Lt. Col. Yevgeny Vindman offered to court-martial Michael Flynn, Donald Trump's former national security advisor, after Flynn appeared to call for a military coup in the United States.
"With these seditious remarks Comrade Flynn may have crossed the line for recall to active duty and court-martial," Vindman said on Twitter on Monday.
Vindman, who's part of the Army Judge Advocate General's Corps, the legal arm of the Army that comprises serving officers, added, "As a JAG I'm qualified and also happy to prosecute this case."
Vindman is the twin brother of Alexander Vindman, the retired Army lieutenant colonel who came to prominence in 2019 after testifying before Congress about Trump's dealings with Ukraine. The Trump White House fired Yevgeny Vindman in February 2020."
"A DC Metropolitan Police officer who was brutally assaulted while defending the US Capitol during the January 6 insurrection said Wednesday evening that Michael Flynn's recent comments about a Myanmar-style coup in the US could "absolutely" lead to more violence.
Michael Fanone, who was stun-gunned several times and beaten with a flagpole during the attack, told CNN's Don Lemon on "Don Lemon Tonight" that Flynn's remarks amount to "the exact type of rhetoric which ultimately resulted in the attempted insurrection at the US Capitol on January 6."
[...]"It's insane to hear that type of rhetoric being used not 6 months out from the insurrection at the Capitol," Fanone said Wednesday.
The officer has been vocal in recent months about the danger of downplaying the Capitol riot and the false claims that fueled it. Fanone told CNN last month that he was "shaking for the better part of the day" after watching House Republicans repeat a number of false claims about the riot during a congressional hearing.
"I was on the phone with dozens of other officers who were just absolutely traumatized by the rhetoric that was being used. And I understand politics. You know, I get that, you know, there's a push to try to, you know, win back the House in the midterm elections. I understand all of those things," he said.
"But some things supersede politics. You know, this isn't about the political future of one party. This is about right and wrong."
Asked Wednesday evening about Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's efforts to rally GOP senators in opposition to a bill that would've created an independent bipartisan January 6 commission investigating the circumstances of the attack, Fanone said he was "absolutely sickened."
"Here I am escorting the mother of a dead policeman while she and myself advocate for the formation of a commission to investigate the circumstances which resulted in her son's death -- and you have a leader on Capitol Hill who's making phone calls asking for personal favors and doling out political capital to push for a no vote on that commission," Fanone said.
"It was absolutely disgraceful.""
Finally, more people willing to state the plain facts:
"Michael Flynn should be sitting in prison awaiting trial for sedition: former White House attorney
Richard Painter says Flynn's recent comments about a military takeover should land him in prison for sedition
[...]Appearing on CNN on Tuesday afternoon with host Ana Cabrera, former White House ethics attorney Richard Painter expressed his disgust with former Donald Trump official Michael Flynn for his continuing comments about the 2020 election, saying his weekend comments about a military takeover should land him in court and in prison for sedition.
[...]"Ana, this is a call for a coup and this is not the first time that Michael Flynn has done this," Painter began. "Back in November, after the election, he met with Donald Trump in the White House and they talked about having a military takeover with the United States military, entering Pennsylvania and other states to redo the election -- that was sedition."
"I wrote at the time that that was sedition and should have been criminally charged as sedition by Michael Flynn, and also, perhaps, Donald Trump as an accomplice," he continued. "Michael Flynn has repeatedly called for a military takeover of this sort and this is sedition and it can be prosecuted as sedition; a pattern of conduct, particularly the overt acts in the White House back in November, not just one statement here"
"Second, General Flynn, retired from active duty, is subject to the Uniform Military Code of Justice and he should be court-martialed," he added. "If a former general said this, they would have him in Leavenworth, Kansas right now, ready to face court-martial. This cannot be accepted.""
If you're able to read, here's a law Flynn violated. This isn't even a military law that would require him to be brought back into active duty to face punishment, like the article above advocates. It's a regular old law that every person here is subject to. (Well, maybe Republicans and other elites aren't subject to it.) Flynn violated this law long after Trump pardoned him for his previous crimes, so there is absolutely nothing stopping him from being arrested and tried immediately. Every day the Biden administration and Attorney General Garland wait to arrest him is a day that they are aiding and abetting the next Republican coup attempt by giving them all this time to organize and openly declare their intent.
"18 U.S. Code § 2385 - Advocating overthrow of Government
Whoever knowingly or willfully advocates, abets, advises, or teaches the duty, necessity, desirability, or propriety of overthrowing or destroying the government of the United States or the government of any State, Territory, District or Possession thereof, or the government of any political subdivision therein, by force or violence, or by the assassination of any officer of any such government;
[...]Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both, and shall be ineligible for employment by the United States or any department or agency thereof, for the five years next following his conviction."
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/2385
Meanwhile, what does Biden do? He gave some pathetic speech on how democracy is in peril. As fundamentally flawed as democracy is, the current peril is because he and his administration are doing nothing to punish those politicians and other individuals within our own government who just attempted a coup. Coup or no coup, it is impossible to have a functional government if that government is unable--or worse--unwilling to enforce its own laws against severe crimes.
"Democracy itself is in peril, here at home and around the world. What we do now -- what we do now, how we honor the memory of the fallen will determine whether or not democracy will long endure," Biden said.
[...]He spoke of the rising wave of autocratic rule across the world and argued, as he often does, that "liberation, opportunity, justice are far more likely to come to pass in an democracy than an autocracy."
https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/31/politics/biden-memorial-day/index.html
(Wtf is wrong with you Biden, democracy just gave us Trump, the Republican party is democratically disenfranchising millions of voters, and you just gave the democratic state of Israel nearly a billion extra dollars in funding to continue its system of apartheid which it democratically keeps voting for. And in case you've forgotten, democracy gave us slavery, Jim Crow, ethnic cleansing of Native Americans, and all kinds of other stuff too. Democracy is a system devoid of empathy which panders to the lowest common denominator and the most selfish of voters and political grifters.)
To drive home the absurdity in the lack of law enforcement regarding all the coup organizers and supporters--George Floyd, a random person, was summarily executed while being arrested for allegedly using a counterfeit $20 bill. Flynn, a retired General, former National Security Advisor for the President, and member of Trump's inner circle, has called for a military coup multiple times and faced no consequences. Democratic party leaders at least acknowledged Floyd when they strangely thanked him for "sacrificing his life", but Democratic party leaders act like Flynn doesn't exist. Flynn's crimes pose an existential threat to our nation and the evidence is public record, while Floyd's alleged crime wasn't even proven at the time of his arrest and murder at the hands of police.
When our system of government and law enforcement have double standards this extreme, we have to face the unfortunate fact that we may not even have a functional government anymore. All thanks to democracy, if we want to be even clearer about it.
***
Most critically, it is not just Flynn who thinks this way. 147 Republicans voted to overthrow the election to illegally keep Trump in power. And as I keep warning, the Republican party shows no remorse for the insurrection and has fully embraced coups as part of their strategy to hold on to power at all costs.
Flynn was in the military long enough to work his way up to General. He knows very well the gravity of his words and the fact that a military coup is nothing to talk lightly about. He is just as serious about these statements today as he was in 2020.
Back in December 2020, Flynn advocated that Trump declare martial law in order to hold "new elections" to keep him in power (i.e. launch a military coup). Even worse, Michael Flynn's brother, Charles Flynn, is an active duty General and was one of the people who made the decision to delay the National Guard during Trump's coup attempt!
Michael Flynn faced no punishment for advocating the highest crime possible against the state--and so he is back at it. Charles Flynn and countless other individuals in the military and law enforcement chain of command who were either complicit in the coup or who were otherwise totally negligent in their duties are still in the same jobs, ready to be deployed again.
As I keep warning, the far-right danger in the US is not going to go away quietly. This is why all left-wing Americans and all non-traitorous Americans need to (legally) arm ourselves, train, and organize within our communities so we can be prepared when the next far-right disaster takes place. The clock is counting down.
How many more Flynns are out there? On May 10th, 124 retired Generals, Admirals, and other military officers signed a statement repeating the far-right narrative about election fraud and Biden's mental stability. (Holy shit, and they were fine with the stable genius of Trump?) Active duty and former military members made up a disproportionate amount of people participating in the insurrection. A few weeks ago, Major Christopher Warnagiris was the first active duty military member to be charged for his role in the insurrection. Retired Lieutenant Colonel Larry Brock was one of insurrectionists who had zip tie handcuffs to take politicians hostage.
A group of over 130 Republican politicians in the US House and Senate (a majority of their party!) consistently voted to invalidate electoral votes, voted to overthrow the results of the election, voted against impeachment and voted to declare that impeaching Trump was Unconstitutional, voted to defend Marjorie Taylor Greene for her comments supporting overthrowing the government and murdering political opponents, and, most recently, to cover up the January 6th insurrection by killing the commission to investigate it.
Even mainstream propagandists entertainment news hosts like Tucker Carlson are continuously advocating that Republican supporters need to throw "a real insurrection"... Far-right militias keep telling us we are on the brink of a "hot" civil war. The Republican party has purged its leadership of anyone critical of Trump and Trump himself for some reason believes he will be "reinstated" as President in August. We can ignore all these warnings at our own peril.
Despite this grave danger, Biden and the Democrat party have refused to punish those individuals within our government who organized, aided, and abetted the Red Coup. We are not safe when one of our major political parties are literal terrorists who tried to overthrow the government (and are declaring they will try again in the future), and when the other political party is doing nothing at all to punish them for committing the highest crimes possible against the state. The Democratic party is paving the way for the next Republican coup, and their coverup of the coup (by shielding Republican coup participants from legal punishment) makes them complicit in the whole matter.
***
One of the key concepts of the federalist system of government we have in place is that power devolves back to the people when other levels of government become tyrannical or abdicate their duties. For the time being, we must ensure our communities will be safe and can weather the storm of the next far-right assault on America, and do what we can to restore a functional government before the Republican party (with assistance from Democratic party acquiescence) overthrows it.
You know what, I'm starting to wonder if decades of False Left anti-gun advocacy was done intentionally in order to set up the conditions where the far-right could overthrow the government without resistance...
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