Michael Flynn is trying to clean up what could be a big mess for him. As a retired senior military officer and former national security advisor to Donald Trump, Flynn’s incendiary words get noticed, especially when he calls for a military coup to overthrow a government, his own, no less.  At a QAnon conference in Dallas over the weekend chock full of conspiracy theories and lies, it was a statement by the former General that caused the biggest stir. During a question and answer session, Flynn backed a coup happening here in the United States. Here’s the exchange.

Audience member: “I want to know why what happened in Myanmar can’t happen here.” 

Flynn: “No reason. I mean, it should happen here.”

Now Flynn is trying to convince us he didn’t actually say those words. In a post on the platform Telegram, Flynn wrote, “Any reporting of any other belief by me is a boldface fabrication based on twisted reporting… I am no stranger to media manipulating my words and therefore let me repeat my response to a question asked at the conference: There is no reason it (a coup) should happen here (in America).”

Listen for yourself. There is no doubt about what he said.

 

While this seems like crazy talk, Washington Post columnist Max Boot explains why we shouldn’t discard what Flynn said as meaningless jabber:

“Obviously, you know, General Flynn is not a mainstream figure, even within the Republican party, but we ought to pay attention to what people like him are saying because he is not entirely outside of what the republican party has become under Trump. Sure, there’s not a lot of people calling for a military coup right now but about 20% of Republicans in a recent poll said they supported the actions of the mob that attacked congress on January 6, and about the same number say that they endorse the crazy stuff the QAnon conspiracy theorists are saying. This is where the Republican party is heading… It’s less the party that we once join and more like authoritarian parties in places like Poland or Hungary or Turkey. This is deeply alarming. you see before — in plain sight, Republicans are plotting to rig the outcome of the 2022 and 2024 elections.” 

Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney (R-WY) pointed out the obvious, “No American should advocate or support the violent overthrow of the United States.”

Gen. Barry McCaffrey, a retired Four-Star US Army General told MSNBC’s Brian Williams (watch above) “this dangerous rhetoric” is “putting the country at risk.”

“I have never heard anything like this probably in the last 100 years. This kind of completely irresponsible, provocative language. I think Mike Flynn has a mental health problem to be blunt…. as a Senior military officer, retired as he is, to be calling for a coup against our democratic country, he’s done this before, is extremely dangerous. The Department of Justice is going to be hard-pressed not to consider whether this language is criminal in nature.”

Former chief White House ethics lawyer under George W. Bush, Richard Painter adds, “If he said this, General Flynn should be arrested immediately and tried for insurrection and treason. We do not tolerate military coups in the USA.”