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Tag: mike flynn
Leaked Video Shows Mike Flynn On Zoom Call Praising QAnon Figures

Leaked Video Shows Mike Flynn On Zoom Call Praising QAnon Figures

A QAnon influencer has leaked footage of former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn participating in a Zoom call in 2022 with a group of QAnon figures, wishing one of them a happy birthday, saying “I love you guys,” and being told, “You have no idea how much you are respected and loved and admired by your digital soldiers.”

The footage, released on X (formerly Twitter) on January 11 by a QAnon influencer known online as “The Authority,” shows Flynn dropping in on a call with members of a QAnon influencer collective known as We The Media. “The Authority” — a former member of the group who has since turned against both the collective and Flynn — wrote that he released the footage to show that Flynn “knows many members of We The Media.”

While a QAnon influencer and We The Media member Scott Zimmerman (known online as “Beer at the Parade”) previously mentioned that Flynn joined the Zoom call, no footage appears to have been made public before. According to Zimmerman, Flynn “knew daggone near everybody in the room,” which was proof that “the people that really matter” know We The Media.

During the Zoom call, Flynn wished Zimmerman a happy birthday. In response, the QAnon influencer told Flynn that “you have no idea how much you are respected and loved and admired by your digital soldiers” — a term popularized by Flynn and embraced by QAnon supporters to refer to themselves — and said he had a license plate with the words “we go all,” seemingly referring to the QAnon slogan “where we go one, we go all.” On the call, QAnon influencer “AbsoluteConviction” also thanked Flynn “for your support and everything you’ve done for us.” In turn, Flynn told the participants on the call that “I love you guys” and “even though we … may never physically meet, we have to meet virtually constantly.”

MICHAEL FLYNN (FORMER TRUMP NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER): And I just want to wish you a happy birthday. You know, 60 is the new 20.

SCOTT ZIMMERMAN (QANON INFLUENCER): Alright, Gen. Flynn, if I may close out, you have no idea how much you are respected and loved and admired by your digital soldiers.

…

FLYNN: I mean, we are going to win because we have — you know, even though we may not — may never physically meet, we have to meet virtually constantly. And we have to bombard. I mean, that’s our — that’s our ammunition, that’s our weapons system, right?

…

“ABSOLUTECONVICTION” (QANON INFLUENCER): First, Scott, happy 60th birthday to you, man. You’ve been such an inspiration to me. … Mrs. Beer, thank you for supporting this man, who has supported so many digital soldiers along the way. Thank you to all my We The Media friends and Gen. Flynn, thank you for your support and everything you’ve done for us and the fight you carry on for this country. It means more to us than we could ever explain.

…

FLYNN: I love you guys.

…

ZIMMERMAN: Gen. Flynn, my license plate reads “we go all.”

Flynn’s appearance on the Zoom call is part of his wider embrace of the QAnon movement, including invoking the QAnon slogan, associating with multiple QAnon figures, and relying on the community for fundraising.

Reprinted with permission from Media Matters.

Eric Trump

Eric Trump On Speaking Tour With Hitler-Loving Antisemitic Propagandist

Eric Trump is touring with far-right commentator Charlie Ward, an antisemite who has shared posts praising Adolf Hitler for supposedly “warning us” about Judaism; claiming that “VIRUSES are Man (JEW) made”; and calling 9/11 a Jewish plot. He’s also promoted a book which claims “that the official narrative of the Holocaust cannot be sustained” and shared a video attacking the alleged Jewish media for supposedly lying about the Holocaust.

Ward, who is a QAnon supporter, has also promoted fringe conspiracy theories claiming the Earth is flat, the moon landing was faked, and prominent people including President Joe Biden and Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett are actually “reptilian humanoid hybrids.”

Ward is the host of the The Charlie Ward Show, which has over 180,000 subscribers on Rumble. Dinesh D’Souza, Roger Stone, Kash Patel, Michael Flynn, and British Member of Parliament Andrew Bridgen have appeared on his program. Flynn, who has his own history of antisemitism and religious bigotry, has praised Ward as “a champion” who has been “exposing the deception and raising the truth to the level that it needs to be at.”

Ward has been a “featured” speaker on the ReAwaken America tour, which was founded by Flynn and Clay Clark. The tour features right-wing media personalities including Patel, Charlie Kirk, Peter Navarro, Mike Lindell, and Alex Jones. Speakers on the tour have pushed QAnon and COVID-19 conspiracy theories, pro-Trump rhetoric, and Christian nationalism.

Eric Trump is the tour’s most prominent featured speaker, and he and Ward most recently appeared at the tour’s stop in Nashville, Tennessee, last month. He and Ward are on a promotional poster for its next stop at the Trump Organization’s Doral resort in Miami, Florida.

Ward posted pictures of himself and Eric Trump last August and October.

Media Matters previously reported that the ReAwaken Tour is hosting another antisemitic “featured” speaker in Scott McKay. He has claimed that Jewish people are fakes and have perpetrated 9/11; set up banking systems “in exchange for the child blood sacrifices”; and engineered presidential assassinations, among many other crimes. McKay has also praised Hitler and said he was trying to create “a banking system for the people and the free world.”

Eric Trump touring with antisemitic commentators is part of a larger pattern within the Republican Party.

Ward Is An Antisemite Who Promotes Hitler And Holocaust Denial

On his Telegram page, Ward shared a post embedding a speech by Hitler and praising him for “warning us” about Judaism. Here is that post:

Ward also promoted the book And I suppose we didn't go to the Moon, either, which claims to show “that the official narrative of the Holocaust cannot be sustained.” James Fetzer, who is also a libelous Sandy Hook conspiracy theorist, authored that book.

Ward frequently shares virulent antisemitism on his Telegram page. Here are some examples:

  • Ward shared a post claiming that “VIRUSES are Man (JEW) made including influenza, Polio, Measles, AIDS so was Covid created as a 'excuse' to vaccinate (contaminate)...”
  • Ward shared a video attacking COVID-19 vaccinations which claimed: “Oy vey jews faking taking the vaccine, why is this important you ask? The numbers say that Israel has vaccinated highest percent of population (63%). They have 9m people living in Israel, they also have least amount side effects (0.3%), pushing the narrative that the vaccine is not harmful.”
  • Ward shared a post that stated: “On this Memorial Day please remember the sacrifices our soldiers make so that JEWISH DRUG DEALERS can grow Poppy Plants in Afghanistan and control the worldwide Heroin supply.”
  • Ward shared a post that referenced the antisemitic publication the Protocols of the Elders of Zion: “The vaxxx passports are for you the GOYIM not for the specially selected, some elites and the 33's and above - THE RULES DO NOT APPLY .. You are the EXPERIEMENT NOT THEM - Protocols of ZION.”
  • Ward has pushed the “Khazarian Mafia” conspiracy theory, which claims that many Jewish people are frauds trying to carry out an evil conspiracy against the world.
  • Ward shared a meme featuring puppet strings and stating that Jewish people control the government and the media.
  • Ward shared a video attacking various people for being Jewish; it included a slide -- embedded below -- attacking the purported Jewish media for being “Americans’ main sources of information about Hitler and Germany. Do you see the (((problem)))?” (The triple parentheses is an antisemitic meme.)

Ward trivialized the Holocaust during the ReAwaken America tour. During a November stop in Branson, Missouri, he said: “How many people in here know that more people have been killed by the jab than were killed in the Holocaust? And they're still doing it because nobody can stop them.”

Ward Is A QAnon Follower, Pushes Flat Earth, Moon Landing And 'Lizard People'

Ward has shared conspiracy theories online. Here are just some of those:

  • Ward is a QAnon conspiracy theorist who has frequently shared QAnon propaganda.
  • He promoted the claim that the Earth is actually flat and elites are supposedly hiding this fact.
  • He is a 9/11 truther who has shared material claiming “ISRAEL DID 9-11.”
  • He promoted the claim that the moon landing was faked.
  • While using an antisemitic dog whistle (“goyim”), Ward claimed: “The Corona virus is a false flag plandemic, Covid (Certificate of vaccination digital Identification) is to bring in your digital id, high tech 24/7 surveillance in the form of the 5#G powergrid, ultimate control over each one of you, no human rights, cashless society, government owned children, a one world government.... the NEW WORLD ORDER, (documented and planned for decades!!!!). To bring in a state of Totalitarian despotism. A tyrannical dictatorship of the proletariat to control and enslave the goyim.”
  • He shared a post claiming: “George Floyd is alive, it was just another false flag.”
  • He shared a post claiming that Biden may be using a body double or is a clone.
  • He has promoted the conspiracy theory that some humans are actually lizards. For instance, he shared a post claiming that Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett is actually a “reptoid” shape-shifter who is also Biden’s daughter.

Reprinted with permission from Media Matters.

In January 6 Probe, Things Are Getting 'Real Bad' For Trump Gang

In January 6 Probe, Things Are Getting 'Real Bad' For Trump Gang

The stunning revelations from the last public session of the January 6 committee have not yet been fully analyzed. Side disputes concerning the details of Cassidy Hutchinson's testimony — such as whether the former president assaulted a Secret Service agent on January 6 for refusing to drive him to the Capitol (though there is no doubt that he intended to go there) — have distracted from the emerging clues about Trump's coup plot.

First, it's critical to understand that the bizarre fracas alleged to have occurred inside the presidential vehicle was not merely an impulsive outburst by an enraged Donald Trump. His Secret Service detail's refusal to take him to the riot scene at the Capitol infuriated the president because that trip up the hill was part of an elaborate plan he and his gang were trying to execute. He had dispatched a huge mob he knew to be armed and angry to intimidate Pence from certifying the election of Joe Biden as president.

Whatever Trump aide and former Secret Service agent Anthony Ornato said to Hutchinson about the president's hissy fit was far less significant than what Rudy Giuliani told her four days before the riot.

"Are you excited?" the former New York mayor asked her, clearly excited himself. "The sixth is going to be a great day. We're going to the Capitol. The president's going to be there. He's going to look powerful. He's going to be with the members [of Congress], he's going to be with the senators. Talk to the chief about it" — meaning her boss, Chief of Staff Mark Meadows — "he knows about it."

When Hutchinson mentioned her cryptic chat to Meadows, he said: "There's a lot going on, Cass. Things might get real, real bad on January 6."

Things got worse than "real bad," in part because Vice President Mike Pence was resisting the role set for him by coup strategist John Eastman, a conservative law professor recruited to develop a scheme to deny the constitutional process of accepting the rightful electors. Defending his constitutional responsibilities, Pence declined to accept their fake electors or to send the electoral count back to the states to be "fixed" by Republican state legislators.

And that led not only to demands for his summary lynching by Trump's supporters, but a gambit to remove him from his traditional role in the counting of electoral votes and replace him with Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), the president pro tempore of the Senate.

On January 5, the dim Grassley suddenly blurted a rather bald hint about what he anticipated the next day during the joint session of Congress where the electoral votes were to be tallied. "Well, first of all, I will be — if the vice president isn't there, and we don't expect him to be there, I will be presiding over the Senate." Recall here that the next day, Pence refused to get into a vehicle with Secret Service agents from his detail under the Capitol, as rioters roamed its hallways seeking to murder him, because he feared the agents might kidnap him to prevent the certification of Biden's victory.

What if they had? Without Pence present, Grassley could have carried out the Eastman scheme. His Senate staff quickly tried to whitewash that incriminating remark, but emails from Trump lawyers prove they wanted Grassley, not Pence, to oversee the count for precisely that reason.

It may not be mere coincidence that Grassley's top aide on the Senate Judiciary Committee was Barbara Ledeen, a notorious intriguer closely associated with Ginni Thomas, the wife of Justice Clarence Thomas. Ginni Thomas is known to have expended great energy promoting the coup in communications with Meadows and others — and has recently reneged on an agreement to testify before the select committee. She no longer seems "eager" to answer questions under oath. Stonewalling is the Ginni Thomas defense.

At this point in the investigation many crucial aspects of the plot remain opaque, including the precise roles played by Roger Stone and Mike Flynn, who urged a new banana-republic style election under military control, and by the members of Congress who were prepared to toss out the votes of their constituents and install Trump as dictator. Both Stone and Flynn took the Fifth Amendment, Flynn infamously doing so when asked whether he supported the peaceful transition of power under the Constitution.

Meanwhile more witnesses have come forward, including former White House counsel Pat Cipollone, who testified for eight hours without invoking the Fifth Amendment. There's a lot more information that we will soon know — and it's "real, real bad."

Flynn's Fascist 'ReAwaken America' Tour Alarms Christian Leaders

Flynn's Fascist 'ReAwaken America' Tour Alarms Christian Leaders

An increasing number of Christian leaders have expressed concern and alarm over the disinformation and damage to democracy wreaked by ReAwaken America, a touring group of far rightists, according to a new Guardian report,

The caravan of conspiracist speakers, including rising conspiracy peddler Clay Clark, Trump’s disgraced former national security adviser Michael Flynn, and convicted felon Roger Stone, have rallied in Florida, Michigan, and other states, drawing thousands of people from around the country.

The falsehoods peddled at ReAwaken’s rallies — from vaccine skepticism, anti-mask narratives, and Christian nationalism to false claims of widespread election fraud — have drawn cries of outrage from community leaders and prompted Christian leaders to raise concerns about the political and spiritual health of the country.

"This tour features a who’s who of far-right religious extremists, Trump aides, QAnon conspiracy theorists, and other reckless figures," said Sabrina Lamar, Monroe County Legislature President. "At every stop along the way, this nationalist tour has left in its wake a trail of dangerous disinformation that can lead to increased bigotry, hate, and, at its most extreme, violence.”

QAnon Conspiracies, Distorted Christian Teaching

Right-wing doctors amplifying vaccine conspiracies have made guest appearances at ReAwaken’s rallies, including Trump-backed “demon sperm” doctor Stella Immanuel and physician-turned-insurrectionist Simone Gold, leading pandemic and election experts to warn of the “potentially far-reaching impacts” that their misinformation has on “the nation’s public health and its democracy.”

“This ReAwaken tour is peddling dangerous lies about both the election and the pandemic,” said Adam Russell Taylor, the president of Sojourners, a Christian social justice group. “Jesus taught us that the truth will set us free, and these lies hold people captive to these dangerous falsehoods. They also exacerbate the toxic polarization we’re seeing in both the church and the wider society.”

At ReAwaken’s April 1 - 2 rally in Kaizer, Oregon, which some attendees claimed was “filled with love,” thousands cheered when conservative Pastor Mark Burns said, “There is no such thing as trans kids … only abusive parents.” Burns was running in a Republican congressional primary in South Carolina but lost on Tuesday.

At the same rally, Clark asked his colleague, Aaron Antis, a far-right extremist, what he thought of hospitals. Antis gleefully replied, “I’d say that those are the gas chambers of America … Once they are in the grips of the hospital is like they’ve gone to the gas chambers and they don’t come back.”

The Anti-Defamation League, an organization that exposes extremism, accused Clark of “comparing something that bothers you to the Holocaust.” The organization called Clark’s comments “deeply inaccurate, insulting, and troubling.”

“There is simply no comparison between the systematic murder of over 13 million people, including 6 million Jews, and the efforts to save lives and keep communities safe amidst a raging global pandemic,” the organization said in a statement.

At a different stop on the tour, tomahawk-toting QAnoner Scott McKay boldly claimed that a powerful Jewish mafia is “killing you in hospitals; they’re killing you in the streets; they launched Antifa and BLM.”

The American Jewish Committee slammed the false rhetoric and other allegations leveled against Jews, which it said were chock-full of anti-Semitic codewords and phrases, particularly “globalists,” “cabal,” “elitists,” “elites,” and direct references to Jewish puppet-masters.

A month later, ReAwaken held a two-day gathering in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and famous names on the far-right, including Stones, Flynn, Burns, and even former President Trump’s son Eric Trump, were in attendance. The group put its “Trump political messages mixed with Christian nationalism” on full display at the gathering, the Guardian noted in its report.

“There is a satanic portal above the White House. You can see day and night. It exists. It is real. And it must be closed. And it will be closed by prayer,” Stone rambled during the rally, eliciting cheers and applause from the crowd. He told the rapt crowd that the “portal” appeared after Joe Biden “became president and it will be closed before he leaves.”

Disgraced Flynn

Flynn, who is well-known for his ludicrous conspiracies, drew sharp criticism for suggesting that America ought to have only “one religion.".

“If we are going to have one nation under God, which we must, we have to have one religion,” Flynn reportedly said. “One nation under God and one religion under God, right? All of us, working together.”

Flynn went on to proclaim that America was founded on a “set of Judeo-Christian principles” and had a “biblical destiny,” a view that alarmed the Sojourners. “Flynn has a warped understanding of religion and American history,” Taylor said.

In April, Reverend Melinda Teter Dodge penned a hard-hitting op-ed in the Times Of San Diego titled “Right-Wing ‘ReAwaken America’ Tour Brought Irreligious Abomination to San Diego,” documenting Flynn’s leadership role in ReAwaken America.

“Tragically, late last month, proclaimed church leaders and religious zealots descended upon San Diego county, and twisted this scriptural truth for specific political purposes. In speaking to thousands of vulnerable attendees, this group spewed dangerous falsehood after falsehood about Covid-19 and the 2020 election,” Dodge wrote.

“The event at a church in San Marcos was the latest stop on disgraced, retired General Michael Flynn’s ‘ReAwaken America Tour,’ a nationwide series of megachurch engagements featuring a who’s who of far-right religious extremists, Trump aides, QAnon conspiracy theorists, and other reckless figures. At every stop along the way, the Christian nationalist tour has left in its wake a trail of dangerous disinformation that leads to bigotry, hate, and, at its most extreme, violence.”