As Donald Trump stocks the West Wing, Breitbart publisher and accused white supremacist Steve Bannon has received plenty of well-deserved scrutiny. Now it’s time to examine Michael Flynn, the retired Army General who will be our next National Security Advisor.
Snuggling Up With Russia
Flynn is a paid analyst for Russia Today (RT), which is widely considered to be the Kremlin’s English-language propaganda vehicle. He was photographed sitting next to Vladimir Putin at the network’s 10th anniversary dinner in Moscow last December. The dinner happened amid a flurry of speaking engagements in Russia for the recently retired general. And Flynn told RT in October, referring to the Syrian conflict:
“Russia and the United States working together and trying to work with the other partners that we all have in this region can come up with some other solutions. We have to understand as Americans that Russia also has foreign policy; Russia also has a national security strategy. And I think that we failed to understand what that is.”
Flynn’s presence at the anniversary dinner rattled Obama administration officials. He was fired in 2014 after a series of antics including sharing classified intelligence reports with Pakistan. Russia, followed by China, is considered to be the United States’ greatest threat by many intelligence experts. Michael Flynn has instead counted ISIS to be America’s number one threat, a ranking with which senior U.S. intelligence officials disagree.
Islamophobia and Anti-Semitism
Flynn, like Trump, is also in favor of a ban on Muslim immigration, among other controversial stances regarding Muslims already in the United States. “Fear of Muslims is RATIONAL,” he tweeted in February.
Flynn also apologized after retweeting an anti-Semitic comment in July, saying it was an accident.
No Legislative Input to National Security Advisor Position
Donald Trump appointed Michael Flynn to the National Security Advisor post. There is no Senate confirmation process for this position. He is already accompanying the President-elect to national security briefings.
When Michael Flynn was forced into retirement in 2014, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper personally fired him.
A few hours before Donald Trump appointed Michael Flynn to his new post, James Clapper resigned.
If Michael Flynn gets his way, American citizens can expect rising anti-Muslim sentiment and possible collaboration with Putin from the Trump White House. How will we respond?
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