Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn (Ret.), a Donald Trump adviser who was floated as a potential running mate before the GOP nominee eventually picked Mike Pence, delivered a speech in Dallas on Wednesday at a gathering for the group ACT! for America.
Flynn, who serves as an adviser to the anti-Muslim group, told the audience that Islam is “a cancer” and “a political ideology” that “definitely hides behind being a religion,” while also pushing a bogus rumor about creeping Sharia in Texas.
The Dallas Morning News reports:
The contents of Flynn’s book, How We Can Win the Global War Against Radical Islam and Its Allies, was a main topic of discussion. He took special interest in discussing what he called the dangers of Shariah law in Texas.
“Islam is a political ideology,” Flynn said. “It definitely hides behind being a religion.”
Flynn said that earlier in the day he met with Irving Mayor Beth Van Duyne, who has been a polarizing figure in the public debate over Islam and the treatment of Muslims since rumors of an illegal Shariah court at the Irving Islamic Center began spreading in 2015.
“Beth is incredibly brave,” Flynn said. “Vote for her for anything.”
He likened Islam, a religion with 1.6 billion adherents worldwide, to “a cancer” and said that documents recovered from terrorist organizations instruct followers to “get into the bloodstream of the opposition,” which Flynn said means to attack Western nations.
Flynn described himself as a scholar of American history and of religion. He said he had focused many years of study on the influence of religion on the Founding Fathers.
“This Islamic ideology was something they wanted nothing to do with,” he said.
Flynn also told the crowd that Bernie Sanders is “an avowed communist” and sidestepped an audience question about how the U.S. can “deport Muslims.”
Such remarks aren’t very surprising, as Trump himself has said that “Islam hates us” and that Muslims should be banned from “entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what the hell is going on.”
Flynn recently came under media scrutiny for his ties to Vladimir Putin and his retweet of an anti-Semitic message, which he later apologized for.
