Michael Flynn is releasing a documentary this month chronicling his career, which culminated with him serving briefly as national security adviser to former President Donald Trump. Flynn resigned early in the Trump administration for having misled the administration about discussions he had with Russian leaders prior to Trump assuming office. Flynn eventually pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about those discussions, but was ultimately pardoned by Trump, who has pledged to re-hire Flynn should he be reelected to the White House in 2024.
In the interim, Flynn has become a full-blown Christian nationalist and conspiracy theorist who has traveled the nation spreading his radical views to anyone who will listen.
The documentary, of course, appears to ignore all of that and seeks instead to paint Flynn as a courageous truth teller who was the target of a vindictive witch hunt, and Flynn will be on-hand to promote that narrative at screenings all over the country.
Later this month, Flynn will be hosting a showing of the film at On Fire Ministries in Spokane, Washington, a church run by radical right-wing pastor Matt Shea.
In 2019, Shea was a member of the Washington state House of Representatives until the chamber released a 108-page report detailing how he had “participated in an act of domestic terrorism” and “planned, engaged in and promoted a total of three armed conflicts of political violence against the United States Government in three states outside the state of Washington over a three-year period.”
The report exposed Shea’s deep ties to the far-right militia movement, as well as a document he authored laying out the “Biblical Basis for War,” in which he declared that the enemy must agree to accept bans on abortion, same-sex marriage, communism, and idolatry and agree to live under biblical law. If these demands were refused, Shea declared that the only solution was to “kill all males.”
In the wake of the report, the state’s House Republican Caucus stripped Shea of his committee assignments and booted him out of the party. Shea refused to resign his seat but did not run for reelection in 2020 and eventually took a position as a pastor of On Fire Ministries.
Shea and Flynn make a fitting pair, as last week Flynn appeared on Shea’s “Patriot Radio” program, where he declared that those who oppose their far-right political agenda are “soulless, dark people” who “have no conscience.”
“We are now led by a group of people who have no conscience,” Flynn said. “I’m talking specifically about [President Joe] Biden who says he’s a Catholic. That is so far from however he actually operates. But it’s not just him. These are soulless, dark people who believe in the idea of socialism and Marxism and communism. So it’s not like, ‘Well, these are just bad Democrats.’ No. These are people who want to take our country away from God, they want to take our country away from this system of government that we have called a constitutional republic, and they want to recreate a government; they want to fundamentally change America.”
Flynn told Shea that he is “so excited” about appearing at his church and “linking up,” and Shea was likewise thrilled by Flynn’s planned visit, reporting that not only will Flynn be on had to a screening of the documentary, but will also be part of an America’s Future “training” event on how to combat child exploitation and human trafficking. America’s Future is an organization run by Flynn’s sister that is filled with QAnon conspiracy theorists like Liz Crokin and Lara Logan.
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