Hypocrisy watch – Michael Flynn

Written By: - Date published: 9:35 am, February 15th, 2017 - 35 comments
Categories: International, the praiseworthy and the pitiful, us politics, you couldn't make this shit up - Tags: , ,

Not many words are needed for this post.

Over in the United States of Trumpsville National Security Advisor to the Trump White House Mike Flynn has resigned.

The reason? He was not entirely honest to VP Mike Penn when talking about what he talked about in a discussion with the Russian Ambassador pre inauguration. The implication is that he talked favourably about lifting the Obama imposed sanctions against Russia but then denied it.

The worry is that he created a situation where he was totally compromised and had potentially opened himself up to blackmail.

The issue says lots about Trump’s judgment and Flynn’s stupidity. As said by Frank Bruni;

If you’re a bedraggled sixth-grader from a beleaguered country where the Quran is a popular text, he will stop you at our border. If you’re a retired lieutenant general who hallucinates an Islamic terrorist behind every last garden shrub in America, he will welcome you to the White House.

But the outstanding feature of this is Flynn’s hypocrisy. Watch this speech that he made to Republican delegates and marvel at the lengths he goes to advocate the locking up of Hillary Clinton for supposed security violations. The careless use of a private email server is nothing compared to what Flynn has done.

All together now, lock him up, lock him up, lock him up …

35 comments on “Hypocrisy watch – Michael Flynn ”

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  1. One Anonymous Bloke 1
    15 February 2017 at 9:47 am

    Lots of questions remain unanswered.

    The White House appears to have let its repeated false statements about Flynn stand for weeks after that notification from Yates, and has yet to account for what it did with the warning she conveyed.

    I’d prefer to see Trump impeached because he’s a vicious rapist thug, but national security will do.

  2. Andre 2
    15 February 2017 at 9:51 am

    Meanwhile the Republicans that had years of e-mails investigations lined up for a Clinton presidency are doing the three monkeys.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/jason-chaffetz-michael-flynn_us_58a31aa2e4b03df370da45b9?

  3. Anne 3
    15 February 2017 at 9:51 am

    Interview with former colleague on RNZ:

    http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/201833240/

    An ex-colleague of the now former national security adviser to President Donald Trump, Michael Flynn, says he was incapable of doing the job in the first place.

    • D'Esterre 3.1
      15 February 2017 at 11:45 pm

      Anne: “An ex-colleague of the now former national security adviser to President Donald Trump, Michael Flynn, says he was incapable of doing the job in the first place.”

      I heard that interview. I thought: well, she would say that, wouldn’t she? Nothing so satisfying as dissing a former colleague on an overseas radio station. And I waited for the interviewer to do a bit of sceptical questioning of her. In vain, as it turned out. I was sure that there was more to this story than we were hearing, so I went to Consortiumnews. Sure enough…

      I posted this link in a comment below, but no harm in repeating it here:

      https://consortiumnews.com/2017/02/14/trump-caves-on-flynns-resignation/

  5. Macro 5
    15 February 2017 at 10:31 am

    You heard it here Second!
    Vladimir Putin appointed as Trump’s National Security Advisor
    😈
    You have to laugh otherwise the current stupidity in the US is overwhelming.

  7. joe90 7
    15 February 2017 at 10:39 am

    I doubt hypocrisy is the right word.

    Jesus Fucking Christ pic.twitter.com/Im5TfxZ6F9— YOU GOT THAT WRONG (@NotFaulty) February 14, 2017

    https://twitter.com/NotFaulty/status/831586468170723328

    edit:

    Side by side now@NotFaulty @theMirai pic.twitter.com/e36Wl5voms— tw1tter's #1 winemom (@DJCPI) February 14, 2017

  8. Ad 8
    15 February 2017 at 10:46 am

    This shocking start to the Trump Presidency is going to get worse and worse.

    There will be more resignations, as the effects of his policies really hit the ground.

    I am looking forward to Trump’s four-year reign dragging the Republican Party through the mud.

  9. joe90 9
    15 February 2017 at 10:49 am

    Be interesting to see how long it takes for this to turn up on alternative news sites.

    https://twitter.com/Alexey__Kovalev/status/831599112869003265

    • joe90 9.1
      15 February 2017 at 11:07 am

      And so it begins, Flynn suddenly remembers what he said – see, it wasn’t that bad and all I really did was mis-speak , and the real story is….but leaks….decent man is fucked over by deep state Obama loyalists…. but leaks….

      .

      A Wall Street Journal editorial Tuesday asked, “Did U.S. spooks have a court order to listen to his conversations?”

      Former intelligence and military officers told TheDCNF they agree Flynn was the victim of a highly orchestrated “disinformation campaign” generated by current and former intelligence officers, many with loyalties to former President Obama.

      Intelligence officials are supposed to use their expertise in psychological warfare and disinformation campaigns against enemy states, but never against an occupant of the Oval Office.

      “Who pulled the NSA tapes on Mike Flynn?” asked retired Col. James Waurishuk, a 30-year intelligence officer who once served in the National Security Council. “Who compiled it? Who released it?” the retired Special Forces veteran asked in an interview with TheDCNF.

      […]

      Flynn insisted that he crossed no lines in his telephone conversation with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak: “If I did, believe me, the FBI would be down my throat, my clearances would be pulled. There were no lines crossed.”

      Flynn said there was a brief discussion of the 35 Russian diplomats who were being expelled by Obama in retaliation for Moscow’s alleged interference in the 2016 campaign.

      “It wasn’t about sanctions. It was about the 35 guys who were thrown out,” Flynn said. “So that’s what it turned out to be. It was basically, ‘Look, I know this happened. We’ll review everything.’ I never said anything such as, ‘We’re going to review sanctions,’ or anything like that.”

      http://dailycaller.com/2017/02/14/exclusive-defiant-flynn-insists-he-crossed-no-lines-leakers-must-be-prosecuted/#ixzz4YhQ5fZ62

  10. marty mars 10
    15 February 2017 at 10:51 am

    I’m watching the spin, the lies, the machine in action. Flynn is scum and he has floated and been scraped off – who next?

    • One Anonymous Bloke 10.1
      15 February 2017 at 3:58 pm

      Flynn is a scapegoat. Anne’s link at 3 is a good introduction to his character. Have a listen then ask yourself who thought he would make good security adviser material 🙂

  11. Macro 11
    15 February 2017 at 10:52 am

    Flynn may have broken a law against unauthorized individuals negotiating with foreign governments over conflicts. He is unlikely to face legal sanction, however, because that law dates to 1799 and has never been used in a prosecution.
    The then U.S. attorney general Sally Q. Yates told the White House counsel last month that Flynn’s misleading statements to Pence and others made him vulnerable to blackmail by Russia, whose own government would have known that sanctions were discussed.
    Good ol chump.. gets rid of the one sane voice in the administration because she tells him stuff he doesn’t want to know!

  12. Siobhan 12
    15 February 2017 at 11:05 am

    Though Glenn Greenwald makes some interesting observations about the ‘evolving’ attitude certain people have towards whistle-blowers…and even Clapper gets a mention

    https://theintercept.com/2017/02/14/the-leakers-who-exposed-gen-flynns-lie-committed-serious-and-wholly-justified-felonies/

    “It’s even more surreal to watch Democrats act as though lying to the public is some grave firing offense when President Obama’s top national security official, James Clapper, got caught red-handed not only lying to the public but also to Congress — about a domestic surveillance program that courts ruled was illegal. And despite the fact that lying to Congress is a felony, he kept his job until the very last day of the Obama presidency.”

    That’s the problem, neither Party can hold the moral high ground. It takes a willfully short memory to think otherwise.

    • One Anonymous Bloke 12.1
      15 February 2017 at 3:33 pm

      Reflexive defence of the sins of “us” vs. reflexive condemnation of the sins of “them” is hardly confined to US politics. That’s why we have civil servants, the media and the judiciary too.

      The problem is as old as the hills.

      • Siobhan 12.1.1
        15 February 2017 at 3:57 pm

        well that’s okay then.

        Though I guess some might say the Media are part of the problem.

        and yes, Also an issue as old as the hills.

        Maybe its time to demand something better??

        • One Anonymous Bloke 12.1.1.1
          15 February 2017 at 4:00 pm

          That’s what we’re doing isn’t it? 🙂

          I’m with Churchill on this though: it’s the worst possible system apart from all the other ones. Babies and bathwater etc etc.

        • North 12.1.1.2
          15 February 2017 at 7:26 pm

          Well taking an overview Siobhan, I have to say that the coverage on CNN, especially of the Flynn debacle, is far more redolent of a truly journalistic and lively media than ever we saw from NZ media covering the KeySham. For eight years.

          Attractively, CNN format fronts contributors/commentators from BOTH ‘sides’. What did we get from the NZ media ? Bill Ralston masquerading as the impartial sage, Michelle Boag as the final word, so often. And the nicest man in The World, ‘Mr Affability’, Sly Tory-Arse James Mora. FFS !

          Yes yes yes…….none of the established US networks are other than money money money, neo neo liberal, blah blah blah, but when there’s an hubristic man-child in the White House, with a cabinet drawn from right wing racist gorillas, does that mean ipso facto that journalists should NOT be journalists ? Or that their efforts should be sneered at by the ‘Pure’. Shooting ourselves in the foot ‘Purity’ is fucking ridiculous.

          Not that I say that’s you Siobhan. I’m attracted to your ‘staunch’. We’ve seen plenty of that shit on this site though. From people who sneered down their arrogant noses at ‘lesser’ (in their snorting and bullying dismissiveness)…….lefties. It’s twisted, thoroughly indulgent, crap. Archie Bunker is not my fucking sweetheart !

          • Anne 12.1.1.2.1
            15 February 2017 at 7:58 pm

            Bill Ralston masquerading as the impartial sage, Michelle Boag as the final word,…

            You forgot Josie Pagani passing herself off as a progressive leftie.

            • D'Esterre 12.1.1.2.1.1
              16 February 2017 at 12:23 am

              Anne: “You forgot Josie Pagani passing herself off as a progressive leftie.”

              Hahaha, yes indeed! She was on TV3 the night after the US election, a part of some panel or other. She pronounced herself “speechless” at the result, then went on to prove – volubly – that she wasn’t speechless at all. I leapt for the off switch…..

          • D'Esterre 12.1.1.2.2
            15 February 2017 at 10:59 pm

            North: “Well taking an overview Siobhan, I have to say that the coverage on CNN, especially of the Flynn debacle, is far more redolent of a truly journalistic and lively media than ever we saw from NZ media covering the KeySham. For eight years.”

            This: https://consortiumnews.com/2017/02/14/trump-caves-on-flynns-resignation/

            On account of its blatant propaganda masquerading as coverage, I gave upon CNN at the time of the US-sponsored putsch in the Ukraine. I find it hard to believe that it has managed to give a more nuanced account of the Flynn imbroglio than Parry’s in this link.

  13. Macro 13
    15 February 2017 at 11:09 am

    The Saker = Progressive Left!!!!!!!!!!!!
    You have to be joking…

  14. Andre 14
    15 February 2017 at 11:11 am

    Wow. That opinion piece from the saker would fit right in to the buffet at a squirrel convention.

    edit: reply to a comment that’s apparently been deleted

  15. Anne 15
    15 February 2017 at 2:31 pm

    Oh dear, Putin is not happy about losing his man in the Trump administration?

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11801151

    Or is it just a beat up?

  16. Andre 16
    15 February 2017 at 4:32 pm

    The question the White House has gone quiet on: were there contacts between Russia and anyone in the Trump campaign before the election? Spoiler alert: the Russians have said there were.

    http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/02/sean-spicer-ducks-question-about-trump-campaign-contacts-with-russia

    • D'Esterre 16.1
      16 February 2017 at 12:08 am

      Andre: “The question the White House has gone quiet on: were there contacts between Russia and anyone in the Trump campaign before the election? Spoiler alert: the Russians have said there were.”

      What the hell is it about, the US obsession with Russia and President Putin? It’s a great puzzle to many of us. Is it that successive US leaders are envious of Putin’s reputation as a formidable ruler? Scarcely surprising, I guess: he’s certainly shown up Obama for the weak, ineffectual president that he was, able to give a good speech, but otherwise useless.

      Russia is a democracy: has been since the collapse of communism. Of course US business people would have contact with Russians, in the course of doing business: nothing exceptionable about that.

      Yet the neocon war hawks want to intervene there, to bring about “regime change”. That’s what the egregious Hillary Clinton wanted, and would likely have looked to drag the US’s friends and allies into a catastrophic, unwinnable confrontation with Russia, had she won. Thank providence she didn’t.

      The conduct of the Russian democratic process is the business of its citizens, and none of the business of the US; or of the rest of us, for that matter.

      • Andre 16.1.1
        16 February 2017 at 6:39 am

        I’ll guess the big picture with the American hangups with Russia is it is still the only other power with both the ability to indulge in proxy wars with the US and the inclination to do so. And the thousands of nukes. (Although China is certainly getting there with the ability, and the US-China relationship needs careful management from both sides for China not to develop an inclination for proxy hostilities with the US).

        Right now it is looking like it’s the first time a foreign power has seriously meddled in a US election, and there’s a reasonable argument Russian influence may have tipped the balance. That’s a new experience for Americans, which will hopefully make them a bit more respectful of other nation’s democratic processes (although that would require self-awareness that America as a whole probably lacks).

        There’s also the ongoing question of what influence Russia has on senior members of Trump’s team and even Trump himself. It is unprecedented for there to be significant entanglements between quite a few senior members of the admin and a single foreign power, let alone one that is generally opposed to the US. The denials and cover-ups that have been exposed so far will only fuel suspicions that more is hidden.

        I don’t think American leaders have any serious “Putin envy” going on, except maybe in moments of extreme frustration with how the checks and balances of the American system slows making changes. (I’m not including Trump as a “leader” for the purposes of this comment).

        • D'Esterre 16.1.1.1
          18 February 2017 at 12:53 pm

          Andre: “it is still the only other power with both the ability to indulge in proxy wars with the US and the inclination to do so.”
          Do you have actual evidence for this? I read recently an analyst (or possibly a journalist, though not from NZ) describing Putin as being Westphalian in his foreign policy. That doesn’t fit with the notion of proxy wars; moreover, I know of no evidence that Russia has done this.
          “…there’s a reasonable argument Russian influence may have tipped the balance.”
          There isn’t, you know.
          “…ongoing question of what influence Russia has on senior members of Trump’s team and even Trump himself.”
          My point stands: Russia is a democracy. Contact between Russians and Americans is no more exceptionable than similar contact with Germans, French or Japanese.
          The anti-Russian hysteria on the part of the Washington establishment is a fairly recent development, and an evident attempt to rekindle the cold war. We didn’t hear propaganda of this sort in the 1990s or the early noughties.

  17. North 17
    15 February 2017 at 6:14 pm

    Sorry Kellyanne…….you’re a dupe, you’re Pennsylvania Avenue’s Michelle Boag, in the final days of your ‘power’ you see fit to do a shout out for Ivanka’s bangles and bows…….and your boss is a crook, even a traitor, on a stratospheric scale. I reckon Trump’s ‘stiffed’ himself.
    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11801140