The country is asleep to the threat it is facing

PBS Frontline's "Michael Flynn's Holy War" is an epic piece of TV journalism

Former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn

The United States faces a grave threat from an extremist movement that was unleashed by Donald Trump and inflamed by his defeat. It is a growing threat — not a diminishing one. One of the people at the center of it is the former National Security Advisor to the President of the United States. His story is captured by an important and remarkable documentary released by PBS Frontline called “Michael Flynn’s Holy War.”

It is a testament to the power of the First Amendment and the importance of journalism in a free society. The American media, like American politics, finance, Silicon Valley, and every other major institution, is corrupted and failing. This moment must give way to a cycle of reform and renewal among America’s most important institutions. Chief among them is the United States Army, which must take responsibility for its broken generals, like the USMC must take institutional responsibility for its corruption through the disgrace of General John Allen and General Jim Jones.

The American media failed to warn the country of the danger, and instead stoked and profited from it.  The Democratic Party failed to effectively face it and destroy it. The political leadership of the country has misjudged what it is they are facing, and have put the American people in harm’s way as a result.

Watch this essential Frontline PBS documentary and go on a journey with a real journalist. Michelle R. Smith isn’t part of the Washington, DC, clique of thin-skinned reporters looking to score book deals and TV fame. She put together a story based on irrefutable facts that connect all of the dots together. The result is an epic piece of television journalism that is as terrifying as anything I have ever seen.

I had an epiphany while watching it that sent a chill down my spine. It is too late to stop what is coming. It could have been stopped, but it wasn’t. Now it is too late. I believe that with all my heart. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a piece of reporting that was so clarifying in that regard.

Retired Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, United States Army, is going to be an important figure in the great American crisis that lies ahead. He is a warrior. He is full of conviction about what he regards as a threat to freedom. He is messianic, angry and brilliant. He is aggressive, decisive and arrogant. He is reckless, defiant and untethered from reality. He is a domestic enemy of the Constitution of the United States of America who sees himself as an American patriot. The retired Lt. General is the fulfillment of an infamous quote misattributed to Sinclair Lewis that “when fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.”

Lt. General Flynn sees patterns in a unique way. He was very good at fitting pieces of puzzles together until he became unable to distinguish feeling and belief from reality. Perhaps that is the definition of insanity, or maybe it is better applied as a standard for measuring political radicalization.

By any standard, Flynn is a political extremist and a religious extremist. This is typically a terrible and lethal mix. In fact, the singular genius of the United States design was the uncoupling of religion from the state. America is not a Christian nation. America is a constitutional republic that separates church and state. It allows all people the right to worship God or not, as they so choose.

When Michelle R. Smith, the Rhode Island-based journalist walks towards a Sarasota, Florida, extremist compound that is bordered by a family-friendly nature preserve she is visibly jarred by the concussive pops of automatic weapons fire. It is a moment of journalistic discovery captured live on camera. It isn’t a premonition or a prediction that the viewer witnesses. It is an acknowledgment of an awful and unstoppable reality. What is coming is already here and plainly visible. This is the most devastating moment of the film.

There are several remarkable interviews within the documentary that stand out. The special forces Army veteran Jack Murphy opines about the era of looming danger that will rise from the confluence of conspiracy theories, two lost wars and the warfighters who fought them for 20 years. Denver Riggleman, the former army intelligence officer and former Republican Member of Congress, chillingly explains the depth of the conspiracy and assault on the peaceful transition of power orchestrated by Flynn and his co-conspirators. A religious fanatic who was recruited and inspired to run for the United States Senate in Oklahoma by Michael Flynn makes clear the stakes. He says that an election loss in the United States harkens a thousand years of darkness. He believes in Michael Flynn, the political power of Jesus Christ, and the fact that he is fighting a civil war that has already begun.

This is a singular documentary. It is a grave warning and a searing indictment of a corrupted political media that saved urgent warnings for book deals and got rich trading in the information markets with arsonists who want to burn it all down.

Frontline has informed the American people. The matter is in their hands. The struggle is only beginning. Michael Flynn is a figure of the future in that struggle. Michael Flynn won’t likely be remembered for anything he has already done. It is what he will do next that will be remembered in this country. He aims to tear it all down.

Michael Flynn has a plan. He has a mission. He is deadly serious and dangerous. The country is asleep to the threat it is facing. Michael Flynn is a wolf.  

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