Eli Lake: The Political Assassination of Michael Flynn
Normally intercepts of U.S. officials and citizens are some of the most tightly held government secrets. This is for good reason. Selectively disclosing details of private conversations monitored by the FBI or NSA gives the permanent state the power to destroy reputations from the cloak of anonymity. This is what police states do.
In the past it was considered scandalous for senior U.S. officials to even request the identities of U.S. officials incidentally monitored by the government (normally they are redacted from intelligence reports). John Bolton's nomination to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations was derailed in 2006 after the NSA confirmed he had made 10 such requests when he was Undersecretary of State for Arms Control in George W. Bush's first term. The fact that the intercepts of Flynn's conversations with Kislyak appear to have been widely distributed inside the government is a red flag.
Mike Cernovich: What General Flynn’s Resignation Means for America
Tonight the fake news media landed a tactical nuke on America. The line has been broken, and the media now knows Trump is far more sensitive to bad press than he seemed to be during the campaign. [...]
When Trump fires or forces someone to resign, he has given power to the media. [...]
Flynn was always a target because only he, Bannon, Kellyanne Conway, and Stephen Miller are in touch with Trump’s base.
Trump should have disbanded the White House Press Corps, as I advised. This lack of access would have put CNN on the state playing field as an ordinary blog. They’d be starved for ad revenue.
Tonight was a major stategic defeat. The fake news media and so-called #TheResistance are inspired.
Vox Day: National Security Adviser Flynn resigns
That's exactly what I said that he should do [resign] if the reports that he had lied were true. And, as I also mentioned, I don't see it as a loss to the God-Emperor at all, because Flynn was heavily influenced by the neocons, and by Michael Ledeen in particular. With him out, and Eliot Abrams being rejected, I anticipate that some of the pressure to instigate trouble with Iran will be reduced.
The opposition media will consider this a scalp and will try to make the most of it, and they will fail to recognize what I pointed out before the inauguration, which is that the Trump administration is almost certainly going to have record turnover, as the God-Emperor will quickly remove subordinates in whom he loses confidence or trust. It worked for him during the campaign and it will work for him in office.
Vox Day: Curiouser and curiouser
And some tweets from John Robb:
The big reason Flynn was the #1 target of the #deepstate : he was rumored to be the point man on plans to reform the Intel Community.— John Robb (@johnrobb) February 15, 2017
— John Robb (@johnrobb) February 15, 2017
All of the things we were worried about re: political use of #deepstate surveillance is proving true. The genie is out of the bottle.— John Robb (@johnrobb) February 15, 2017
Honestly, I can't make heads or tails of this. The situation is far too complex, fluid, and shrouded in secrecy for all but the most informed observers to have a meaningful opinion on it.
My intuition tells me this is a Bad Thing for us Trump supporters. I liked General Flynn and thought he would do a good job of reforming the intelligence agencies and bringing some measure of sanity back to our foreign policy. Also, this is looking more and more like a Deep State coup against the POTUS, in which case, sayonara, America - you were fun while you lasted.
On the other hand, I wouldn't sell Trump short. He has proven himself to be a lot smarter and more strategic than virtually anyone gave him credit for during the campaign, and it strikes me as premature to second-guess every single decision he makes on a daily basis. Trump is playing a long game, and, as Marco Rubio infamously claimed about Obama, he knows exactly what he's doing...
Our president is fighting an array of extremely powerful enemies in the Deep State, the permanent bureaucracy, Congress, the judiciary, the media, academia, the "international community"... it's basically just him and a half-dozen advisers, and his basket of deplorable supporters... versus THE WORLD. He made it this far - let's have a little faith in his judgment and abilities.
And Flynn is problematic, for the reasons Vox points out. I found his neocon growlings about Russia and other alleged enemies in his book The Field of Fight, co-authored by Michael "[Bomb Iran] Faster, Please" Ledeen, disturbing. Also, Flynn apparently misled Mike Pence about his phone call with the Russian ambassador, an offense that I would not expect the God-Emperor to take lightly, much as he may otherwise value Flynn.
The issue with Flynn may simply be that he is a born rebel. As he wrote in his book:
But not, perhaps, in the disciplined court of the God-Emperor.
My intuition tells me this is a Bad Thing for us Trump supporters. I liked General Flynn and thought he would do a good job of reforming the intelligence agencies and bringing some measure of sanity back to our foreign policy. Also, this is looking more and more like a Deep State coup against the POTUS, in which case, sayonara, America - you were fun while you lasted.
On the other hand, I wouldn't sell Trump short. He has proven himself to be a lot smarter and more strategic than virtually anyone gave him credit for during the campaign, and it strikes me as premature to second-guess every single decision he makes on a daily basis. Trump is playing a long game, and, as Marco Rubio infamously claimed about Obama, he knows exactly what he's doing...
Our president is fighting an array of extremely powerful enemies in the Deep State, the permanent bureaucracy, Congress, the judiciary, the media, academia, the "international community"... it's basically just him and a half-dozen advisers, and his basket of deplorable supporters... versus THE WORLD. He made it this far - let's have a little faith in his judgment and abilities.
And Flynn is problematic, for the reasons Vox points out. I found his neocon growlings about Russia and other alleged enemies in his book The Field of Fight, co-authored by Michael "[Bomb Iran] Faster, Please" Ledeen, disturbing. Also, Flynn apparently misled Mike Pence about his phone call with the Russian ambassador, an offense that I would not expect the God-Emperor to take lightly, much as he may otherwise value Flynn.
The issue with Flynn may simply be that he is a born rebel. As he wrote in his book:
I was one of those nasty tough kids, hell-bent on breaking rules for the adrenaline rush and hardwired just enough not to care about the consequences. [...]
My rehabilitation was the fastest in adolescent history. I had it coming, and it taught me that moral rehab is possible. I behaved during my term of probation and stopped all of my criminal activity. But I would always retain my strong impulse to challenge authority and to think and act on my own whenever possible. There is room for such types in America, even in the disciplined confines of the United States Army.
But not, perhaps, in the disciplined court of the God-Emperor.
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