We have seen the octopus arms and legs of Donald Trump’s coup effort. There was the Vice President Mike Pence arm, the pressure on the state ballot counters, Trump’s attorneys and their wild conspiracy theories, the ballot recounts, the far-right media’s propaganda, the Department of Justice, and the attack on January 6. But there is one more big one.
Trump gave one of his top rah-rah men former military general and ex-National Security Advisor Michael Flynn a get-out-of-jail-free card. Then, the Army man joined with three other active and retired Army officers to attack the validity of the 2020 election. Their goal was to try to install Donald Trump back in office.
Flynn was an intel expert and ran the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency in 2012. Army Reserve Colonel Phil Waldron worked with Flynn on “secret projects” and “at the DIA’s clandestine service.” Waldron was in PSYOPs (psychological operation.) In this special investigation, Reuters discovered that it was his job to:
‘influence their emotions, motives, objective reasoning, and ultimately, the behavior of foreign governments, organizations, groups, and individuals.’
Their mission along with at least two additional officers ws to “persuade Americans that the 2020 election was stolen from then-President Donald Trump.” Ever since President Joe Biden took office these military guys have been committed to actively undermining our faith in democracy. They:
- ‘Pitched false accusations to lawmakers and the public about how the election had been compromised.
- Pushed spurious lawsuits to challenge its outcome.
- Bankrolled efforts to conduct partisan audits of the results.
- Provided briefings to a select group, members of Congress, on methods for overturning the election.
- Worked aside some of the leading actors in Trump’s “Stop the Steal” movement.’
- ‘Tried to get a top Pentagon official to overturn the elections according to a new book, Betrayal: The Final Act of the Trump Show by ABC News reporter Jonathan Karl’ as reported by The Business Insider.
Waldron told Reuters “I think we’re doing a huge service.’ These officers continue to put to use their training, which was paid for by us.
Retired ethics professor at the U.S. Naval Academy and former Navy SEAL captain Roger Herbert said:
‘When retired members of the military, especially senior officers, broadcast wild conspiracies, America’s trust in its military is somewhat eroded. But when those conspiracies contend that the current government of the United States is illegitimate, those primal fears of a standing army ready to turn its guns inward and topple our government are justifiably awakened. In short, these people are doing great harm to the legitimacy and efficacy of our military.’
Army Reserve officer Lieutenant Colonel Ivan Raiklin is in the middle of an internal Army Reserve investigation for possibly “violated Reserve rules against partisan political activity, a military official told Reuters.” The Special Forces officer fought the infamous MS-13 Gang and the Taliban. He said:
‘So I have a little bit of experience looking at threats, right?’
These men blamed the Chinese government and the voting machines technology companies, state and local elections people, and hackers who changed votes from Trump to President Joe Biden. In addition, they brought in the far-fetched ideas of ballot-stuffing and “Venezuelan interests.”
However, their actions have inspired people to join Trump supporters in the January 6 attempted coup. Even though they have no evidence, almost 60 percent of Republicans believe these guts, according to an October Reuters/Ipsos Poll.
This was just one piece of the big picture of Republican threats of violence in order to return Trump to power. They are “waging a campaign of intimidation.” One way is going after election workers by publicly attacking the entire presidential vote.
One email read:
‘[The machines] are rigged to elect only those who care nothing for the people. Every lie will be revealed, every traitor will be punished.’
Reuters’ investigation discovered how Flynn enlisted Waldron and others. This group of current and retired military officers lent their credibility to balance out some of their outlandish conspiracy theories.
Among the military veterans to play a role in “Stop the Steal:”
‘[Flynn] urged the president to deploy the military to overturn the election in December 2020, then went on a public speaking campaign sowing doubts about the vote and urging states to conduct their own reviews.’
Waldron said “No one else can do it. It needs to be done, so go ahead and do it!” Then, he:
- Showed U.S. legislators a PowerPoint depicting how to overturn the 2020 election.
- Lobbied state officials.
- And spoke on right-wing media about his stolen-election theories.
A Lieutenant Colonel in the Army Reserve Raiklin is also a member of the Flynn squad. He was behind the “Pence Card” conspiracy theory, claiming that the vice president could have handed the election to Trump.
Former Army Captain Seth Keshel was in intelligence and wielded statistical models “proving” the 2020 election was a fraud, that President Biden won seven states that he thought should have gone to Trump. Keshel said:
‘Personally, I believe the election was compromised. I can’t control anybody else.’
Now that the light has been shown upon these military guys, maybe they will scurry back into their shells.
Three White Lions podcast, Gloria Christie reads her week’s most important news/ commentary stories in the liberal online newspaper The Bipartisan Report. Gloria Christie Report her newsletter for people on the go. Written in her own unique style with a twist of humor in a briefer version of Bipartisan Report. Christie’s Mueller Report Adventures In Bite-Sizes a real-life compelling spy mystery. Find her here on Facebook.
