FALSE PROPHET
Michael Flynn
Retired General and Conspiracy Theorist
Originally known as a disgraced former general, Donald Trump’s first National Security Adviser, and a leading figure in the effort to overturn the 2020 election, Michael Flynn – pardoned by Trump after pleading guilty to lying to the FBI – has since reinvented himself as a fringe conspiracy theorist and the headliner of the national ReAwaken America megachurch tour, spreading election denial and QAnon lies across the country in Jesus’s name while earning criticism from pastors for twisting their faith.
Despite no longer serving in an official capacity, Flynn has become a symbolic leader for the intertwined MAGA, QAnon, and Christian nationalist movements, which have nicknamed him “America’s general.” He has amplified disinformation about Covid-19, calling it a “fabrication” and a hoax intended to help Democrats steal the 2020 election. He has parroted the most vile anti-Semitic and Islamophobic talking points, and continues to push the Big Lie to thousands of people who still consider him a credible source of information.
Flynn’s Christian Nationalist Rhetoric
Flynn was pivotal to Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election:
After the election was called for Joe Biden, Flynn publicly called on Trump to suspend the constitution, silence the press, and hold a new election under military authority
Took part in an “unhinged,” six-hour December 2020 Oval Office meeting with attorney Sidney Powell and billionaire Patrick Byrne, urging Donald Trump to accept conspiracy theories and overturn the election
Spoke at the Christian nationalist “Jericho March” and “Let the Church Roar” #stopthesteal rally in Washington, DC, December 2020, considered to be a dry run for the January 6 insurrection rallies. Flynn told the crowd they were in a “spiritual battle for the heart and soul of this country.”
On January 5, 2021, the night before the insurrection, Trump instructed White House chief of staff Mark Meadows to call Flynn and Roger Stone to discuss plans for the day of January 6.
Headlines the ReAwaken America Tour which primarily visits churches, risks further political violence with heated rhetoric, and in addition to Flynn often features election denier Eric Trump, fellow January 6 plotters Roger Stone, Patrick Byrne, Mike Lindell, and Alex Jones; COVID-19 misinformation proponents like Clay Clark, Stella Immannuel, and Sherri Tenpenny; and MAGA movement pastors and worship leaders like fellow False Prophet Sean Feucht, False Prophet dishonorable mention Greg Locke, Leon Benjamin, Mark Burns, and Jackson Lahmeyer.
Speaking at a Texas stop on the ReAwaken America Tour, Flynn said: “If we are going to have one nation under God, which we must, we have to have one religion. One nation under God, and one religion under God.”
Flynn made the one-religion remarks at a church known for its founding pastor’s antisemitism and Islamophobia.
Speaking at ReAwaken America in Virginia, said pastors should preach the Constitution as much as or more than the Bible, merging Christian and American identities in true Christian nationalist form.
On July 4th, 2020, Flynn posted an oath to the QAnon conspiracy theory.
Flynn compared his own legal predicaments to Nazi concentration camps, and criticized Holocaust victims: "How could they get on that train? I would have rather attacked that machine gun nest."
Introducing Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano at a ReAwaken America rally, Flynn called the anti-Pope Francis, anti-vaccine, anti-Ukraine election-denying archbishop his “mentor.”
Hinted at potential political violence in remarks at a September 2022 campaign event, falsely claiming: “Did you know that a Governor can declare war? And we’re probably going to see it.”
Asked by the January 6th House Committee if the violence of January 6 was morally or legally justified, Flynn pleaded the Fifth Amendment, then did so again when asked if he believed in the peaceful transition of presidential power.
Flynn’s Christian Nationalist Policy Positions
Flynn oversees an intricate network of conspiracy-promoting websites and companies. Among the firms linked to Flynn and his surrogates are entities registered in Florida, Virginia, and Texas; they include a political action committee and a related firm now at the center of a $1.3 billion libel lawsuit connected to the 2020 presidential election.
According to PBS Frontline and the Associated Press, “Flynn and his companies have earned hundreds of thousands of dollars for his [political] efforts.”
Repeatedly repeats debunked conspiracy theories such as one that there are “more dead voters in Pennsylvania than soldiers buried on the hallowed grounds in Gettysburg.”
Attacked Islam with false stereotypes and the accusation that it is not a real religion but a political ideology: “It definitely hides behind this notion of being a religion. And I have a very tough time because I don’t see a lot of people screaming ‘Jesus Christ’ with hatchets or machetes or rifles shooting up clubs or hatcheting, literally axing families on a train, or like they just killed a couple of police officers with a machete. It’s unbelievable. So we have a problem. It’s like cancer.”
Attacked transgender people serving in the military during a speech at the Republican National Convention, saying: “War is not about bathrooms. War is not about political correctness or words that are meaningless."