Michael Flynn: Trump's Scapegoat

Retired United States Army Lieutenant General and former Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency Michael Flynn stepped down from his post as the National Security Advisor to President Donald Trump on Feb. 13. This came shortly after the White House was informed of Flynn’s calls to the Russian Ambassador to the United States Sergey Kislyak about Obama’s sanctions on Russia after its intervention in the U.S. election became known. According to his letter of resignation, Flynn gave “incompetent information” about these numerous phone conversations with  the foreign diplomats. He claimed that these calls were simply to “smooth the transition” of Trump into office, although further investigation proved this to be false: he called to affirm his complete support for Russia, something that the new administration clearly stands behind.

Flynn’s resignation came after only 24 days in the position, for which Trump hand-selected him despite some of Flynn’s unprofessional behavior during the election campaign. On the campaign trail, Flynn fervently reiterated presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s involvement in a child sex scandal. His harsh-worded rhetoric, including chants to incite people to “Lock Clinton up!” were seen as appalling by some of his former co-workers and close friends. Retired Admiral Mike Mullen, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, found that Flynn’s behavior to be “unusual,” given Flynn’s reputation as a strong-willed general. “For retired senior officers to take leading and vocal roles as clearly partisan figures is a violation of the ethos and professionalism of apolitical military service,” Mullen explained. Somehow, Flynn’s polarization and hateful oration got him a spot in the White House.

However strange Flynn’s resignation may seem, an even more shocking fact was made apparent that in January, Flynn informed Trump of his calls to Russia. Despite this, Flynn was still allowed to attend security meetings, while Vice President Mike Pence was kept in the dark. In interviews, Trump lied to reporters about this, saying that he had no prior knowledge of this before Flynn formally and publicly announced his mistake.

Flynn is simply the first of the dominoes to fall. His rescindment is emblematic of the fact that  the administration doesn’t actually care their their ties to Russia being exposed—they’re able to brush these things over with a quick “letter of resignation” and forget about it. As we’ve seen with the indifferent response from the White House, Trump basically doesn’t care. His counselor, Kellyanne Conway, told MSNBC that Flynn had “full support” while well aware of the investigation. Trump claimed he was “in the dark” about the situation when speaking to the Washington Post, while later it was found that he had known all along. Further investigation into the situation revealed that Flynn had actually exchanged text messages with the ambassador, opening himself up to blackmail. Attorney Sally Yates found that Russia knew of the fact that Flynn didn’t let his superior know about the correspondence, which could easily be held against him.

Flynn was a scapegoat for the rest of the Trump administration—everyone within the office has most definitely had some support from Russia. The 17 intelligence agencies all concurred on the fact that Russia had interfered with the election, and again, Trump brushed it off as though this was nothing. Flynn’s only mistake in his correspondence with Kislyak was the fact that he was caught publicly—Trump’s government has surely been doing the same behind closed doors.