Trump ex-national security adviser Michael Flynn did crimes. He admitted doing crimes. And there's a push to turn him into the next Oliver North because nobody in the Republican Party or conservative movement gives a flying damn about a top White House aide committing crimes in office.
Friends and family of former national security adviser Michael Flynn are waging a campaign to try to exonerate the retired lieutenant general — and, possibly, land him a presidential pardon.
The push comes as Flynn himself — who in December pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak — is also trying to rehabilitate his public image, including appearing with a long-shot Republican House candidate, delivering a private foreign policy speech in Manhattan and writing the foreword to a friend’s self-published manifesto supporting President Trump.
Flynn lied to the FBI in the midst of an investigation into Russian espionage and its ties to the Trump campaign. He pled guilty because the FBI had him dead to rights on that one, and because the FBI was and is investigating him for a great many other things besides, and he is allegedly now cooperating with the investigation after his prior attempt to undermine it. We say allegedly because it's not clear how Flynn's public efforts to slide back into the conservative political limelight—even as he awaits a decision on whether he'll be spending time in prison—squares with actual remorse for his actions.
If anything, it seems like Flynn is itching to use his newly hatched celebrity status as would-be saboteur of the Russian investigation to promote himself to conservatives as the fall guy for a nasty government-backed plot to make Republican collaboration with a hostile foreign power look bad. And he's got lots of support, because conservatism is just one great big garbage fire at this point. The same movement titans that insisted an opponent's emails be scrutinized for years until, somewhere in the mess, a theoretical crime could be found or invented have only kind things to say about the various men facing prison time for false statements, foreign lobbying, and (waves arms in sweeping motion) every individual possible thing Michael Cohen may eventually be indicted for. Donald Trump could be caught on tape executing Russian prostitutes one-by-one and Fox News would praise him for it afterward; lying to investigators about contacts with Russian officials barely rates.
The Wall Street Journal editorial board chimed in two days later, writing: “The question is whether special counsel Robert S. Mueller III pressured him to plead to a crime he didn’t commit.”
Mmm-hmm.
Whether Flynn ends up doing prison time or is the beneficiary of a conveniently timed pardon, he won't be the first confessed criminal to be handed a new career as Republican hero in exchange for his administration-serving crimes. The arms smuggler Oliver North committed actual high treason—but gained hero status for his efforts to shield Ronald Reagan from liability for the plot. G. Gordon Liddy went to prison for his role in Watergate; conservatism rewarded the two-bit burglar and illegal wiretapper with his own nationally syndicated talk show.
What can we say? Republicans love criminals who go to jail for crimes abetted by Republican presidents. It is the closest thing to authoritarianism that the movement has so far succeeded at, this notion that breaking any given law can either be an unforgivable act or a patriotic and heroic one, depending on the criminal’s political motives. It seems to really perk up the movement to have an actual criminal wave the flag around, rather than just the aspirational criminals that are a dime a dozen these days. The crowds eat that stuff up, every time.