Out like Flynn

God, I love that headline. Wonder if younger readers will get the joke?

I'd like to direct your attention to this opinion piece in the Palmer Report. Yes, I am aware that some have (incorrectly) castigated the Palmer Report as a left-wing example of "fake news." I disagree with that characterization. I certainly would not apply it to this specific piece, which is clearly labeled opinion. We should have no objection to speculation as long as it comes clearly labeled as such, and as long as "casa conjecture" rests on a foundation of facts.

Palmer's thesis is that Michael Flynn has turned talker. He's either looking to cut a deal, or he has cut one already. That's why the Trumpers have decided to lay the blame for Russiagate on Flynn and Flynn alone.

Of the four Trump campaign advisers widely reported to be under FBI investigation, three of them – Paul Manafort, Carter Page, and Roger Stone – have suddenly volunteered to testify before the House Intelligence Committee (source: CNN and Washington Post). Their choice of the House, and not the Senate, seems obvious enough: the House Intel Committee is run by Trump-loyal stooge Devin Nunes. They’re probably hoping to team up with Nunes to run interference in front of the television cameras. But only one of the four Trump campaign advisers under investigation is remaining out of the dog any pony show: Michael Flynn.

Congressional hearings are essentially show-trials. The various Congressmen on the committee are each trying to make one case or another to the public. The witnesses who volunteer to testify are trying to convince the public that the scandal is not their fault. If you’re running to a committee to testify in front of the cameras, it means you’re merely playing games of appearances, and you’re not running to the FBI to offer real testimony. If Michael Flynn were running to one of these committees right now, I would assume he hasn’t cut a deal. But he’s been curiously quiet about it. In fact he’s been curiously quiet about everything throughout this scandal. And yet he’s been making definitive moves behind the scenes.

Interpreting someone’s silence is tricky business. But Flynn has been speaking, just not with words. Two weeks ago Flynn retroactively registered with the U.S. government as a foreign agent. In so doing, he essentially confessed to a past crime in an attempt to get back onto the right side of the law. If Flynn was deluded enough to think that he can beat the rap on all the felonies he’s apparently committed, the last thing he would be doing is officially admitting to one of his most severe crimes on government paperwork. Instead this is the behavior of someone who’s actively trying to come clean.

And there’s only one reason for Michael Flynn to come clean about the crimes he’s committed in relationship to the Donald Trump campaign: so the FBI can use his admitted crimes as a legal excuse to pursue the involvement of other Trump campaign members in those crimes. I’ve strongly suspected Flynn had already cut a deal with the FBI from the minute the story broke about him registering as a foreign agent. It was probably fairly easy for the FBI to convince him to go along with it, as they already have him nailed on the felony of lying to them about Russia several months ago (source: Washington Post).

I would add the following: The National Enquirer and its sister publications have functioned as a propaganda arm of the Trumpers. Each week, Trump's message is dumbed down -- way down -- in order to appeal to the naive ninnies who think that professional wrestling is real, that Alex Jones sells magic pills which can cure polonium poisoning, and that Breitbart publishes too many big words.

As Rachel Maddow noted at the end of last night's show, the National Enquirer is now pushing an absurd storyline in which Donald Trump -- that mighty He-Man -- personally uncovered the Russian spy in his midst. The name of that spy: Michael Flynn. Nobody else is at fault. Just Flynn. Blame it all on him.

Flynn is now Trump's official Judas.

Why would they Judas-ize Flynn now? Palmer's theory offers a tidy explanation. It makes more sense than anything else I can come up with.

By the way: I found a temporary patch for my computer problem. I'll have to come up with a permanent fix fairly soon. If I'm suddenly tossed offline again, you'll know the reason.