I don't fully understand why Michael Flynn's brother, General Charles Flynn, wasn't dragged out of the Pentagon, court-martialled for high treason and put in front of a firing squad. Instead he was given command of the 90,000 man U.S. Army Pacific in Hawaii. Previous to that, he had served as deputy chief of staff for Army operations, plans and training, where he seems to have taken a crucial role in planning the failed Trump coup.
Before he was assigned to Hawaii, it was acknowledged by the Army-- then re-covered up-- that Flynn "was in the room for one of the key January 6 phone calls in which DC government and US Capitol Police were asking for National Guard troops to quell the unfolding violence at the US Capitol... The Washington Post reports that the Army 'falsely denied for days that Lt. Gen. Charles Flynn' was involved in the key meetings. One of the officials who was on the call told CNN in the days following the insurrection at the Capitol that Flynn was not on the calls, but the military did not confirm his participation until Wednesday... In the days leading up to January 6, Pentagon officials were sensitive to the deployment of troops on the streets of DC, particularly after the criticism they faced following the Army's response to June's protests. Nevertheless, the Pentagon deployed 340 members of the DC National Guard, asking both the city and the Capitol Police if they needed more troops. Both said no. But as the situation rapidly deteriorated on January 6, now-ousted Capitol Police Chief Stephen Sund and DC officials say military leaders waffled and were overly concerned about the public perception of more troops being deployed on the streets once again. The open involvement of Charles Flynn, just one day after his brother, Michael Flynn, egged on Trump supports with cries of a stolen election and violent imagery, would have only increased that scrutiny. The elder Flynn was permanently banned from Twitter for promoting QAnon and spreading lies and conspiracy theories about the presidential election."
Two months after the Pentagon stopped lying about Flynn's participation, it was revealed that Maj. Gen. William Walker, the commanding general of the DC National Guard "had troops ready to deploy immediately to the Capitol on Jan. 6, but it took more than three hours for the Defense Department to give the green light." It was Flynn who prevented the troops from deploying.
Walker said he was told then-Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy was meeting with then-acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller and they could not be on the call, but the senior military leaders who were on the call said it was their best advice not to have uniformed Guardsmen on the Capitol grounds.
Walker identified those senior leaders as Gen. Walter Piatt and Lt. Gen. Charles Flynn-- the brother of Trump’s first national security adviser, who was pardoned by Trump after twice pleading guilty to lying to the FBI during the special counsel investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and the Trump campaign.
Michael Flynn also reportedly advocated declaring martial law as part of an effort to overturn the election and promoted the QAnon conspiracy theory, which was supported by some of the rioters on Jan. 6.
Walker said he “was frustrated” by the military leaders' response. “I was just as stunned as everybody else on the call," he said.
Ultimately, once D.C. National Guard troops arrived that evening, they helped re-establish the security perimeter on the east side of the Capitol to allow for the joint session of Congress resume in counting the Electoral College votes, he said.
Yesterday, the Rand Corporation released a report-- Reducing The Risk Of Extremist Activity In The U.S. Military-- that addresses the problem with neo-Nazi and white supremacist enlisted men, not the neo-Nazi and white supremacist elite officer corps.
"In recent years," the authors began, "news headlines have highlighted the involvement of current or former U.S. military personnel in protest violence; supremacist groups; the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol; and other forms of violent extremism spanning different political and ideological spectra. The threat of extremism is not new, but the proliferation of social media has made it easier for radical ideas to spread quickly and for extremist groups to organize, even reaching into the military community (e.g., service members, military spouses, military dependents, civilian employees, and contractors) to expand membership and gain operational capabilities. The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) has long prohibited service members from actively advocating for extremist activities. DoD policy establishes the expectation that commanders detect prohibited activities, investigate them, and take corrective action. It also relies on commanders to help minimize the risk by intervening early, 'primarily through counseling' when they observe 'signs of future prohibited activities.' Thus, commanders have a dual mandate to enforce current policy violations and anticipate future violations by personnel. DoD policy also places great responsibility on commanders to appropriately weigh the potentially competing interests of national security; service members’ right of expression; and good unit order, discipline, and effectiveness. In this Perspective, we outline a framework to help commanders reduce the risk of extremism in the military."
One problem with this perspective is, of course, the commander being the fascist extremist, like both the Flynn brothers. Examples the report uses are Marine Corps Lance Corporal Vasillios Pistolis who was was imprisoned over his participation in the violent, deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, and Army Private Ethan Melzer who was charged with "conspiring to murder his fellow soldiers by allegedly sharing sensitive details about his unit’s upcoming deployment with a neo-Nazi and white supremacist group to facilitate an attack."
But Charles Flynn was given a prestigious command instead of a court martial and the nut case older brother was given a pardon and is still running around advocating that the government be overthrown in a military coup. And, by the way, two other Flynn siblings, Joseph Flynn and Barbara Redgate, are deranged QAnon psychopaths.
