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Son of Trump’s National Security pick pushes fake #pizzagate story

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michael flynn
Michael Flynn is the son of retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn; Flynn is President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for National Security Advisor.

This has been the news lede: A 28-year-old man from North Carolina went to Comet Ping Pong, a pizza restaurant in northwest Washington, to “self-investigate” #pizzagate, a sick fake story that the restaurant owner is complicit with “Mrs. Clinton kidnapping, molesting and trafficking children.”

Oh, and he shot a rifle in the restaurant. And then gave himself up.

But that is not the story.

The Flynns — father and son — are the story. They should be our object of focus.

Retired Lt. General Michael Flynn is Donald Trump’s pick to be national security advisor. His son, Michael, is his right-hand.

1. Lt. General Flynn tweets fake news.

In other words, the General has a loose relationship with truth. And he broadcasts those falsehoods on Twitter.

He shares fake news:

https://twitter.com/GenFlynn/status/794000841518776320

Politico counted 16 “dubious factoids” from his Twitter account since August.

Flynn, who has 106,000 Twitter followers, has used the platform to retweet accusations that Clinton is involved with child sex trafficking and has “secretly waged war” on the Catholic Church, as well as charges that Obama is a “jihadi” who “laundered” money for Muslim terrorists.

 
And he’s Trump’s pick for National Security Advisor.

He shares links from white nationalist movement websites:
Flynn RT

He uses his bully pulpit to highlight people in the white nationalist movement:

Here’s a shout-out to Mike Cernovich, who runs a conspiracy website that has pushed Clinton sex cult claims:

Surprise! He’s Islamophobic:

 
And he’s Trump’s pick for National Security Advisor.

He also led the “lock her up” chant/meme during the campaign, despite having a less-than-stellar record himself.

 
And he’s Trump’s pick for National Security Advisor.

 
Flynn’s behavior on Twitter is not an aberration; it reflects his time as an intelligence officer. He was “forced to retire from the military in 2014.”

General Flynn, for instance, has said that Shariah, or Islamic law, is spreading in the United States (it is not). His dubious assertions are so common that when he ran the Defense Intelligence Agency, subordinates came up with a name for the phenomenon: They called them “Flynn facts.”

 

2. Michael Flynn is his father’s surrogate.

Flynn Jr. pushed the #pizzagate meme AFTER Edgar M. Welch had descended on Comet Ping Pong to deliver vigilante justice. The tweet has more than 3K ‘likes’ and has been retweeted more than 2K times. And Flynn’s megaphone is only about one-tenth the size of his dad’s: 11.6K followers.

From the Washington Post:

The younger Flynn served as his father’s chief of staff — his top aide — making his tweets about this bogus theory particularly significant.

According to ForeignPolicy, the younger Flynn has

… assisted in personnel vetting, managing his father’s schedule, and fielding transition-related emails for the general, according to a person close to the Trump transition team. “He also accompanies his dad to a ton of meetings,” said the individual… Gen. Flynn has himself promoted groundless conspiracy theories about Hillary Clinton, and has suggested that China orchestrated the rise of radical Islamist militants.

The younger Flynn is also racist.

Flynn racist tweet
Flynn deleted this tweet after CNN contacted him for comment.

Flynn frequently shares unfounded conspiracy theories, like ones claiming Hillary Clinton and President Obama would be tried for treason if Trump is elected. He also posted a unfounded story claiming hackers would release a video of former President Bill Clinton raping a teenage girl. In one post, he called alt-right social commentator Mike Cernovich, who frequently shares unfounded news stories, “a source I trust.” In a Facebook post from October, Flynn shared a fake news story claiming Obama flaunted an erection to female reporters in 2008.

Like his father, he provides a megaphone for Mike Cernovich, “the white nationalist and chauvinist author … who aligns himself with Trump, Yiannopoulos, and the alt-right and is fond of calling people ‘cucks’ and ‘pussies’”:

Flynn retweet
Michael Flynn retweets Mike Cernovich

 
And his father is Trump’s pick for National Security Advisor.

Both he and his father already have .gov email addresses.

 

3. #pizzagate is not a real thing

Instead, it is a meme, a rumor, born and spread by right-wing blogs, people on 4chan and Reddit, and Trump supporters.

For several weeks, Comet Ping Pong and its employees as well as other businesses in the area have been threatened on social media. The owner of Comet Ping Pong had to contact the FBI and local police. Local police have repeatedly stated that the restaurant is not under investigation.

The meme has been debunked over and over.

Yet Flynn Jr. continued to push this unholy untruth on Sunday, even after a deranged supporter thought it would be a good thing to shoot a rifle in a pizza restaurant. To go from Salisbury, NC, to Washington, DC — more than 300 miles — to check things out for himself.

Oh, and in case you aren’t familiar with 4chan:

 

4. The National Security Advisor position is not subject to Senate confirmation.

Just in case you thought there was a way out of this appointment. There’s not, if Trump is named president on December 19.

Wikipedia has a list of all national security advisors, a post-cold War position.

* Although this is the center of the web’s alt-right movement, I am not using that term.
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Follow me on Twitter @kegill