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Fact: Gen. Michael Flynn was used by Trump during the presidential campaign to shore up support among the Christian right, but was always seen as an albatross on Trump's shoulder that had to be gotten rid of after taking office.
An albatross as a metaphor is based on the poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, wherein the mariner kills an albatross, a sign of good luck, that had been following the ship. That led to the crew blaming the mariner for the bad luck visited upon them. Here the mariner laments his fate of being blamed by the crew for bad luck because of his killing the albatross:
Ah ! well a-day ! what evil looks
Had I from old and young !
Instead of the cross, the Albatross
About my neck was hung.
Like the mariner who shot the albatross and was blamed for bad luck - the getting rid of the symbol of the good luck of the Christian right, Gen. Flynn, is seemingly seen as a symbol of dread and bad luck by the Trumpian rebel cause. But Flynn's departure was always inevitable. He was only meant to be used during the campaign for his anti-establishment credentials. His incendiary politically incorrect views on Islam along with his antagonistic relationship with Obama's foreign-policy establishment, gave Trump a much needed sense of credibility to the armchair Christian-warrior types and ex-military who make up such a large percentage of Trump's support in the flyover states.
According to Seymour Hersh, Gen. Flynn while at the Pentagon worked against the ouster of Assad from Syria by secretly working to support Assad's forces and Russia against ISIS and the rebel groups. Apparently he believed that destroying the secular regimes of Iraq and Libya led to ISIS taking over, and that the same would occur in Syria. He worked against the Obama foreign-policy goal of isolating Syria and Russia, instead working with them to fight against what he sees as the real threat, Islam. He sees Islam, and not just the fundamentalist jihadist groups, but Islam itself, as a political terror organization masquerading as a religion. He has gone around on speaking tours of Christian groups in America saying those exact words and pushing that belief.
That view of a non-Christian religion is not all that uncommon among the Christian right; it is not uncommon to hear them demonize other religions as the work of Satan or label them evil pagan cults and so on. Hindus have been the recipients of those epithets for a long time by such diverse views as the Pope or Pat Robertson, what to speak of the history of the Jews in Christendom. They have a counterpart in the Muslim world as well; many Muslims similarly see any religion outside their own in the same way. That also is the root cause of the growing conflict between Muslims of one faith versus Muslims of another faith tearing apart the Middle East for the last 15 years.
Flynn's outspoken and paranoid Islamophobia, along with his anti-Obama foreign-policy bona fides, served Trump well during the campaign. Still, his departure from Trump's inner circle should have been seen as a foregone conclusion to any thoughtful observer were Trump ever to inhabit the White House. You simply cannot have good relations with the Saudis and the Gulf States who underwrite so much of the American economy, or have good relations with nuclear Pakistan or any other Muslim-majority country, if your leader's main foreign-policy advisor is someone so outspokenly offensive to all Muslims. Trump couldn't just neglect Flynn after he won since that would have been seen as a betrayal to the Christian right. But there was simply no way that Flynn could be kept on permanently. Trump had to offer him something and then hope the GOP would not confirm him.
But of course playing politics is something they know a little bit about, so of course they confirmed him. But Flynn still had to be removed and so the GOP laid that job at Trump's feet, and a fake blame was placed on THE DEEP STATE so that Trump could get rid of Flynn without upsetting the Christian right who saw in Flynn as a holy warrior ready to battle the dreaded Islamic takeover of the world. There would be no Sharia Law from Mordor darkening the doorsteps of Dixie if Flynn was in charge - which it appeared he was under Trump. GOP politicians were loath to be seen as part of Flynn's departure. So it really was quite clever how Trump's people pulled it off, by riling up the foolish media and incompetent democrats to gleefully play the villain in their little scripted set piece of "The Passion of the Flynn." Ha! Now Trump can play the underdog to the bullies.
Still, as transparent as that ruse was, Flynn's inevitable departure has caused a startling sense of dread and defeatism among Trumpian hopefuls of the non-Christian right variety, which to this writer is just as odd as the wonderfully bizarre scene unfolding daily in the mainstream media as they replay their hit new song-and-dance version of The Manchurian Candidate. Look guys and gals of the alternative media, this was not a defeat of Trump; this was a set up by Trump's people to get rid of someone who was never meant to be in the inner circle. I mean how do you deal with the Saudi and Gulf states who literally have trillions in sovereign wealth funds that they invest heavily in America and American corporations, and are so closely aligned and invested in American politics and the international corporate world - if Flynn is your foreign-policy major domo?
Do not think of this as a defeat for Trump; in fact it is just the opposite, a victory for Trump - since the blame of Flynn's departure has fallen on his political opposition, thereby making Trump the victim of the evil schemes of the Dark Side. So you can stop all your fretting about how Trump has lost the will to fight and given up in despair because he was forced to give in to Darth CNN and humbled himself in obeisance to the empire. If we look at the current situation with clear eyes we see the truth - Trump has the bully pulpit, and can therefore radically altar the current propaganda dynamic allied against him if he so chooses. Consider the following:
1. Trump can announce a number of Town Hall meetings to be televised, to put out to the nation his agenda, which would receive massive viewership.
2. Trump can bring onstage a number of highly credible and highly respected independent non-partisan experts in their fields - who then proceed to inform the nation what has really been going on in America and around the world. They can explain how the mainstream media has deceived us all every step of the way as partisan lackeys of the GOP and Democrat establishments; how the neocon and neoliberal agendas of the past have led us to where we are. There are many such experts who may not support Trump but also do not support the past Democrat or GOP partisanship in their respective damaging influence to America and the world. I could name a bunch off the top of my head who would do so if asked.
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