ELEVEN MINUTES

Eleven minutes!  That is all the time it took for Michael Flynn choose self-gratification over the constitution he swore to protect and defend.

Donald Trump had taken the oath of office and was in the middle of his inaugural address.  Michael Flynn, the National Security Advisor to the President of the United States, was seated on the riser behind the podium.  A place of honor among the most powerful dignitaries in government.

Picture yourself in Michael Flynn’s position on that historic day.

As National Security Advisor, Flynn was the most powerful man in the most powerful intelligence community in the most powerful country in the world.  As NSA Flynn would have clearance to review America’s most highly guarded code word secrets.  As NSA he would be responsible for filtering through all the daily intelligence briefs and presenting the president a thorough and accurate outline of the impending threats to our national security.  Flynn’s briefings would provide the cornerstone for American foreign policy and thereby play in integral role in determining world history.

Michael Flynn could certainly be excused if as he looked out over the throng on the National Mall he became overwhelmed with the huge responsibility that now rested on his shoulders. He could be excused for feeling a deep sense of pride over a long distinguished military career that led him to this historic moment in time.  Perhaps even a deep sense of patriotic duty that he would do his best for his president and his country.

Michael Flynn may have been experiencing all of those thoughts and emotions on that historic January day.

Just not eleven minutes after President Trump swore his oath of office:  “So help me, God.”

Eleven minutes after the president completed his oath, Michael Flynn, while seated behind the podium among the most powerful dignitaries in government,  was texting his business associate that their plan to partner with Russian commercial interests to sell nuclear power plants across the Middle East was “good to go” because the economic sanctions in place against Russia prohibiting such a plan would be “ripped up” within Trump’s first week in office.

Eleven minutes.  That is all it took for Michael Flynn to throw the American people under the bus.

Twenty four days later Michael Flynn was fired.  Fired for allegedly lying to Vice President Pence about the nature of a call Flynn made to the Russian ambassador.  A call in which he undermined the foreign policy of the sitting president.

We know now that the reason given for Flynn’s firing was a lie.  Just one lie among a host of other lies propagated by this administration to cover up a long series of contacts between the Trump campaign, transition team and administration and the Russian government.  A police lineup of lying Trump administration officials including the president’s son, son-law, campaign manager, national security advisor, vice president and the president himself.

The litany of lies resulted in the appointment of a Special Prosecutor with unlimited authority to investigate possible collusion or cooperation between the Trump campaign and transition teams and the Russian government.  Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller’s investigation began to make members of the Trump team very very nervous.  One of those very nervous nellies was Michael Flynn.

A short time after Flynn was fired his lawyer approached the congressional investigative committees in search of an immunity deal in exchange for testimony.  “Michael Flynn has a story to tell.”  Said his lawyer.  “And he is anxious to tell it.”  The congressional committees were not interested but the Special Prosecutor was.  Michael Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI in exchange for immunity from a host of federal charges.  In exchange Flynn promised to cooperated fully with the Special Prosecutor, all federal law enforcement agencies and all state and local authorities investigating the activities of the Trump team.

Flynn’s indictment and guilty pleading unleashed a firestorm of criticism from the far right.  The target…Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller.  Sean Hannity and the Fox News crew are portraying Mueller as biased and corrupt.  Republican politicians have piled on.  They see the Mueller probe as nothing more than a political witch hunt designed to obstruct the agenda of the duly elected Republican president and his colleagues in the Republican controlled congress.  This tribalism is so ingrained that they are willing to throw their support behind a senatorial candidate that has been accused of statutory rape and stalking  underage girls.

The accusations of political bias are unfounded.  The Mueller team has been quiet as church mice; sealing off all leaks and avoiding the press.  The only bias evident is a affinity for the facts and the rule of law.  The only information that has found its way to the media are leaks from members of the Trump team who have found themselves under interrogation by Mueller’s investigators.  The only information coming directly from the persecutors office has been the announcement of four criminal indictments and two plea deals.

But the truth doesn’t matter to this Republican Party. Neither do once treasured values of responsibility, integrity, honesty and ethics.  This mornings’ New York Times features  a must read column by David Brooks titled: “The G.O.P. is Rotting.”  In the column Brooks writes:  “The rot afflicting the G.O.P.  is comprehensive – moral, intellectual, political and reputational.”

I concur.  How else do you explain a cruel tax reform bill that will fill the coffers of the rich while devastating the middle class and working poor?  How else do you explain the election of a president who brags about his sexual misconduct or the RNC support of a candidate credibly accused of pedophilia?  How do you explain the withering onslaught of lies and misrepresentations directed at a Special Prosecutor who has spent his entire unimpeachable career in service of his country and who has exhibited zero evidence of any bias except to the rule of law?

David Brooks got it right.  The Republican Party is rotting.  It took Michael Flynn a mere eleven minutes to trade country for personal monetary gain.

Michael Flynn has a story to tell.  I bet he does.  Odds are it starts with something like:  “The rot begins at the head.”