Thread by @bansisharma

1. Michael Flynn Revisited (Many Will Hate Me For Even Thinking This)

No matter how hard I try, I cannot escape a conclusion that is equal parts infuriating, befuddling, and ultimately uplifting to me. This is pure speculation, so feel free to ignore this thread completely.

2. From the day Michael Flynn was shown the door by the White House, I have puzzled over this countless times. Nothing I have read in the press, or heard from anyone close to the president, and even the President himself, or Mueller, has ever added up for me.

3. What Comey said on MSNBC (i.e. he would not have been able to trap Flynn in a Bush or Obama administration, like he did in the early days of the Trump administration) has a surreal and unhinged quality to it. He may be a liar but I don't believe he is clinically insane.

4. And by all accounts, even Flynn's fiercest critics concede that Flynn was a master intelligence officer and his service record in Iraq and Afghanistan was exceptionally competent and exemplary, and the nation owes him a debt of gratitude.

5. And then to think this national hero was investigated under a 200 year old all but moribund statute (Logan's Act) in an unprecedented manner (no one has ever been convicted in our history under that statute) and charged with a process crime (lying to the FBI). Sounds flimsy.

6. But to top it all, he was summarily fired by President Trump for lying to Mike Pence with a most perfunctory protestation and statement of support.

7. Whatever else you might say about Trump, he not only demands fierce loyalty, he is fiercely loyal in return to the people who are loyal to him. And Flynn has been nothing but loyal to him, from everything that is publicly known.

8. And lastly, Flynn himself almost immediately confessed to lying to the FBI when even the FBI agents who interviewed him (themselves among the fiercest critics of President Trump and his associates) have apparently admitted that they didn't think he lied.

9. And Mueller kept requesting a postponement for Flynn's sentencing, and finally formally recommended a light sentence in the light of Flynn's service to the country.

10. Everyone from Trump to Mueller to Flynn himself seems to want the Flynn saga to receive as little attention as possible. This is so out of pattern with everything else that I am compelled to think we are being played, not with a malicious intent, but being played nonetheless.

11. So how to explain this highly anomalous situation? Here's what I think (pure speculation): Michael Flynn, a national hero, in a moment of weakness ended up doing something egregiously foolish for which incontrovertible evidence exists, but only three people have ever seen it.

12. I suspect the evidence is damning but so sensitive that any exposure of it creates a grave national security risk. Consequently, the only three people who have seen it are: Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and Michael Flynn.

13. Obama personally spoke to Trump about it and they both agreed the best way to handle the situation is with extreme discretion and with a relatively innocuous public admission of a relatively small crime to remove Flynn from the White House with speed.

14. Everyone else, including Mueller and Comey, is simply doing what they have been told to do. Nobody else knows the whole truth. For his part, Flynn agreed to go quietly and never to protest. If pressed, he will simply say he wants to put it behind him for his family's sake.

15. If what I have speculated has any truth to it, I personally believe all three main players (Obama, Trump, Flynn) have acted extremely patriotically. Flynn is honorably doing penance for his mistake, and Obama and Trump put the nation's interest above all else.

16. If what I have speculated is true, I am actually filled with admiration for all three of them. It renews my faith that despite all appearances/theater to the contrary, the people at the helm of our nation, deep down, are wise and unquestionably patriotic.

The End