Leaders Who Listen: President Trump and General Flynn - 17th Analysis - 18 September 2019
18 September 2019 - #PardonFlynnNow Analysis
1) What a difficult thing I am asking of you. Not only to wrap your mind around the idea of petitioning the President of the United States to #PardonFlynnNow, but also to do it specifically by a #PardonOfInnocence. Before 2016, I'd have blown such a request off myself.
2) It was @GenFlynn who showed me, taught me really, that even I could have an impact. It was in August, 3 years ago, that he first called and introduced himself to me, as a result of receiving one of my analyses. I never dreamed I might speak to someone of his stature.
3) In my youth, I once had reason to reach out to a person of vast wealth and power - for business reasons, not political - and I choked completely. He was very kind and supportive, but I never managed to say a word when his secretary put me through to him. I wasn't ready.
4) He stayed on the phone with me for three eternally long minutes, trying to help me out. I never said a single word, not one. At the end he was so kind, he told me that he knew I had an idea and he wanted to hear it, so, if I might write it up, he would surely read it.
5) I of course never wrote up the idea. I simply realized I wasn't ready and let the moment go. That, for me, is the ultimate definition of choking in my life. I kind of love young me for that. I have certainly always forgiven myself for it and tell the story with joy.
6) I realize I must share, for those of you who don't know it, I have no college degree. I did well in college but did not graduate. I have no affiliations or connections. Well, I didn't before 2016 when I first got involved. I guess I do now, but my mind still hasn't caught up.
7) So, when Gen Flynn called me, telling me he had sent my analysis in to the inner circle of the Trump team with his full endorsement and no edits whatsoever, it was obviously a moment I'll never forget as long as I live. And guess what! I didn't choke. We spoke, extensively.
8) In the following weeks and months, I sent in somewhere over 300 analyses - at least - and Gen Flynn read every single one of them. I never knew what might happen after that. But when my wife and I were watching FOX in the evening, we often saw the following.
9) I'd look at @KateScopelliti and she'd say, yes, Pat, that's your analysis being executed again. @GenFlynn has the ability to accept an analysis from an absolute nobody, someone no one has ever heard of, and put into action, strategically and tactically.
10) As my name did get out, I was once invited to one of those famous teleconferences the high and mighty do all the time, with a high and mighty speaker. I won't name him, because he as a total ass on the call. The person who invited me wanted me to speak, so I did.
11) Listening for quite a while before any question and answer time was allowed, I realized how utterly foolhardy and, sorry, idiotic, the entire endeavor was. I asked a question designed to lead back to the track of effectiveness, and oh was I shut down, and hard.
12) That experience, being shut down in public for being a nobody, was what I had always imagined any, no, every attempt to reach up and have an impact would be met with. I knew I was a nobody, and really didn't dream that that could change.
13) I can readily assure you, the high and mighty person on the call was a far lower person of power on the great totem pole of politics than was Gen Flynn. There's a lesson in that. The good people respond. Not always in the way you might imagine, but they respond.
14) A point I've been making for a long time now is that @POTUS listens. Watch any rally you wish. The crowd ramps up. He shuts up. He turns to the people behind him (he always turns to his left) and warmly smiles to them. He claps for the audience. He listens.
15) In a recent rally he asked my great friend @Al_Baldasaro to stand up and recognized him as his favorite vet. You better bet @realDonaldTrump listens to the vets. He tests his ideas out on the crowd and listens for their response. He listens.
16) I hope my story encourages you. Yes, it is a bold move to request something of the President. There is a bone chilling littleness one feels in the presence of such awesome power. Yet, we are each of citizens in America and we have no kings. Oh, we have to talk about that.
17) The White House is, indeed, a royal palace. And it is filled with court intrigue. I've come to know something about that, personally, although I have never been there. We'll talk more about that, tomorrow. Palace intrigue is a critical part of our mission and must be faced.
18) I have to make reference now to my very first serious social media endeavor, the #ClearFlynnNow movement. It succeeded. And little old me, I started getting phone calls from the AP and the Washington Post and others of such ilk. Most such calls amounted to diddly squat.
19) In a few cases I did enjoy my 15 seconds of non-fame by being quoted. I even got a call by OAN to do an interview, spent an entire day in the endeavor, only to have my interview quashed for some unknowable but easily understandable reason. Ha!
20) All of which is simply to say, an outsider actually does have a chance to be heard, but it can't be expected to have much impact if you don't find the kind of mind like Gen Flynn's who can openly credit any source, if the source makes sense.
21) Social media is different. A hashtag is different. Every single time a hashtag is used matters, it counts, literally. During the #ClearFlynnNow movement, I attempt, and failed, to learn how to track hashtag usage. Evidently, it's not easy and those who do it charge a lot.
22) Since, so far, everything I've done has been as a volunteer, I have to do things at cost of labor, not cash. So, I wasn't able to get the info, but I know it trended, trended big and had an impact. How did that happen? @GenFlynn's supporters signed on and tweeted, that's how.
23) Can we do it again? I don't know. To request a pardon is a far more difficult thing than to request a clearance. The clearance might come from anywhere. A pardon can only come from one place. Yet, I urge you to consider your rights both as a citizen and here in social media.
24) I've discussed and analyzed every part of the process of a pardon, its logic and reason, and my truly wonderful friend and ally @TamaraLeigh_llc has posted all that, here, for your consideration:
25) I hope my story inspires you to speak your voice, no matter the idiots who won't listen. There are great souls like @GenFlynn who will. And perhaps we may persuade @POTUS to do the right thing and…
#PardonFlynnNow by a
#PardonOfInnocence