Revealed: Trump pardon recipients leading a 'MAGA movement in exile'

28 October 2024

By the time Donald Trump left the White House on January 20, 2021, he had issued a long list of presidential pardons.

The many Trump allies who were granted pardons included, among others, former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, ex-Maricopa County, Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio, "War Room" host Steve Bannon, and veteran GOP operatives Roger Stone and Paul Manafort.

In an article published on October 28, Slate's Molly Olmstead emphasizes that Trump allies who were granted pardons have continued to be prominent figures in the MAGA movement.

Some of these figures have now been hired by the Trump campaign," Olmstead explains. "Others have carved out careers as voices of the MAGA movement in exile, pushing the former president's lies about the 2020 election and grievances about the Biden Administration…. If Trump wins in November, this is a cohort that stands ready to return to power, and once again fall in line with Trump’s orders."

Olmstead points out that Flynn has made millions of dollars from his MAGA-related activities.

"For some years now," Olmstead observes, "he has held a touring conspiracy-theory spectacle called 'ReAwaken America,' in which he pushes QAnon-friendly ideas — often about 'globalists' scheming to stop Trump's work against the deep state — alongside other far-right celebrities and influencers. Flynn was pardoned for lying to the FBI about conversations he had had with the Russian ambassador while he was part of the Trump transition team in 2016; Trump's pre-pardon pressure campaign to protect Flynn was at the center of FBI Director James Comey's firing and Trump's obstruction-of-justice efforts detailed in the Mueller investigation."

Omstead adds, "Flynn's attempts to turn himself into a right-wing hero have paid off: According to the New York Times, Flynn and his family members have made at least $2.2 million off his various self-promotion ventures, including payments from a crowdsourced legal fund. He sells branded merchandise, including a series of 'FlynnLock' rifles. "

According to Olmstead, Bannon "stands out among the list of Trump's pardon recipients for his long-term planning."

"Trump's 2016 campaign chair and a senior strategist during his presidency, Bannon is perhaps singular among MAGA World pardon recipients in that he doesn't cling to the former president for political relevance," Olmstead writes. "Rather, Bannon, through his own media empire, pulls different strains of the far right together, teasing out and connecting their similar passions and paranoias."

Read Molly Olmstead's full article for Slate at this link.

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