With Donald Trump, nothing is as it seems.

The Michael Flynn episode exemplifies the elusive, unpredictable and deadly nature of the high stakes conflict that continues to unfold.

What is obvious and beyond question is that President Trump is at war with the Deep State in all of its forms, including significant factions of the American intelligence and law enforcement community, the mainstream media (largely controlled by the CIA), and virtually the entire political establishment. Trump is clearly viewed as an existential threat to their criminal enterprise. This apparatus, on every level, is engaged in a coup d’etat.

What is not clear, and extremely difficult to assess, is the nature of Trump’s response to his enemies. Also not clear is the internal state of his administration.

Foes as well as allies have been kept off balance.

Flynn: the lightning rod

Michael Flynn was central to the Trump foreign policy.

Flynn headed the Defense Intelligence Agency under Obama, and brought a wealth of inside knowledge of the intelligence community to his brief, action-packed stint as national security adviser. Flynn, a registered Democrat, is an outspoken critic of the Obama/Clinton foreign policy, and of the CIA’s deliberate use of Al-Qaeda/ISIS/Al-Nusra terrorists in Syria. He sought major reforms to the politicized intelligence community. He pushed for better relations with Russia, and sought to expose and undo the Obama administration’s dealings with Iran.

The controversial Flynn is a hero to the Trump support base. He is for “locking up” Hillary Clinton, and “draining the swamp”.

Trump respects Flynn, and seemed to have no issues with Flynn’s combative style. He was controversial during his tenure under Obama before he joined Trump, and controversial during the campaign and throughout the election. Trump tapped Flynn as national security adviser instead of another cabinet post, to save Flynn from having to go through a brutal congressional approval (that he likely would not have passed).

What changed?

A curious resignation

The Flynn episode has been described as a cover-up without a crime.

Flynn broke no laws. He was cleared by the FBI, as detailed in this Washington Post article. (The Washington Post is among the leading anti-Trump organs.) Flynn acted appropriately and within his authority as the incoming national security adviser, and did not (as opposition propaganda claims) negotiate sanctions while on the phone with the Russian ambassador.

Transcripts bear this out.

Trump himself has repeatedly maintained that Flynn did his job. Why was Flynn asked to resign?

According to the official White House line, Trump and Vice President Mike Pence were not pleased with the manner of Flynn’s communication.

Was Flynn’s resignation merely a matter of internal protocol? A chemistry problem or power struggle within the Trump inner circle? If so, what was the nature of this internal problem, and why wasn’t it handled internally?

Who and what forced a dramatic and publicly damaging scandal?

“Blood in the water”

As succinctly described by Julian Assange of WikiLeaks, “an amazing battle for dominance is playing out between the elected US government and the intelligence community that considers itself to be the “permanent government”. The Flynn ouster was the result of a “destabilization campaign by US spies, Democrats and press”.

In the view of the Deep State, a major victory was achieved with Flynn’s ouster, which decapitated the Trump administration even before it has even been fully formed. Trump lost a key member of his inner circle, and the rest will soon fall. Trump has shown grave weakness, and this weakness will be attacked with relish and severe violence.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the intelligence community is withholding intelligence information from Trump. (Trump and his ODNI deny this.)  Obama loyalists in particular is working against him.

According to Glenn Greenwald, the Deep State leakers who exposed Flynn committed felonies to get at him. The Deep State is now even more emboldened and empowered.

In the words of former congressman Dennis Kucinich, “something wrong is going on here with the intelligence community, which “wants to reignite the Cold War between the United States and Russia so that military, industrial and intelligence axis can cash in”. “Wake up America!”

According to Bloomberg’s Eli Lake, the Flynn episode was a “political assassination”, in which Trump “caved to his bureaucratic and political opposition”.

CNN (the voice of the CIA and the political establishment) has declared that the network will not let go of the Flynn/Russian narrative. Obviously it will be mined for material towards a growing impeachment effort by the Democrats and anti-Trump Republicans.

One by one, the CIA/media can simply scandalize every member of the Trump cabinet, and Trump himself, until finally Trump himself is removed.

There is “blood in the water”.  Like piranha, Trump’s foes are in a frenzy.

But is Trump, in fact, “on the ropes”? Or did Trump pull a Muhammad Ali “rope a dope”?

Tables turned

Following a full day of media onslaught, Trump took to Twitter.  He quickly set up a news conference , during which he publicly reversed the narrative in aggressive fashion.

Leaks are the real story.

Trump: the real story is the illegal leaks (Zero Hedge)

Leaks. Not Flynn, not problems within the administration, not “Russia”.

“The leaks are real. The news is fake.”

Was it a sting operation?

The intriguing speculation, not reported in the mainstream media, is that the entire Flynn scenario could have been an elaborate sting operation, a trap set by Trump deliberately to expose leakers, as part of a larger operation being directed against Deep State.

This operation, in turn, is part of the “draining the swamp” agenda; the long awaited sweeping cleanup campaign to flush out the political establishment.

There are several accounts also argue persuasively that it was a sting operation:

Ousting General Flynn elaborate ruse to expose leakers (Zero Hedge)

Is the Flynn resignation a sting?

Leakers Beware (Trump Leak operation timeline)

According to a detailed analysis (citing Russian intelligence sources), the Flynn episode was “canary trap”—classic spycraft– set up in advance by Trump and Flynn, in coordination with the FBI and other branches of intelligence and law enforcement, to expose and catch leakers and corrupt media figures working on behalf of the Deep State:

FBI Sweep puts US media in terror

Flynn was concurrently running operations targeting major international drug trafficking networks connected to the CIA, Islamic militants, and the Clintons.

Robin Townley, a Flynn aide who was engaged in this operation, was suddenly denied security clearance by the CIA, despite Townley previously having had security clearance for years.

The CIA created the Flynn/Russia scandal as retaliation.

Trump “Shadow Move” of General Michael Flynn

According to the above account, it is believed or rumored that Flynn and his team remain operational, working in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research. This suggests that Flynn’s was not really “fired”, but moved to a more covert role, for practical reasons.

The official US Treasury sanction about the most recent case against the network of Samark Jose Lopez Bello headed by Flynn, dated February 13, 2017, can be seen here:

https://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/as0005.aspx?src=ilaw

The Flynn trap/operation is not over (the media has not stopped tossing around purposely leaked material). It may not be the only sting operation that the Trump administration has in the works.

According to Jack Posobiec of Citizens for Trump, and a strong Trump supporter, Trump successfully used sting operations throughout his presidential campaign and the election. In Posobiec’s view, the story of Trump’s plan to use the National Guard to round up immigrants was intentionally planted. The Associated Press has been caught with this trap.

Further evidence of a massive cleanup campaign—the long awaited “swamp draining”— includes the “bloodbath” firing of 7th floor State Department officials by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, and the dismissal of numerous staff employees, allegedly for failing to pass background checks.

Craig Deare, senior NSC official, was just fired for expressing opinions counter to Trump’s agenda.

Yemen

Flynn’s role behind the Yemen raid could also have triggered CIA retaliation. This high-risk operation resulted in the death of 14 Al-Qaeda militants (including top operational personnel), 25 civilians, and Navy Seal William “Ryan” Owens, and the wounding of six US soldiers.

Although details remain cloaked, the Yemen raid appears to have pitted Special Forces/Navy Seals against Al-Qaeda. Given the fact that Al-Qaeda is a CIA front, the firefight was essentially, the Trump military-intelligence team against the CIA itself.

The target appears to have been tipped off, resulting in the Special Forces/Seal team meeting with fierce resistance. (Did the CIA tip off its own assets in Yemen?)

Although heavily criticized by mainstream media as “botched” and a “disaster”, the administration saw it as a “huge success” that achieved its main objective, which was intelligence documents to aid future anti-terror campaigns.. The Seal team came away with a “treasure trove” of intelligence on computer drives, cell phones and files.

Did Flynn and his team act on the intelligence contained in the files?  Did this further infuriate the CIA, adding impetus to the campaign against him?

The pedophilia connection 

To add to the bizarre nature of the Flynn ouster, there is a connection to pedophilia, or Pizzagate.

In the wake of Flynn’s ouster, Hillary Clinton could not resist posting a nasty comment on Twitter, and reposting a nasty tweet from her functionary, Philippe Reines:

Dear Mike Flynn and Mike Flynn Jr, What goes around COMET around. And given your pizza obsession… jobs.dominos.com/dominoscareer...

Hillary Clinton: Philippe’s got his own way of saying things, but he has a point about the real consequences of fake news…

What is she referring to? In November 2016, Flynn expressed support for the New York Police Department’s investigation of email evidence of Hillary Clinton’s possible involvement in “money laundering and sex crimes with children”. His son, Michael G. Flynn (the elder Flynn’s son and top aide to his father) also expressed support for these investigations.

The John Podesta emails exposed by Wikileaks has exposed what appears to be significant evidence of the high level pedophilia network of the Washington establishment, and more specifically, the part of a network involving Podesta and Clinton/Democratic Party operatives, pizza chains across the country, and in particular, Comet Ping-Pong and Pizza in Washington DC. Numerous independent investigators have continued to doggedly pursue this evidence, despite fierce and malicious political cover-up and severe backlash.

Clinton could have chosen to stay silent on the matter. But she could not resist jabbing at Flynn—not over “Russia”, not about Trump, but Pizzagate.

Why did she go out of her way to call attention to this?

Flynn suffered “real consequences” for something that is “not real”?

Turmoil in the Trump inner circle: conflicting views

Despite continuous warnings of Trump loyalists, Trump has surrounded himself with what would appear to be enemies: Republican neocons and NeverTrumpers. He has filled the “swamp” more than he has “drained” it.

Does Trump believe co-opting and winning over the establishment puts him in a more powerful position? How does he weigh this calculation against the desires of his anti-globalist/anti-establishment base?

There is disagreement even among Trump’s base as to what is going on. The loss of Flynn was a major blow. Trump is surrounded by neocons, led by Pence. Steve Bannon and Kellyanne Conway are the last remaining Trump loyalists in the inner circle.

Has the Trump administration been penetrated and compromised?

Chief of staff Reince Priebus, former RNC chairman, is viewed by an increasing number of Trump loyalists as the main inside threat. According to Breitbart, Priebus is the key mole. He is accused of purposely not rolling out executive orders, slowing down confirmation of cabinet nominees, and doing nothing about a network of Obama “sleeper cells” as they continue to subvert the administration. Trump, according to Breitbart coverage, has been actively  working to replace Priebus.

Pence and Priebus drive the decision to oust Flynn according to Fox News, over the objections of Bannon and Conway, who believed Flynn should have stayed on.

According to Jerome Corsi of Infowars, Priebus is not only a mole, but the “chief leaker”, and should be next to go.

Mike Cernovich as well as Alex Jones and Roger Stone all see Priebus as a threat. Priebus’ allegiance is to the Republican neocons, and he is actively working against Trump.

Deputy Chief of Staff Katie Walsh has been identified as a possible leaker and is under investigation.

On a February 19 appearance on NBC’s Meet the Press, Priebus placed all of the blame on Flynn. Flynn is characterized as dishonest.

The threat of Pence

Vice President Mike Pence is not only a Republican neocon, but specifically a Bush neocon. Pence recently attended the Super Bowl with George H.W. Bush, fawning over the man he claims to idolize. What did Pence discuss with Poppy Bush the arch-criminal, and the leader of the crime apparatus that has not wavered in its desire  to have Trump destroyed?

Pence supports all things Bush. His is the profile of a Trump enemy. He supported the Patriot Act, the Iraq War, is pro-torture (opposes the closing of Guantanamo Bay), and supports war in the Middle East and is hawkish on Russia. He supported the toppling of Libya, and thanked Hillary Clinton for doing it. He supports globalization and free trade, supported NAFTA and CAFTA. He is a corporatist who opposes banking and campaign finance reforms, who praised the criminal Supreme Court ruling in the Citizens United case that made corporations people. He and Trump have openly disagreed on Russia—differences that the administration has casually dismissed.

Pence wanted Flynn out. Does Pence call the Trump foreign policy shots? Was Pence against Flynn’s covert operations? Does Pence override Tillerson, Mattis, etc.?

In a February 18 speech at the Munich Security Conference, Pence boasted that the US would be “unwavering” in its commitment to NATO and would “stand with Europe”. He also issued threats towards Russia: “Know this: the US will continue to hold Russia accountable!”

This bellicose establishment stance reverses Trump’s rhetoric (which was echoed by Flynn) calling for better relations with Russia, and antagonism towards NATO, which Trump had called “obsolete”. Pence’s view is in sharp contrast to Trump’s frustration that better relations with Moscow are being undermined by the anti-Russia propaganda. But here is his vice president, spewing this propaganda.

Is the Trump-Pence contradiction a “good cop/bad cop” ruse, or is there genuine conflict going on?

Pence is ideally placed to do to Trump what George H.W. Bush did to Ronald Reagan, or what Lyndon B.Johnson did to John F. Kennedy. If Trump is removed from office, Bush-loving, Russia-bashing Pence becomes president.

(And who would a President Pence want as his vice president? Jeb Bush?)

A former CIA operative’s explosive view 

In an explosive interview on the Alex Jones Show, former CIA operative Robert David Steele issued the following opinions:

• The NSA has been spying on citizens, while the CIA has been leaking, and both are part of a coup d’état.
• Reince Priebus is “the Judas in the White House”, enabling and covering up pedophilia.
• (Note: in a previous interview for RT, Steele also named Priebus as part of CIA penetration of Trump.)
• Julian Assange “can take down the Republican Party and Priebus specifically”.
• Having investigated pedophilia for over a decade, Steele stated that “pedophilia is an acquired taste for Democrats”, and that the likes of John Podesta are “pedophilia lite” compared to the Republicans, the banking elite, and the Saudis.
• Pedophilia is the Achilles Heel of the system, and “Trump has figured that out”.
• Corporate foundations and their anarchists are planning massive anarchy and rioting to begin in the spring and into the summer, including a huge event in Washington DC in May.

Specifically in regards to Michael Flynn:

• “Flynn got in trouble because he became too arrogant and tried to tell Mattis and Tillerson what to do.”
• But the reason he was fired, according to Steele, was that Flynn was set to expose a list of Washington pedophiles. One of the names on his list was “Mike Pence’s best friend”.

Steele did not name Pence’s friend. Who was it?

All is well according to Trump

The Trump administration has steadfastly dismissed all criticisms and all suspicions about his cabinet.

In his news conference of February 16, Trump maintained that his administration was “running like a fine-tuned machine” and that there is “zero chaos”. He also repeated his high confidence in Reince Priebus, who is “doing a phenomenal job”.

In his latest Twitter, Trump posted:

“Don’t believe the main stream (fake news) media. The White House is running VERY WELL. I inherited a mess and am in the process of fixing it.”

Trump continued his attack on the media in a February 19 rally.

According to The Hill, Bannon is outraged at accusations that he and Priebus are in any way at odds, and objects to the view being put forth by Breitbart, his former publication.

Former intelligence operative Steve Pieczenik dismisses the Flynn ouster as a routine, pragmatic move. According to Pieczenik, all personnel are eventually “disposable”. He believes that Flynn was never meant to be in the cabinet for very long. In his view, the controversy is exaggerated.

Senator Paul Ryan, leader of the establishment Republicans and considered a bitter NeverTrumper enemy by Trump loyalists, is making conciliatory noises, as if he is on board with Trump.

Ryan’s interview on Fox with Sean Hannity is the first in which he has sounded positively jovial about the Trump agenda. When asked by Hannity about the fact that Ryan and Trump are considered adversarial, Ryan brushed it off as “the past”. Why is Ryan suddenly conciliatory?

Who now replaces Flynn as Trump’s national security adviser? Another neocon.

The list narrows down to three candidates: current acting national security adviser Keith Kellogg, Army strategist H.R. McMaster, and the maniacal former George W. Bush UN Ambassador John Bolton.

Robert Harward (Lockheed Martin, former George W. Bush NSC official) turned down the job after he demanded his own staff (Trump refused to fire remnants of the Flynn team, including K.T. McFarland).

Towards the unexpected

 The Deep State is not “deep”. The Shadow Government is not hidden. The criminality is out in the open like never before, and it is all aimed at Trump.

Open, “government-sponsored” publicly-encouraged sedition and treason. Open calls for a coup d’etat. Open calls for anarchy, domestic terrorism, and mass hysteria.

Is Trump in danger, or is he in control? Is he in the process of being subverted and toppled, or is he successfully waging a war of deception and surprise?

We have entered uncharted territory, with the future of humanity at stake.

Everything in play. Nothing is clear.