It's Ken Harbaugh with the Midas Touch

Network. Happy new year everyone. 2025

is finally in the books and it was a

lot. A year into Trump's first term,

we've seen a dramatic expansion of

executive powers, attacks on the media

and political opponents, the gutting of

basic government functions, the

abandonment of science, and a retreat

from global leadership. There are a

million other things to lament. I could

not possibly cover them all. But we have

also seen push back, a resistance that

is finding its voice, judges that are

holding the line in what appears to be a

building blue tsunami leading into the

2026 elections. There are signs that

Trumpism is cracking. Chief among them

is the growing paranoia of Trump and

those around him. That itself presents a

huge danger to the country as Trump

lashes out at his political foes. But

those attacks are a sign of weakness,

not strength. Today, as we embark on a

new year full of both danger and hope, I

want to share with you one example of

the absurd paranoia driving Trumpism. On

Christmas Day, I got a text from Chris

Goldmith, the founder of Vets Fighting

Fascism, a regular guest on this show,

and one of my closest friends. That

morning, Christmas morning, Mike Flynn

had put out to his 2 million followers

on Twitter that he had just asked Cash

Patel, head of the FBI, to investigate

Chris, quote, "Without mercy." That

provoked exactly the kind of response

from Flynn's followers that you would

expect. I'll let Chris tell the story,

but I want to go into it bearing this in

mind. When people like Mike Flynn and

Donald Trump make these kinds of

threats, it's a sign of weakness. It's

what bullies do. We've talked to those

on the receiving end, Mark Kelly, Miles

Taylor, Alex Vinman, Chris Goldmith.

They know what it's really about. And I

firmly believe that this will be the

year, 2026, when Americans on mass begin

to see Trump and Flynn and the entire

MAGA movement for the terrified bullies

they truly are. Here's me and Chris

Goldmith. Chris, welcome to the show. We

might actually make some news today

because for all of our hypotheticals

about the strategies and tactics of the

far right in coming after researchers

and those who expose disinformation and

how the the fascist networks work. It's

no longer hypothetical, right? They're

they're coming at Well, they have come

after you for a long time, but this one

is pretty specific. It's from General

Mike Flynn himself, and it was dropped

on Christmas Day. I mean, that to me is

is where to start. Like, that these guys

have nothing better to do. And let's not

ignore Donald Trump's Christmas Day

rant. I mean, it is it is really a sign

of how desperately alone and pathetic

the leaders of this movement are. Can

you give us the background on what's

going on and the the seriousness of it?

Yeah. So, the evening of Christmas,

December 25th, I had a friend text me to

ask me if I was okay. Um, which I didn't

know what they were talking about. And

they pointed me to a post on Elon Musk's

Twitter where General Flynn namechecked

me and was calling me a Marxist and uh

said that he had called Cash Patel, the

FBI director, and Susie Wilds, the um

chief of staff at the White House, and

asked them personally to investigate me

fully and without mercy. And the reason

for this is because uh a fascist Twitter

account tagged him in videos um that I

have done on your show uh where I'm

talking about General Flynn and his role

in the insurrection. Uh, this resulted

in countless death threats. Uh, lots and

lots of Flynn's followers uh, calling me

a Jew, calling me a Marxist, saying that

they should bring back firing squads,

asking for my address and the address of

of my family members, uh, and and

basically saying uh, pretty explicitly

that if they were to find me, they would

kill me. That that is what my Christmas

was like because General Flynn uh this

disgraced former general and convicted

felon um who has been painting himself

as a Christian like that is core to his

identity. That that's how he spent

Christmas stirring up an insane mob.

>> There's two elements of this strategy

when they come after folks like you.

We've talked to Miles Taylor about this

who's experienced it personally. We've

talked to Alex Vinman, countless others

who have crossed the regime and people

close to the regime. Step one is the

levers of the state and this threat, the

call from Mike Flynn to Susie Wilds and

Cash Patel to investigate you quote

without mercy. But step two, and they

know it's part of it, is the mob. And

it's unleashing those uh those death

threats and the doxing and that that

ultimate pressure point which is

physical violence against enemies of the

regime.

>> Yeah. And and this is something that I

am I I've been prepared for though it is

it is always disturbing when it happens.

It's never a surprise because I have

been actively

fighting fascists in a very literal way

uh for for half a decade [clears throat]

now. Uh it started in 2020 when I

infiltrated my first extremist

organization uh Patriot Front which is a

neo-Nazi organization who wants to make

the United States a white ethnostate

through mass deportations and murder if

that doesn't work. Um which which is

genocide. That is the definition of

genocide.

I since I first saw this problem up

close and and personal when I

infiltrated this organization, I have

not been able to look away and it it is

it saddens me. I think General Flynn,

this disgraced former general, has been

off his rocker for quite some time, but

he is explicitly aligning himself with

with Nazis, with swastika flying

neo-Nazis because they find common cause

in coming after me because I am not a

fascist like they are. Uh the man has

has fallen and continues to fall

and I I welcome any sort of government

investigation. This has happened to a

lot of friends of mine. Uh Nina

Jenkowitz has been harassed by Jim

Jordan and uh his weaponization

committee which is so aptly named. uh

Imran Ahmed uh who runs the Center for

Countering Digital Hate uh who is in the

United States, lives here, uh has a

family, has a green card. They are

trying to

>> deport him uh because he was

highlighting how swastika flying

neo-Nazis were proliferating all over

Elon Musk's Twitter. So I'm my friends,

my colleagues uh from this industry have

been experiencing this for years and

you know what I I am fine with being

investigated. I I will talk to my

contacts at the FBI gladly and hand them

all of the data that I have on Flynn and

Cash Patel and anyone else because I

don't think that the extremist

connections that the current FBI

director Cash Patel uh that he has have

been well reported.

Hey everyone, it's Ken. Quick break for

a shameless pitch for my Substack and

Patreon pages. To all of you who have

subscribed, thank you. Your support is

what makes this show possible. Anytime

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it's trips to Ukraine to show you what

is really happening on the ground or my

recent conversations with Congressman

Jason Crowe and Senator Tammy Duckworth,

where we got on there commitments to

back hearings into ISIS abuses of power.

People need to know that we're taking

names.

>> All of this only happens with your

support. Every dollar that comes in

through Substack and Patreon goes back

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coming up, you can give gift

subscriptions as well. The links are

below. Thanks for everything. Your

support means the world to me. Back to

the show. The paranoia oozes out of Mike

Flynn. And you see Mike Flynn suggesting

that you may have met whoever this

butler character is at the CIA, [snorts]

which I guess is illustrative on a

couple levels. One, deeply paranoid.

Two, deeply ignorant that a threear

general wouldn't know who Smemedley

Butler is.

>> Should be pretty embarrassing.

>> Yeah. Mike Mike Flynn before he was the

national security adviser was was the

director of national intelligence, the

DNI um under Obama. The the man is is

not a nobody. He he is someone who is

well read. Um and it is difficult for me

as someone who has followed him pretty

closely and again I'm not spying on him.

He posts all of this stuff online. I'm

just reading what he posts. It's

difficult for me to tell if this is all

a grift

um or if he has had something go wrong

in the last decade and a half or so with

his brain and uh with his psychology

that has sent him in this direction

because it all seems so absurd. a man

who is so well educated, who is so um

who has been so exposed to the way that

the military and the way that the um

intelligence industry works, which I am

not an official part of. I'm I'm a

self-taught investigator. Uh that

for him to look at me as some sort of

threat to him, it just seems it seems

really silly that he would believe that

I'm a threat to him.

Um, but again, Mike Flynn painting

himself as a victim is part of

encouraging this cult to come after me,

to physically threaten me, and and to

potentially murder me. This has

historical parallels. the Nazis, uh the

the fascists of of Mussolini's

um Italy. All of these fascist regimes

rely on conspiracy theories, be it about

the Jews or uh the Roma or uh or anyone

else. They have these conspiracy

theories that are central to their

belief system. And it it requires the

dehumanization, the otherization of

other people which justifies violence in

their minds. General Flynn knows this

because he has studied history. He's a

well-educated man. He has multiple

degrees. He is someone who was in the

defense uh intelligence industry for his

entire career. The man knows what

insurgencies

are fueled by and and religious fervor

which he has created over the years by

blending his Christianity with his

leadership in this QAnon movement is

exactly that.

>> I am sure that when threats like General

Flynn are leveled at people like you,

their thinking is that the intimidation

will work. Because all too often,

especially when it's leveled at American

institutions, and this is deeply

>> frustrating and disappointing, it does

work. When it's leveled against law

firms or universities, they cave. They

don't want the hassle. They don't want

the pressure. But I think one of the

things we're learning is that the

strength of American democracy only

partly resides in the institutions. It

really rests in, to quote our framers,

and the souls of men, right? men and

women and in in the ability of people

like you to push back. When they came

after Miles Taylor, his council told

him, "Lay low, don't make a fuss." And

he did just the opposite. Uh he fought

back and and it's working. When they

came after Alex Vinman, he wrote a book.

When they came after the people you're

talking about, they didn't take it. And

I think that is the only response in a

situation like this. I'm sure General

Flynn will be just as surprised uh that

that you're pushing back as he is that

Smmedley Butler is an American hero

[snorts] and not some undercover CIA

agent.

>> Yeah. And and I hope that General Flynn

uh spends some time looking into my work

because I think he'll he'll if if he may

hate it, but I think he'll appreciate

it. And the next episode of the

onoffense podcast, which you can listen

to anywhere uh that you get your

podcasts or on YouTube at the Valor

Media Network, the next episode that I'm

going to release is about Smmedley

Butler and the fascist plot that that he

helped to foil. Uh, and it is an

interview with with journalist and

historian Jonathan MCatz who worked for

the AP was uh was stationed in Haiti and

and wrote a book about Smemedley Butler

that anyone who's seen me is familiar

with because I keep it in my background.

Um,

Smemedley Butler traveled around the

world uh at a time when the United

States was building kind of a corporate

empire and knocking down democratically

elected leaders. When he came home and

took off the uniform, he came to regret

that action. And he is he's most well

known for writing the book, a very brief

book, which is a speech called War is a

Racket. That's what most Americans

probably know him for. But at the time

he was the most decorated Marine Corps

um Marine in history. He was twice

awarded the Medal of Honor. He lied to

join the Marine Corps at 16 years old uh

to fight in the SpanishAmerican War. uh

he and Jonathan Katz followed in

Butler's footsteps basically a hundred

years later uh and and wrote about the

lasting impacts that this kind of war of

empire has on these regions and the

imperial boomerang that results from

these kinds of of wars of of uh of

empire of uh of expansion. And this is

not just a a phenomenon that occurs with

veterans with participants in the war.

It's something that happens with our

society. Kathleen Belaloo, who you

interviewed extensively for the Against

All Enemies documentary. Um, this is the

thesis of her her book, uh, Bring the

War Home, where when we go on on these

wars of adventure, our culture here at

home starts to turn in on itself, turn

against its own democracy

>> physically. It becomes more violent,

>> right? That's when you see a rise in

militias, militia activity. Uh you see a

rise in the cooperation between militias

and elected officials. You see the

radicalization of policies uh from the

farright. We are experiencing that right

now after longest period of war that

America has ever been in the global war

on terror that lasted 20 years between

Iraq and Afghanistan. Well, Chris, I'm

glad we're ending with the the onoffense

teaser because this one's going to be

great. We'll put the link to the show in

the notes below. Uh the the show is

doing incredibly well, but everyone

should go check it out. As Chris said,

anywhere you get your podcast or even

better on YouTube on the uh the Valor

channel. Thanks, Chris.

>> Yeah. And and let me make a very

specific ask. Please make sure you're

downloading every single episode. Listen

to it, watch it on YouTube. This is so

important. And rate it everywhere that

you see it. If you see it on YouTube,

you know, give it a like. If you see it

on uh on Spotify, where we're also

posting videos, if you listen to it on

Spotify or Apple Podcasts, rate us five

stars. Share the show with your friends

because that is the only way that we can

maintain this pace to to continue doing

this. My goal is to make Chris Goldsmith

not essential for democracy. I I I want

to make myself obsolete because I want

to train Americans how to fight fascism

and not need me anymore. But we need to

work to get there.

>> Same. Thanks, Chris. See you soon.

>> Thanks, brother.

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