‘Flynn’ Portrays the Christian Nationalist Evangelist’s Fight With the Deep State

Flynn was one of the biggest proponents of the “Stop the Steal” conspiracy and spoke at an event in Washington, D.C., the day before the riot. When Flynn was deposed by the House Committee investigating the riot, he repeatedly took the fifth in response to questions about whether violence that day was justified.

Nor does the film mention QAnon, a conspiracy theory that he’s flirted with over the years — although Tracy Beanz, an early adopter of the movement, appears as a talking head in the film as an “independent journalist.”

But other conspiracy theories, in addition to the overarching “Deep State” narrative, are sprinkled across the film, including the idea that President John F. Kennedy was assassinated by the intelligence community for speaking out against corruption. “We’ve gone from the physical assassination of a president of the United States, to a character assassination of a national security adviser,” he says.

Early on in the film, he leads former Fox News host Tucker Carlson into a room that is papered from floor to ceiling with a Flynn “conspiracy board”: a massive timeline consisting of printed out articles and yarn connecting various events.

While the documentary focuses primarily on his claim that the Deep State tried to ruin him and his family, the film’s credits reveal ties to influential culture warriors, his ReAwaken tour and election deniers.

The film was made by Aquidneck Island Productions LLC, named for an area of Flynn’s home state of Rhode Island. Business records indicate that the LLC is in the name of Magda Mellor, wife of businessman Victor Mellor, a top lieutenant in Flynn’s culture war.

Mellor is the owner of “The Hollow,” a gathering-place in Sarasota County for activists and Christian nationalists, including Proud Boys, that offers free shooting lessons for kids as young as six.

The film’s credits give special thanks to a number of pro-Trump personalities, including Alfie Oakes, a farmer, MAGA influencer and political donor based in Florida. They also thank Jim Breuer, a former Saturday Night Live cast member who has participated in the ReAwaken tour, and Raj Doraisamy, a Florida-based election conspiracy theorist with close ties to pillow entrepreneur Mike Lindell.

In addition to Carlson and Beanz, other talking heads in the documentary include former U.S. Rep. Devin Nunes, an avowed Trump supporter, five of Flynn’s siblings and Trump’s top election fraud lawyer, Jesse Binall.

The ocean is a motif for Flynn’s battle against political foes. He talks about how he nearly drowned in legal fees to defend himself from charges of lying to the FBI about his meetings with former Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyah in December 2016. He also admitted taking hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Turkish government while failing to register as an agent of a foreign government. The film omits that he was eventually pardoned by Trump for both counts.