Reprinted with permission from American Independent

Michael Flynn, Donald Trump's former national security adviser and a supporter who was one of the loudest voices seeking to steal the 2020 election, completely botched the words to the Pledge of Allegiance on Sunday.

Flynn was at a rally for Lin Wood, the Trump-supporting lawyer who filed multiple failed lawsuits seeking to overturn the 2020 election based on lies of voter fraud. Wood is running to be chair of the South Carolina Republican Party.

Video of Flynn's embarrassing slip-up was posted to Twitter by Ron Filipkowski. Flynn tells the crowd gathered at the rally, "I want you to hear every single word of the Pledge of Allegiance, that is our pledge to each other, that is our pledge to this country. It's a pledge of allegiance to the United States of America."

"I Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America," Flynn starts out. He then skips a section and says, "Individual" — which is not part of the pledge — and awkwardly stops reciting it as the crowd continues.

He doesn't pick up reciting the words again until the end of the pledge, saying "Under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

It's unclear how Flynn — who seconds earlier touted the importance of the pledge — completely forgot the words.

Since leaving the Trump administration and pleading guilty to lying to the FBI as part of the Russia probe, for which Trump eventually pardoned him, Flynn has descended into a dark pit of QAnon conspiracy theories.

In July 2020, he posted a video of himself pledging allegiance to QAnon — the baseless conspiracy theory that claims, among other things, that Trump is some kind of savior who would purge the government of supposed Satan-worshipping pedophiles.

And after Trump lost the election to now-President Joe Biden, Flynn was a loud voice in Trump's ear trying to convince Trump to eschew a peaceful transition of power. In fact, Flynn tried to prod Trump into invoking martial law to stop that peaceful transition from happening.

Flynn also promoted the "Stop the Steal" rally on January 6 that helped lead to the violent and deadly insurrection at the Capitol, in which a pro-Trump mob sought to block the certification of Biden's win.

Now, Flynn is backing Wood's bid to run the South Carolina GOP, a critical race as the state is one of the earliest in the presidential nominating contest.

Like Flynn, Wood has spread debunked conspiracy theories about voter fraud in the 2020 election. Also like Flynn, Wood is a QAnon follower.

Now South Carolina Republicans are worried about his bid to try to lead the party, as Wood is under investigation for committing voter fraud, has called for the execution of Mike Pence, and is currently fighting the Georgia state bar because it ordered him to undergo a psychiatric evaluation in order to keep his law license.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.