Bradenton
More than a 1,000 people gathered early Saturday in the Desoto Square mall parking lot, well before former National Security Advisor and Gen. Mike Flynn was due to speak, and they just kept coming.
American flags and flags featuring former President Donald Trump clapped in the morning breeze as the first of more than a dozen speakers took the stage at the “Save America Rally,” sponsored by Trump Train Manatee.
Behind the scenes, Flynn arrived to a small VIP crowd. Former Trump campaign advisor Roger Stone was already mingling.
Both men, who were pardoned by Trump in the closing days of his administration, have seen their share of controversy. Both gave the Bradenton Herald exclusive interviews before taking to the stage amid a crowd cheering, “USA, USA, USA.”
“it’s a real serious time for the country,” Flynn said. “And I appreciate all the people who are out here today. It’s really, really important. Who we represent is the American patriot, the American citizen who are looking at our country and saying we got a lot of responsibilities that people are going to have to take to get our individual freedoms back.”
Flynn was Trump’s national security adviser for 22 days, before he resigned after it was revealed he had misled Vice President Mike Pence and others about a conversation he had with the Russian ambassador to the United States. Soon after, he was charged with lying to the FBI about those contacts.
After initially accepting a plea deal, Flynn withdrew his plea and the Justice Department later dropped the case. A federal judge put the case on hold, but Flynn was ultimately pardoned by Trump.
Flynn said he has done nothing but served his country with honor and what America witnessed was, “The start of an awakening across America and this kind of thing that is happening here in Bradenton is happening all over the country. This is an amazing country and I really believe this was meant to be.”
Stone, a longtime Republican operative was convicted of obstructing a congressional investigation of Trump’s 2016 campaign and his contacts with Russia and Wikileaks. He was sentenced to 40 months in prison, but Trump commuted the sentence and later pardoned Stone.
“I was railroaded and thank God above,” Stone said. “He answered my prayers and gave the president the strength to give me a pardon that saved my life.”
Stone said there was no evidence against him, but the IRS later forced Stone to pay back $2 million in back taxes.
“I’ve been paying that down for four and a half years, but now, unfortunately, since they bankrupted me, they are going to get nothing,” Stone said. “I still have to fight the IRS. They wiped me out financially. I lost my home, my car, my savings and even a fund I had saved for my grandchildren’s college education.”
Stone had several rally options to choose from across the country on Saturday, but he chose to come to Bradenton.
“This is really a grassroots movement, in other words, this isn’t Republican or Democrat,” Stone said. “This is about America. I find at the grassroots of America that people are very, very unhappy, not only about the lack of transparency in the last election, but about the policies of the Biden administration. This is an opportunity to demonstrate that we are dissatisfied and want peaceful change. We want democratic change.”
While many have said that Trump divided the Republican Party, Stone, who has worked on four presidential campaigns, said not a chance.
“There’s no divisions in the rank and file of the Republican Party if you are talking about the party members,” Stone said. “They are 89 to 92% Donald Trump. There are a few Republicans in office who are just there to make money and go along to get along. They may not be happy, but they aren’t taking this party back. This is the party of Donald Trump, but more important, this is the party of America first. That’s why I’m here.”
Flynn, who recently moved to Englewood in Sarasota County, said Bradenton isn’t his first stop and won’t be his last as he plans a nationwide tour. Some of it is political, but a lot of it is for personal reasons, he said.
“I’m going to be going across America and my principle theme is to say thank you to the American public for embracing my family and I and getting us through the persecution that we experienced over the last four years,” Flynn said. “I always say prayer is the greatest weapon and it’s something that does work. For those who prayed for our family, we learned that our faith in God is absolute.”
Flynn warned his listeners of the progressive movement and its growing influence.
“I will tell you that there has been a shift over time,” Flynn said. “One of the parties, the party of progressives, they use soft words like ‘progressiveness’ or ‘liberalism,’ but all that means is socialism, Marxism, and communism. So we are at this point of divergence in this country. I witnessed this while I was in government, but I served my country the way I believed I needed to serve it and did it with all my heart.”
This story was originally published April 24, 2021 2:19 PM.