Famed Watergate journalist Carl Bernstein on Sunday blasted former national security adviser and felon Michael Flynn for his weekend call for “one religion under God.”
Bernstein told CNN’s Jim Acosta that Flynn’s unconstitutional, authoritarian vision of a national religion is especially alarming because he briefly held a critical position of power in Donald Trump’s administration
“It’s so stupefying to think that we had a president of the United States that would entertain these knaves, fools, and dangerous authoritarian figures,” Bernstein said. “That’s what we need to look at [in] the big picture. Donald Trump looked for people to facilitate his authoritarian impulse.”
Bernstein said that people like Flynn and former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani are “saying out loud things that have never been said by an aide or close associates to a president of the United States.”
Flynn called for “one religion under God” at a far-right rally in San Antonio, Texas, on Saturday.
“If we are going to have one nation under God, which we must, we have to have one religion. One nation under God, and one religion under God,” Flynn said.
Flynn’s vision is completely antithetical to the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees freedom of religion, and a separation of church and state.
The comment triggered outrage.
Ohio Trump-supporting GOP Senate candidate Josh Mandel — a grandson of Holocaust survivors — tweeted in support of Flynn’s position. Mandel’s Twitter profile says he’s fighting to protect the Judeo and Christian “bedrock of America.”
Flynn was pardoned late last year by Trump after he pleaded guilty in 2017 to lying to the FBI in its investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
He served as Trump’s national security adviser for 24 days. He was forced out in early 2017 after he lied to then-Vice President Mike Pence about discussing U.S. sanctions against Russia with that country’s ambassador
Check out Bernstein’s view on Flynn in the interview up top.
