Michael Flynn either forgot the words to the Pledge of Allegiance, or he's a master at working for the crowd with MC call-backs ... and a lot of people think it's the former.
President Trump's former National Security Advisor -- and a retired U.S. Army lieutenant general, no less -- showed up Sunday at a pro-Trump rally down in South Carolina ... an event called "Bikers for Trump" which was held at the HonkyTonk Saloon.
At one point, Mike got on stage and led the audience in reciting the pledge ... and he kinda made a big show about it too, which made his weird silence look even worse.
Michael Flynn this afternoon was called up to lead the Pledge of Allegiance at Lin Wood’s rally AND HE FORGOT THE WORDS!!! What kind of “Patriot” General doesn’t know the Pledge! pic.twitter.com/1jNQFxdsL8
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) May 2, 2021
Check it out ... Flynn starts out strong with the memorable words, but once he got past the initial sentence -- he seemed to have gotten his tongue-tied on the exact phrasing, and stopped talking altogether. Luckily, the crowd knew the rest ... and they finished it out.
MF hopped back in at "under God, indivisible." Unclear if he truly forgot -- or if he was doing that for dramatic effect ... but in any case, the pro-Trumpers didn't really mind. They gave him a big round of applause afterward, and it looked like they appreciated the gesture.
Michael Flynn couldn't remember the words to the Pledge of Allegiance!
— Brian O'Sullivan (@osullivanauthor) May 2, 2021
In his defense, not many of Putin's inner circle do...
Of course, Twitter was having a field day with the awkward moment ... with many cracking jokes at Flynn's expense, saying a lot of guys from Putin's inner circle tend to have trouble with the pledge.
He was also accused of being a traitor -- which harkens back to his early tenure in the Trump WH ... when he was found to have been feeding intel to Russian operatives during the transition, something he lied about to Mike Pence (and the FBI) and ultimately got convicted for amid Robert Mueller's Russia probe.
Trump granted him a full pardon, however ... and all was forgiven, at least in Uncle Sam's eyes. That doesn't seem to be the case with the general public, though. Oof ...