Mike Flynn was the original editor of Andrew Breitbart’s Big Government website.
He was also a legendary K Street lobbyist who, some say, was part of the inspiration for Christopher Buckley’s protagonist, Nick Naylor, in the novel-cum-movie, Thank You for Smoking.
Mike was a tireless champion of the Tea Party movement. Numerous times, Mike would fly in from Washington for a day to help the St. Louis Tea Party plan events, choose a strategy, or win cooperation from establishment Republicans. He warned who was the real deal and which politicians would run into the street in front of our parade so they could say they were leading it.

Sadly, Mike passed away in June of 2016, just over month after I last saw him.
A group of us were in Washington in April 2016, and Mike met us at a bar. He’d quit smoking, and he wasn’t drinking that night because he had a medical test the next morning. Mike was planning to attend the Republican National Convention later that year as a Ted Cruz delegate. I was supporting Trump. We had a lively conversation without a hint of rancor. When Mike excused himself to get some rest for his early doctor’s appointment, I had no idea it would be the last time I’d talk to my old friend.
What Would Mike Advise Regarding Kevin McCarthy?
During one of Mike’s trips to St. Louis, about a dozen of us were huddled in Mike’s suite at Union Station.
We were sorting through members of Congress who, with a little grassroots encouragement, might form a Tea Party Caucus in the House. One of the names was a known GOP establishmentarian whose voting record often conflicted with his rhetoric.
A Tea Partier objected. “He’s a RINO.”
Mike chuckled. “He just wants to be liked. These guys all want to be liked. Make him think you like him, and he’ll go to the mat for you.”
“I don’t want to kiss up to a RINO. Why can’t we just work with the true believers?”
“There are no true believers in Congress,” Mike said. “And, who the hell cares why they do the right thing as long as they do it. Politicians run on money, votes, and love. We don’t have the money, so we have to win them with votes and love. And, frankly, love is a lot easier to deliver than votes.”
Now that Kevin McCarthy is the new Speaker of the House, conservatives would be wise to follow Mike’s advice. Shower him with love, but not unconditional love. Encourage him to continue working with the Heroes of the House to expose the J6 fraud, abolish the FBI, eliminate the CDC, diminish the FDA, and kneecap the CIA all whilst balancing the budget and closing the border.
When he disappoints, withhold your love and votes. And never give him money. You need it more than he does. More than the Republican National Committee or the House or Senate Republican election machines. They can get all the cash they need from lobbyists.
When Mike Flynn shifted his time and talent from lobbying to activism, he traded money for love. He used to tell us, “ride to the sound of the guns,” and “aim your fire to the left. Always to the left.”
Mike would have quietly cheered the Heroes of the House in their history stand against the Cartel, but he would have quickly shifted, after McCarthy’s ascension, to showering him with love as long he did the right thing.
“I don’t give a damn if he’s a Communist,” Mike told me a week after that encounter at Union Station. “Nobody’s perfect. If they do what you want, you praise them, or you’ll never win a damn thing.”
Through this entire process I listened to both Mark Levin's and Steve Bannon's respective takes on it.
Levin, a self-described "Constitutional Conservative", supported McCarthy and was highly critical of the "House terrorists". While I have listened to Levin regularly for years, I started to question his support of Ukraine "assistance/intervention" and now this.
Bannon, a populist, supported the "House terrorists" and sounded like the Constitutional Conservative throughout. My hunch is that Bannon will be of the same mindset as your friend Mike Flynn.
Has anyone else noticed this?
BTW - did you know that Levin worked in Reagan Administration? If not, listen to his show, he mentions it more than a few times.