In a blockbuster story, Michael Isikoff from Yahoo News obtained a recording of a phone call between “Obama alumni” talking last night on the phone (conference call), about the ramifications of the decision to withdraw charges against Michael Flynn.

Former President Barack Obama, talking privately to ex-members of his administration, said Friday that the “rule of law is at risk” in the wake of what he called an unprecedented move by the Justice Department to drop charges against former White House national security adviser Michael Flynn…

The rule of law has been at risk since Trump has been president, but I think Obama is saying that this raises the entire matter to a new level, and if Obama is scared, then I am scared.

Obama is scared, and he let us know why:

“The news over the last 24 hours I think has been somewhat downplayed — about the Justice Department dropping charges against Michael Flynn,” Obama said in a web talk with members of the Obama Alumni Association.

“And the fact that there is no precedent that anybody can find for someone who has been charged with perjury just getting off scot-free. That’s the kind of stuff where you begin to get worried that basic — not just institutional norms — but our basic understanding of rule of law is at risk. And when you start moving in those directions, it can accelerate pretty quickly as we’ve seen in other places.”

Our real president is talking to us. He is giving us directions.

He is saying that not enough news is being made of this decision, it should be hitting the headlines harder than it is – because this is at another level. He is also saying that Trump is punching through the institutional strength that we’ve always believed in, that we always believed held Trump back. And the last warning is most chilling. Once that “norm” is punched-through, history teaches us that things accelerate fast. Fascism comes in strong and hard and is near impossible to beat back without violence.

Obama then emphasized the importance of the upcoming election and his desire to defeat Donald Trump.

“I am hoping that all of you feel the same sense of urgency that I do,” Obama aded. “Whenever I campaign, I’ve always said, ‘Ah, this is the most important election,’ especially obviously when I was on the ballot, that always feels like it’s the most important election. This one — I’m not on the ballot — but I am pretty darn invested. We got to make this happen.”

Later on during the conversation, Obama laid into the Trump White House’s Covid-19 response, and connected it to the surge of right-wing tribalism across the planet.

“It’s part of the reason why the response to this global crisis has been so anemic and spotty,” he said. “It would have been bad even with the best of governments. It has been an absolute chaotic disaster when that mindset — of ‘what’s in it for me’ and ‘to heck with everybody else’ — when that mindset is operationalized in our government.”

Your president is calling you to action. Listen. Work as hard as you can to turn this tide.

LISTEN:

OBAMA PHONE CALL: 'Rule of law is at risk' after Michael Flynn case was dropped. pic.twitter.com/skMuMRnT2U

— Benny (@bennyjohnson) May 9, 2020