One of Flynn’s colleagues in Army special-operations, retired Brig. Gen. Donald Bolduc, who recently ran for U.S. Senate in New Hampshire as a Republican, said he hadn’t seen the petition. But as a matter of principle, Bolduc called it irresponsible.

“I respect Mike Flynn, and a lot of people respect Mike Flynn, and with that respect comes a tremendous responsibility to be extremely careful with what you say,” Bolduc, who until recently commanded U.S. special operations forces in Africa, told The Daily Beast. “We are nowhere near suspending the Constitution and using the military to redo the election. That would be a colossal mistake. Grant and Lincoln are rolling over in their graves at what the hell is going on.”

Paul Yingling, a retired Army colonel, put it more bluntly. “Flynn’s anti-election propaganda is an essential precursor to violent terrorist attacks on legitimate electoral outcomes,” Yingling told The Daily Beast. “When the bombs go off, the blood is on Mike Flynn’s hands.”