We've reached a new low when Roger Cohen is quoting Michael Wolff, who's quoting from a conversation between Trump and Joe Scarborough.
17
For Trump there is, as we all know, no there there, except for the mirrored enormous self-same self, who talks to him, and leads him down any path however benighted that ends at adoration, adulation and authoritarian power.
Mr. Kelly was military, and so we thought he was competent and staunchly decent. We were wrong. The fat man in the bathrobe himself pulled back the curtain so we could see the real Kelly. Trump cannot bear it when the bright light of public attention devolves to any lesser soul.
In the dingy halls and dumpy salons of this White House there is less there there than Oakland.
63
Trump is master of using people, especially if they have any weakness. Trump has Kelly by his throat now. Trump authorized Kelly to decide about Jared's security clearance. If Kelly decides against it, he will be considered disloyal and if Kelly clears Jared for security clearance, Kelly will get the blame for its ramifications. What a shame for a man of stature like Kelly to fall so low.
76
Re Joseph Conrad:
“I have no future, but I am a force.” The Professor in Joseph Conrad’s “The Secret Agent”
17
Just as the assumption that wealthy people are smart is palpably false, the idea that a successful general must be a good person is also untrue. Witness the thug George Patton. Kelly is completely at home in the cesspool that is the trump administration.
142
They don't come into Trumpworld squeaky clean - Trump picks them already corrupt and then brings out the worst in them...
Read the biography of Roy Cohn, who Trump described as his "mentor", and you will find that Republican lizards go all the way back to Joe McCarthy...
183
trump hasn't tarnished anyone by association. All these evil hangers on are simply being exposed for what they really are.
96
I have a better literary inspiration to describe the Trump’s presidency,Moby Dick. Trump is the great white whale and the press is personified by Captain Ahab, whose unrelenting obsession to murder the whale drove the poor fellow beyond reason. Ultimately his delusional so bounded him to the whale that he drowned as the beast submerged beneath the surface of sanity and then rose up again to destroy the captain’s ship and all aboard! Beware! You are not dealing with an ordinary politician but with a force of nature!
16
General Kelly relinquished command of the United States Southern Command here in Miami. In his parting words on January 14th, 2016 he said "the America I grew up in, every male was a veteran; my dad, my uncles and all the people on the block. So, with that kind of background and the draft, you assumed you were going to go into the service when your time came.”
How can he possibly reconcile those words and serve the draft Dodger in Chief in the White House?
Trump after five deferments from military service proudly bragged that avoiding sexually transmitted disease was his “personal Vietnam.” And we can never forget candidate Trump's disparaging remarks about John McCain's honor as a war hero.
The motto of the United States Marine Corps for every man and woman around the world is Semper Fi (Always Faithful). His allegiance to this current commander-in-chief is nothing more than a disgrace to the United States Marine Corps.
238
Why do we naturally assume that all military men are men of virtue?
My predilection is the opposite - a person who chooses the military as his avocation gives me pause. His training is killing, blind obedience and covering one's backside.
General Kelly strikes me as a hard core right winger - no self respecting person of character could ever do the bidding of The Donald.
122
Kelly's press coming into the White House was far better than he deserved. At Homeland Security, he was all for the police state tactics that have bloomed since. His sense of things like civil liberties and due process appears to be limited. Kelly the quieting influence was an invention of the White House press.
85
Some leaders can bring out the best in people.
Trump brings out the worst in all who come under his thrall.
49
How did Kelly become a four star general? We should worry about the military as well?
49
Mr. Cohen has omitted important details. Leggatt, at the height of a doomsday tempest, puts his hands around the throat of a rebellious and mutinous crew member, who, in not following orders, endangers the entire ship. The captain of the Sephora is completely useless, scared out of his wits to act to save the ship. Then, a huge wave encompasses the ship, which, when it abates, leaves the mutinous shipmate dead with Leggatt accused as his murderer like Cainand Abel. The captain views Leggatt as if he were Jonah, not recognizing that it was he who saved the ship by ordering the sail put up. Leggatt jumps over the side of the ship knowing that he will not meet justice but condemnation and swims towards his freedom. The narrator captain who welcomes him aboard as his secret sharer has the bond of humanity that binds him to the so-called murderer. Through the process of identifying with and taking on the strengths of Leggatt, the captain is able to fulfill his secret desires to master both himself, his crew, and his ship, getting as close to land as he dares to set the secret sharer to find his way.
Unfortunately, in the bond between Trump and Kelly, there is no heroism, no transference of strength to lead, nor interconnectness as humans to fulfill one’s ideal vision of oneself. What we have in this Trump/Kelly relationship is deception, loss of dignity, and lowering into the depths of a Trump made abyss of darkness. Conrad’s story is redemptive; Trump’s is Treasonous.
65
Melville's Captain Ahab and the white whale might have been an even more appropriate and predictive metaphor. Let us all hope that we will survive the destruction they have wrought on America.
18
It would have been a grand gesture if four star Marine general John Kelly had the decency to mourn the death of La David Johnson who was killed in action fighting for his country. Kelly didn't know Sgt. Johnson but words of praise and condolences from him would have helped his family in their time of grieving. Military officers should defend their soldiers with honor, but Kelly was out of bounds when he defended "a superb Marine officer" accused of sexual conduct. It was Sgt. Johnson who deserved these words of honor and praise, not a flawed Marine and child sexual predator. Aren't there enough of them already in the Republican party?
When Kelly picked a fight with Congresswoman Frederica Wilson, his actions mirrored those of the president, whose boorish and insensitive behavior towards women is beyond the pale. Like the president, Kelly doubled down in his denunciations of the Congresswoman and refused to apologize for his comments. Kelly, an officer but no gentleman, has stooped to the low level of his boss and is now his identical twin. Their shared mean and nasty behavior now binds them together tighter than epoxy glue.
120
Your portrait of Kelly is precisely why Trump was attracted to him in the first place. Low morals and questionable ethics define all these people.
60
brilliant piece, worth a revisit (it's been 50-odd years. more recently i read Elizabeth Day's 'The Party'. pals at Oxford University, drinking, involved in a situation where a young woman is killed in a car accident. Lies and coverups begin there. But Day has prefaced this with the childhood of character 'A' and the reader watches as success & fame follow these two good friends, and the dark deed - not the death or the accident or the drinking - the lying about it - goes ever deeper, and they both still look pretty good in their late middle age. Kelly's got some stuff to come clean about. That's maybe why his uniforms are so neat & ironed. :) Today's the day we'll find out: is Jared "in" (magically gaining access to the PDB (the daily brief) and by what means???) or is he "OUT", relegated to cafeteria duty. No more foreign ministry for him? i doubt this will happen. He's too important in the news feed to the Kremlin.
24
Dear Mr. Cohen,
One of the very best OpEd pieces I have read: in the Times, Wall Street Journal, Miami Herald, etc. Your prose was perfect, your insights were masterfully perceived.
No one takes on a military that has seen combat: thank you for doing so. And in doing, making me look at my own writings as totally inadequate!
36
Colin Powell did many good things but will be remembered for his UN cartoon presentation in the run up to a war. Kelly was a decorated Marine General who will be remembered as the guy who enabled the worst excuse for an American president. Real shame!
59
I don't imagine that at age 67, Kelly is anyone other than he's always been. Being part of Team Trump simply gives him ample opportunity to display his shortcomings in ways the military didn't.
69
One interesting phenomenon of the Trump administration is that many of his appointees become imbued with what I call the "Halo of Hope". People want to believe Kelly is a good guy who is trying to "normalize" the Trump White House. But in any other administration, Kelly would be seen as an extremist with some questionable ethics.
Similarly, remember early on when people hoped/thought the influence of Kushner and Ivanka would moderate Trump? Pretty funny to think about that now, huh?
53
No one with a sense of decency would serve in the Trump white house. Kelly and Trump are birds of a feather who will eventually fly too close to the sun. They will be part of the trash bin of history
34
Tell me who you walk with and I will tell you who you are.
No phrase better describes those who have chosen to take a walk with this man.
96
For a short few months, John Kelly fooled us. This was way back when we thought a Marine general with a commendable service record would never allow himself to be used by the likes of a cad like Donald Trump. According to our love and respect for our soldiers, Kelly's subservience to Trump makes no sense. To paraphrase Gertrude Stein, there is no honor there. The American military is a soulless force without honor, and there is no honor in backing Trump.
23
Great Op-ed. Thank you
16
Kelly is not wondering about anything. He's all in with Trump.
21
So Donald Trump is making things really difficult for John Kelly by not overriding his handling of the Kushner security clearance debacle.
This is the side of Trump that must have delighted in taking wings off flies. I'm sure he must have known that the "straight shooter" soldier would respect the chain of command when it comes to "family" and since he's already fed up with him, figures it's a blameless way to make him suffer before he goes.
I have no love for Kelly or anyone who hides behind a mask of superiority and moral condescension only to reveal his bigotry and antediluvian views towards women in highly videotaped moments.
The pomposity with which he lectured reporters about the golden age when women were "sacred".
Until somewhere along the way when they weren't as we're treated to almost daily with more sordid tales from the Michael Cohen hush-up slush funds.
I'm thinking Kelly has passed his expiration date, and letting him decide on Kushner is Trump's way of putting himself above the fray.
We know there's probably no love lost between the two. But only one will be left standing staring into that "immense mirror."
Want to bet which one--or ones-- that will be?
70
My father was a World War II Marine in the Pacific Theater. He was a machine gunner in the second wave of our attack on Iwo Jima. He was so proud of His Marine Corps Service, and an active member of the local Marine Club Organizatin. He would be embarrassed, disheartened, and appalled by General Kelly’s sly maneuvers.
60
I've noticed a trend on the shows and in opinion pieces where there is this adulation for Generals or Admirals. They are always assumed to be competent, patriotic and morally upstanding. Why?
These are men who have chosen a profession of violence. They have advanced by education at Staff Schools, Command Schools, etc. so they are educated in the art of war. They work to advance in their profession just like all of us would try and advance in our business world. There is a great deal of military politics involved with advancement. They are not innocent children.
They are not more patriotic that others. They are not more moral than others. They are just another group of men following their career. We should consider each one for his own worth and not automatically put them on a pedestal. We should also stop their proliferation in our government and intelligence agencies. They do bring a point of view but that can not be the prevalent or most important view. When all you have in a hammer then the worlds problems all look like nails. Military solutions are not and should not be our first choice.
241
This unrelenting criticism of Trump and his associates is becoming tiresome. Let's advance ideas that are constructive to the country.
Since US soldiers that are dying for an unknown purpose or fighting other peoples wars commonsense would seem to say that these are topics worth pursuing. John Kelly's conduct falls far below a fractured health system or the water in Flint.
13
In my humble opinion, Mr. Cohen, particularly in the last sentence of the last paragraph of this column, you grant Kelly way too much credit, credit for a capacity for self-reflection and, acting upon that, a capacity to sincerely acknowledge personal error. The Pentagon Kelly is the same person as the White House Kelly. There were simply more rules, restrictions, and protocols restricting his unattractive, flawed, even destructive tendencies in his former professional life. Now, ironically, he is the process-guardian, but in a crazy fun-house environment where the civilian troops are led by the Chief Clown.
Generals Flynn and Kelly both made Faustian bargains to advance their own individual agendas. They may be tragic figures, but decidedly not worthy of public sympathy.
72
During 1993, at the end of my 20 years carrier in the United States Marine Corps, I watched our commandant in the CBS 60 Minutes program explaining why minority Marines where not equal to white Marines. He clearly stated that African-American officer candidates did underperform on the rifle range and during land navigation, especially at night, and tended, not to be good swimmers. Because of their poor performances there were a low number of minority officers in the Marine Corps. The 60 minutes program was interviewing a group of minority Limited Duty Officers (LDO) who were complaining about the unfair performance evaluations from senior officers. Therefore, General Mundy’ statement about officer candidates did not address the complaint of the officers interviewed. The LDO are enlisted Marines selected to serve as officers in their technical field. Traditionally, we almost worship our generals. However, many of these generals are just human being full of bigotry, prejudice, and lock of empathy toward minority in our Marine Corps.
General Kelly is not different to all these generals. He is what he is. Still, I am surprised how easy he’s capable of lying constantly and don’t even attempt to retract his false statements. This fake general embarrasses me.
66
You can't explain in plain language that Kelly has sold out/been co-opted/been Trumplike all along without misreading Conrad?
13
Cohen has entirely missed the story within the story of Leggatt’s saving of the Sephora. What the narrator captain sees in Leggatt are qualities of leadership that he himself is lacking. Ironically, by stowing the secret sharer aboard his ship, he learns leadership. He is completed by his doppelgänger so that he can separate from him at story’s end.
1
That vortex is nothing more than the whirling flush that is the Trump Treason Toilet.......women, children and minorities first, and inevitably all the white men, too.....followed lastly by the feculent Orange Log Of Lies himself.
America's first empty barrel administration keeps rolling down a horrible hill.
127
re: DACA. Kelly's full quote, absent sentences that came before and after, was, "“The difference between 690 and 1.8 million were the people that some would say were too afraid to sign up, others would say were too lazy to get off their asses, but they didn’t sign up.” Roger Cohen, whose writing I generally admire, has done Kelly, his readers, and himself a disservice by using a sound bite that was too brief ("too lazy to get off their asses") to criticize Kelly. Put in proper context, the phrase takes on an entirely different meaning. Giving the current environment, if I were in an immigrant's position, I might be afraid to sign up, too.
There's no question that Kelly has made mistakes and perhaps suffered from his prior career in an Alpha Male environment. However, compared to others in the Administration (admittedly a very low bar), Kelly is one of the good guys. He's not keeping great company, but he is working to keep this country together.
8
Beautifully written perspective on this period of disgust.
39
McMaster is the next to leave -- then -- Kelly - within the next 6 months - by August 2018.
10
KAREN
THE ADMINISTRATION WILL BE IN POWER FOR THE NEXT SEVEN YEARS.
Roger, you give Kelly too much credit for thoughtfulness.
57
Having read so many articles over the years about the total inaction of the armed services leadership in dealing with the full range of sex crimes committed by serving members of the military, why is anyone surprised by General Kelly over looking the issue with a staff member in the White House?
45
Please stop talking about Kelly as though he were some moral actor caught in a tough spot. His words and deeds have shown him to be as racist, sexist and xenophobic as his boss, and the entire GOP.
275
Were John Kelly the ultra patriot he was being painted to be I believe he should have gone to his colleagues in the Pentagon to warn of the possibility they may have to convene a Constitutional crisis by arresting the so called president for the clear and present danger he presents to the Constitution, our democracy, the very future of our Nation.
Since our military officers have sworn an oath to a Constitution they all seem to revere, and since our military has a long, long history of acting on behalf of a democracy I do not sense a great danger of a military dictatorship.
And that last sentence was an awful lot for an old hippie/activist to admit, let alone out loud.
21
Something like that, but in hierarchical organizations -- priesthoods, actually -- it stems from aspiration. Loyalty upward in organizations where loyalty down and around is discounted. Promotion as reward for self promotion.
6
Kelly was also okay with torture at Guantanamo. People fell for his title, not for anything he had done to show personal probity or integrity.
111
In Trump's universe, likes attract, not opposites. We've seen this now a number of times and John Kelly is just another example of like-minded individuals working for a man who has no business being President of the United States. We may have gotten lucky with the likes of Mattis and McMaster, but don't be too sure.
24
Goethe: "I never heard of a crime that I couldn't imagine myself committing".
Working for Donald Trump is surely the ultimate test.
25
It is to be seriously doubted, Mr. Cohen, that General Kelly is of an introspective cast of mind. He had to have known, as the chief of Homeland Security, precisely what his president demanded and what reserves of morality and decency were within himself to grant.
You have listed some of his awful misdeeds here. But what I, as a former low-ranking soldier, cannot come to grips with, is the general’s casual and easy forfeiture of the soldier’s honor, for, without it, what is worth fighting for?
The Chief of Staff was brought in to give coherence to the chaotic situation that defines Donald Trump’s White House. Instead, like Dennis Nedry in Jurassic Park, the General has gone off on his own, cutting corners in pursuit of something dreadful. It all ended very badly for Nedry and this White House is headed toward a similar disaster, but instead of a rogue actor thinking he can game the system, we’re all likely to feel the bite of the dilophosaurus as it eats its way through our commonwealth.
John Kelly took on the escaped and is now the fugitive’s twin. The rocks reach out to the ship without a captain.
31
As a Bob Dylan lyric says, “everybody has to serve somebody”. All of us serve people (and organizations and institutions) in the course of our day who (or which) are objectionable.
I have grave moral reservations just sending tax payments to the U.S. Government knowing “they” (yes, the other) will build more bombs to wantonly drop on civilians and sell to the Saudis to do the same.
Two other points. Trump does know the difference between reality and make believe. And, he didn’t fool anyone. Those who voted for him knew exactly what and who he is, and he has not disappointed them. When we all stop making excuses for ourselves and others we might improve.
23
Kelly's detailed and deliberate false narrative about Rep. Wilson and her comments at the FBI dedication, is stunning, not only in the amount of false detail, but in the absolute conviction with which Kelly presents it. Thank god the tape of the actual event exists, which presents the exact opposite story from that which Kelly tells. Further, Kelly went on to use his false narrative not only to slander Rep. Kelly in the most personal and racist manner, but to use the FBI agents deaths in the service of his lies.
136
Do we assume that General Kelly has by proximity to Mr Trump beome infected with his virus of “turpitude”? Or, do we believe that the child is the father of the man: that the Trump environment has revealed the flawed character of the man that allowed General Kelly to rise to the highest levels of USMC command? Were four decades of Marine Corps superiors who wrote his fitness reports blind to his situational ethics? Did, they ,rather , find his talents had a utility that made his flexible morality tolerable? These questions are best answered by a generation of military officers who, in my view, knew exactly what kind of man he was and remains.
30
Trump is unwittingly (pun intended) the great revealer. Association with his regime unmasks and displays a persons true character, or lack thereof. It's inevitable. Like a poison or noxious odor, the closer the exposure and duration of contact, the worse the outcome. The Oval Office WILL require a deep, deep cleaning. Like after a Nuclear Leak.
18
There a big difference between "unwittingly" and "witless". "Unwittingly" means you did it unknowingly, unintentionally. I think of Trump as witless, i.e. having fewer wits than a nit.
12
Kelly is symptomatic of the great scourge of the GOP'ers with which our fair Democracy is afflicted - he enables their party leader, himself a straight line consequence of the candidacy of Sarah Palin.
There is no reason to believe GOP'ers will not run another low-bar candidate after His Unhinged Unraveling Unfitness has departed; a candidate who will have yet new Kellys at hand, who enable, and who gain appointment by being blank canvases upon which the public projects what they want.
Until the day the public realizes they were (again) bamboozled; meantime, the termites keep gnawing gnawing gnawing out our foundations - people who shouldn't even be where they are, since they can't pass FBI background checks - picking out nominees to pack the Judiciary with lifetime appointments.
The legacy of the termites will infect our Judiciary for decades.
23
Kelly was not like Conrad’s captain: he knew why he kept Porter on. Clearly, Porter was good at what he did for Kelly and the president, in a White House not overly burdened by professional competence; and Kelly, clearly a man of his generation, found himself like so many others but not nearly as excessive as many, standing when the music stopped while others found chairs … doing double-takes and plaintively asking “who … me?!”
We’re at the baton-exchange moment in our social development when values are in flux on a road to transformative change. In such moments we can lose valuable people whose upbringing, priorities and value-sets make it difficult to become the runner accepting the baton instead of the runner passing it on.
For such people, whether or not they continue to be valuable in such a brave new world depends on the extent to which they can overcome generational premises and limitations. They need to transcend those limitations.
Kelly needs to apologize for his decision to ignore FBI reports about credible allegations of spousal abuse lodged against Porter, placing his usefulness as staff secretary above the social implications of those claims; make the apology clear in his understanding of where he went wrong; and be persuasive that he can and will eclipse his preconceptions in future.
History can be implacable; but despite the losses we bear in human capital when tectonic plates shift, complaining about or ignoring the reality of the shift gets us nowhere.
7
Wow. We’re in agreement on something!
5
Our society's inclination to trust military generals as political and moral leaders is misguided. They have risen to be generals because they are good at the art of war.
155
The scary thing about John Kelly is not what he is doing now, but what his dishonesty (and that of Michael Flynn) reveal about the leadership of our military.
These two proven liars were decorated Generals who rose to the top. How much dissembling did it take to get there? And if these two contemptible liars were so successful in the military, how can we trust our other Generals?
I'm beginning to wonder about Colin Powell. Why hasn't he been heard from? He is supposed to know better. He owes it to the country to speak up. Yet, from him it's just the sound of silence.
290
Gen. Colin Powell, who went along merrily with Bush's lies about Weapons of Mass Destruction? THAT Colin Powell? Why would he say anything? Why would anyone want to listen to him?
38
Fair point, MS, but I give Powell the benefit of the doubt when he says that he naively believed the disinformation they fed him - until it was too late.
But there is no doubt about what's going on now.
16
Colin Powell went to the U.N. and lied about WMDs.Why would we expect honesty of him?
12
The question is far more basic than the author is making it. Assuming he isn't badly hurting for money and has no other prospects, the question begged is that with all his behavior, have we credited him for being a good guy when in fact he isn't?
15
Your mistake is to think Kelly was decent in the first place. He has shown himself to be a bigot and a liar and I suspect he always has been. Perhaps in the Marine Corps the code of conduct tended to discourage these sins, whereas in Trump's White House they are standard operating procedure.
309
Like Conrad's Marlow, those surrounding Trump have no rivets. Hopefully, before it is all over, some will recognize "The horror! The horror."
17
There was no "world of the Confederacy" in the 1850`s
1
Kelly has only recently been exposed as a bigot, misogynist, and a serial liar. I suggest that It's exactly what he's always been.
323
Call him what he is: A liar!
22
All who serve Trump will forever bear his stain and his stench. Kelly is no exception.
169
Okay, so John Kelly was in the military. Does that make him a better person then someone who wasn't in the military? Help me understand. Trump didn't taint John Kelly. John Kelly was and has been a tyrant just like Donald Trump. There is an expression, Ike and Mike. And that is what you have with Kelly and Trump. They are alike with their prejudices, bigotry and lies. They don't compliment each other, they enable each other.
930
Mr. Cohen, I think you're giving Kelly entirely too much credit. He obviously does not possess a talent for self-reflection. I do not think people like him, at his age, will have an ah-ha moment. He made his decisions long ago, and has been answering his siren call since then, which led him to serve Trump.
I also doubt if he's read Conrad.
191
How can anyone with a functioning moral compass agree to work with Trump? Kelly is of an age where he probably won't have to present his resume' and look for employment after his Trump Tenure, but what of the younger serfs? Who would want to hire them?
28
Thanks, of course, for your well crafted thought piece. The more I read and reflect on matters Trump the more I despair. While I wish this all was a bad dream, it is not so.
19
"He must be pondering, as the rocks loom, just how far he has fallen short and just what in his nature his acts betray."
I'm not sure John Kelly is a pondering sort of guy. You give several examples that show he is not.
He and the President share a lot of similar beliefs; we do know that. While Kelly can add a level of discipline to WH disorganization, and perhaps decorum, but past that, we can only know him from his actions.
23
Joseph Conrad has reemerged as an author. Not just Heart of Darkness but also Nostromo. Not comforting in its applicability.
1
Again, Mr. Cohen, you write so well and feelingly about the great challenge of our time. We are in a historical period where events will lead people to look inwardly and find out just how great, or how awful, they have the potential to be. The ascendancy of Donald Trump to the presidency is such an event, one that cuts through an awful lot of what we used to think was important, to the quick of what really matters.
12
Just because someone was a 4 star general does not mean he should be an honest or good person.
623
Your lovely, elegiac essay assumes General Kelly does indeed have an ideal concept of himself and the shame to recognize his shortfalls. But I have become increasingly uncertain whether he has either a steady, North Star ideal of who he should be or a moral compass to tell him he is off track.
On the other hand, I am absolutely positive our president has neither.
And that is our far greater tragedy.
96
The character of the man is revealed by the very decision to serve this president. Can one identify a single person appointed by this president whose demeanor and behavior can be recommended as a role model to our children and grandchildren?
251
For most self-appointed "thoughtful" conservatives, Trump's negatives are a matter of style points. Republicans in congress generally approve his policies and appointments, and so do the establishment leaders he punked during and after the campaign. Then there are the John Kelly types, who see in Trump an opportunity to achieve power and notoriety. They're easily corrupted because the nearer they get to power, the more likely they are to want it; blinded by ambition, they cast honor aside in favor self-aggrandizement. They delude themselves into thinking they're serving the country; history will show they succumbed to a humbug whose appeal is based on his talent for leveraging human frailties.
43
The premise here is wrong. Kelly has obviously revealed who he truly is, and is unapologetic for it. That's why he doubles down when wrong. He can't and won't evolve. He's truly Trumpian.
821
It is becoming more and more apparent that there are two types that join Trump's administration: the delusional who think he/she can rein in Trump or help save the country from this miserable example of human decadence, or those who are other examples of human decadence, more disguised, who wish to profit from their contribution to the destruction of society.
15
And John Kelly is the latter. Unfortunate, but unsurprising.
5
Thank you for a brilliant, well-written analysis, which is also profoundly depressing. It feels inevitable that "the adult in the room" should turn out to be a deeply flawed human: it seems Trump-dom brings out the worst in people.
26
This is brilliant, with the exception of one statement. Kelly's taking on Kushner on the issue of security clearances doesn't look to me like an attempt at redemption.
From day one, there have been fierce battles for dominance within Trump's chaotic White House, as a flood of leaked information from the combatants has proven. Kushner especially has been a thorn in the sides of Steve Bannon, Reince Priebus and now John Kelly.
The current chief of staff is using the Porter debacle to his advantage in his war with Trump's son-in-law. Kelly is ruthless. He's arrogant. As his refusal to apologize to Congresswoman Wilson showed, he doesn't think he needs redemption. He just craves power so he can force his obnoxious conservative views and "values" on the rest of us.
213
Another brilliant NYC OpEd piece. However, the author may be giving John Kelly too much credit in the very last sentence of this article, perhaps projecting too much humanity on his subject: He must be pondering, as the rocks loom, just how far he has fallen short and just what in his nature his acts betray. I don't think Kelly "ponders." I don't believe anyone in Trump's immediate orbit ponders. There is self-betrayal inherent in serving such a person.
16
Dear Roger:
An exemplary use of Conrad.
Have you noticed how much good writing - in terms of logic and rhetoric and inventiveness - appears virtually every day showing just how lamentably corrupt Trump is? And yet he persists...
CM
39
If Kelly were the upright, honest, stalwart man he has been purported to be, why would Mr Trump want him in his administration?
799
And why would he want to join it?
18
Trump destroys all that he touches, including, but not limited to, General Kelly.
8
What why do you think Kelly "looks in the mirror?" Like Trump and his family, in his distorted thinking, Kelly probably thinks he is right and that the end justifies the means.
13
Trump corrupts everyone around him, including General Kelly.
3
I think it's more tthat being drawn into the very inner circle of Trump world revealed the rot that was already part of Kelly.
11
And what, then, if the captain lacks all moral and ethical sensibility, has no ideal conception of himself except one of pathologocal acquisition, delusional narcissism, defensive aggression? What, then, if he takes delight in inflicting harm on the innocent, glee in animosity, pride in destruction, profit in deception? What, then, if he not only will not but cannot speak truth in any venue?
What, then, does a country -- or a world -- do with an antichrist in a position of near-absolute power?
The ship is already grounded, the captain is setting it afire, the storms rage...are there any heros among the crew that will throw the captain overboard before the catastrophes he caused ends them all?
31
Anybody attempting to impose discipline onto a seventy plus year old juvenile delinquent is on a fool's errand. My own take on Kelly is that he knew what he was getting into, but power corrupts. And for Kelly, this is all about a power game.
It is a game that he will lose. He thought that the path to power lay in Trump's incompetence; that Trump wanted only to be President, not to actually do President. He is correct about that. And so Kelly wanted to do President without actually being President.
It is just starting to dawn on Kelly that Trump does not care what Kelly does; he just gets his kicks from generals - any generals; it doesn't matter who- doing his bidding. Whatever that is. And so Kelly will get thrown off the island - whenever; one psychopath ridding the arena of another psychopath because their is only room for one psychopath-in-chief.
Moreover, nobody particularly cares when that 'whenever' occurs. And nobody will miss him. Just like nobody in most of the country will miss Trump when he is gone. Whenever.
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The fault lies not in our Reality TV stars , dear Kelly, but in ourselves.
Trump loves Kelly because he knows as a general he respects the chain of command and will faithfully execute his commander in chief's policies. He has bravely fought in wars recklessly embarked upon by politicians and has overseen the death and maiming of our soldiers and suffered personal loss in the honorable service of politicians' folly.
Trump the manipulator is drawn to generals not because of their bravery, but their loyalty. He knows that by getting Kelly to do his bidding....deporting harmless immigrants, insulting a black Congresswoman, etc. it is he who owns Kelly, and not Kelly who controls Trump. Kelly is the good soldier, perfect general, and therein lies his faults.
665
It is hard to not be like the ship captain when it comes to Gen. Kelly. I would like to separate him into 2 people. Keeping the loyal marine and demonizing the chief of staff. Perhaps it is true that the bad apple spoils the bushel. No amount of adding good apples will return the bushel to good.
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In other words, Trump is the one bad apple in the bunch that's rotting the whole basket.
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Ann
I am not convinced that the individuals that were pulled into Trump's orbit were good or ethical people before and will only be more tarnished after. those who live by the sword will die by the sword.
22
You have written a brilliant piece, elegiac. Your ending reminded me of the best sermons, the best questioning lessons, I have witnessed. And, you have captured what I see as the heart of Conrad's conflicts -- the conflict we have with our own conception of ourselves. You've helped me better understand Kelly not as the one sane person in the household, but as one more facilitator, yet one more codependent, albeit each one different in his or her way. Thank you.
330
I doubt that Kelly is capable of any level of introspection. the comparison to the Conrad story implies that Kelly has a conscience, that he might be troubled by questions and doubts about the morality of his own actions, but I see no evidence of that, none!
22
Kelly should not get a free pass because he served in the military. He is dishonest and it is about time that the people know the truth about him. Being honest is something that does not seem to be a requirement to serve in this administration.
395
Mike Flynn is a military person too....so was Ollie North during the Reagan Iran-Contra scandal....just because one is successful in the military does not mean anything other then that.....they are not necessarily going to be successful in government or the private sector...they are not necessarily "honorable", trust must be won first, and any honorable military person would walk away from a Trump admin position to protect their reputation, and avoid getting that terrible stink on themselves. Kelly seems to have social/cultural issues w/ women and working w/ civilians. Mike Flynn is just another corrupt degenerate criminal.
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