The truth is Trump has some very special talents that got him to where he is today. He understands what impresses average Americans. Deep down adults desire roles they wished for as children; becoming a cowboy, fireman, soldier, or astronaut instead of what careers have chosen them (think of popular video games like Call of Duty). Trump got excited at the idea of driving a fire truck and presiding over a French military parade. Commanding “his generals”, having them snap to attention, impresses. Having a tough, respected marine like Kelly as his side kick, a guy who grimly doubles down on everything his boss says is a powerful image. Trump knows the importance of a Kelly over a Priebus and uses Kelly to his full advantage.
5
John Kelly was too lazy to get off his sorry ass and vet Rob Porter.
32
It's sad to see Kelly who spent his adult life in the most integrated institution follow in the steps of the most integrated hater.
12
Mr. Kelly showed his true colors in his speech about Congresswoman Wilson, during which he revealed himself as a contemptuous, condescending bigot. He should return to the Marines, where his rank would allow him to treat other people with the disrespect he feels for them.
17
The liar keeping the liar in check. Where is Shakespeare. I'm sure he could do something with this. Oh, he has.
"Officers, what offence have these men done? DOGBERRY Marry, sir, they have committed false report; moreover, they have spoken untruths; secondarily, they are slanders; sixth and lastly, they have belied a lady; thirdly, they have verified unjust things; and, to conclude, they are lying knaves."
William Shakespeare
12
I guess it's true what Obama said about the presidency, and by extension the White House--it exacerbates one's true qualities good or bad.
14
As Boston tries so hard to overcome its racist past, Kelly ain't helping.
11
Alexander Haig anyone?
2
what kind of human being would even entertain the idea of separating a child from their parent?.......Kelly did whilst DHS Secretary.
16
The best way to get rid of Kelly is to get rid of his boss.
17
No truer words than Birds of a feather...Let us not fool ourselves, we will not be seeing decent folks with integrity until the fool in the White House packs his bags.
17
Well, here's the proof-- whatever it is that Trump suffers from that makes him behave the way he does, we now know it's communicable to anyone who spends too much time in his presence.
8
Here's a thought; perhaps Mr. Kelly's tone deafness and boorishness are just ways for him to remain in Trump's orbit. In other words, to stay near enough to Trump to be of any use in preserving humanity he needs to be just enough like Trump to avoid provoking a tantrum that could get him fired (remember that he got left behind when Trump went to Davos so he's apparently already on shaky ground).
So maybe this is all an act that we'll find out all about when Mr. Kelly writes his tell-all book. Assuming he's successful and we survive.
3
Who did you expect the "Mad Hatter" to invite to his tea party? I was a Marine Sergeant in Vietnam so my opinion of Generals may be jaded - Their doing so much better in Iraq and Afghanistan than they did in Vietnam.
But if you are willing to work for Trump, you are willing to work for Trump. There are no good guys on his side.
The Media has been looking for a Savior/General since we started our insane oil wars - there are no saviors for an insane war and no General is going to change Trump.
7
I believed this about Kelley until he defended Trump’s treatment of the widow who lost her husband while in the service of our country. He not only defended Trump, but lied. Repeatedly. And this from a man whose own son died in combat. This is not the sign of a man ready to save the word from Trump. It is the action of a man willing to sell his very soul. Trust him? Never.
15
Well Kelly, Mattis, McMasters, it's clear that President Bone Spurs thinks having military people around him makes him look like a guy who could 'secure the nation.' The president isn't going to bother understanding how a functional White House operates, and Kelly doesn't seem to care about distinctions between the civilian and defense sectors. Yet when he emerges from the background, it's almost always in a way that cheapens the office and distorts the facts.
So who's the lazy one that sometimes wears his military service like a cheap cologne, Mr. Kelly?
6
I support our troops but is Kelly representative of the generals who lead them? Now I am worried.
6
No more military men, ex or active in this White House. They have proven they are politically inept at best to actively working against the interests of the country at worst.
Kelly sticks around because he is literally crazy when it comes to immigration and the supremacy of white males. So, I respectfully disagree with anyone who says being Trump’s chief of staff is the worst job in Washington or who would baby-sit him. The sooner he stops being coddled and protected, the sooner Congress will be able to do its job. Here’s a novel idea: Jared. Let his earn his non-salary.
1
So, are we all in agreement that Kelly, retired general turned Trump chief of staff, appears to be … a failure? And sort of a jerk in the bargain?"
Yes, we are agreed. Defending a nation and running a nation are not the same thing. We thought General Kelly could do both -- or at least help get the WH crew corralled and functional. We were wrong. Yes, waking up having to deal with Trump and co. every day must be the worst job ever -- but that does not excuse lying, belittling Congresswomen, or supporting someone who allegedly whacks his wives when he's upset.
6
It feels more than ever we are experiencing that Twilight Zone episode where a child has the power of life and death over the adults. They have to cater to his every whim or be killed. What a horrible quandary. Sound familiar?
Our child POTUS now wants a military parade in D.C. at a cost of millions, because he admired a parade he saw elsewhere? "Mommy, Kim Jong Un got a parade, why can't I have one. France had a parade too, I want one."
Where is John Kelly? Good question.
14
It's astonishing that our democracy and administrative functioning is dependent on any one or two persons! This is supposed to be a group effort with representation for all of us. Right now it seems the congress is absent and the minority of the minority is running the show. How we got here and what to do to remedy this is a heavy lift for any country and we are not up to it all. This is my worst fear!
2
There was never a good reason to believe Trump would choose an honorable, decent and competent individual as his chief of staff, and Kelly has shown himself to be exactly what Trump wants -- subservient, bigoted, bigoted, misogynistic, short-tempered and mendacious.
7
John Kelly has clearly demonstrated that the Marine Corps officer promotion process does a very poor job of recognizing when people who are clearly prejudiced and unwilling to recognize or at the very least admit when they are wrong and should apologize. Then again, maybe the Marine Corps does recognize these qualities and likes them. Always faithful, but to what? The truth? Morality?
3
Gail, you say Kelly "almost makes you nostalgic for Reince Priebus," but it's actually worse than that for some of us. The trump administration makes me really nostalgic for W. Can anyone top that?
5
I am inclined to give Kelly the benefit of the doubt. He has had a commendable career in the military and intelligence...and he is looking at capping it with a stint as Trump's babysitter. Only a profound sense of duty could be motivating him at this time.
1
I’ll try to find an excuse for Kelly’s racist innuendo. How about this. His teeth are rotten (presumably because he’s too afraid to see a dentist) and the pain is excruciating. This makes him ornery causing blurtitis of the kind that makes us cringe.
1
How can anybody be surprised at Kelly? Was it wishful thinking at the time of his appointment? If so, it was wishful to the point of delusional.
2
People are overlooking the real talking point: Mr. Kelly ( just can't call him General any longer) has LIED and COVERED up?
Major disappointment.
2
bottom line - john kelly is obviously a racist, plain and simple, and he is clearly doing everything possible to make sure a racist agenda is followed by this white house.
and kelly is not alone. his partners in this endeavor are many – in and out of the white house, including, but not limited to stephen miller, jeff sessions, and basically the rest of the cabinet, because they never stand up for what is right.
should there/could there be positive changes to immigration? yes. should this racist-agenda administration be the one to make those changes? ABSOLUTELY NOT!
at the end of the day, there are NO "adults" in the republican party any more. they have seen their "savior" in 45 – to cut regulations, to fill judgeships, to give huge tax breaks to corporations and wealthy americans. to date, the republican's willingness to stand up for anything that would be right and good for the majority of citizens has been completely absent.
the founding fathers are rolling in their graves. and everyone that can read this piece needs to do everything they humanly can to make sure they vote, your friends and family vote – and republicans everywhere are "shown the door" in the next elections. AND all the "norms" that haven't been followed by this administration, must be codified in LAW - so this can never happen again.
5
If Kelly do this babysitting job, then he should quit. Don't blame the baby. He will be the brat he has been since he was born.There is no badge of honor to be lost. I have no sympathy for this guy. He is no better than his charge except that he does not tweet. He seems to just voice his opinion hiding in the closet, just like in the picture.
1
One reason I work out is so I can live long enough to read a Collins column in which the term 'Trump' is never mentioned. That thought keeps me runnin'.
2
The good general is supposed to be the adult in the room. That was the narrative. But Gen Kelly's time at DHS should have been a sign. In his defense, Trump does have that effect on people. Why would Mr Kelly be any different? True, as a military person, the nation owes him gratitude. Alas, he would have been much better off had he not gotten involved in politics. Especially as a Trump handler
3
What would be disturbing to most people would be if Gen. Kelly paid attention to what a Gail Collins thinks—this week or any other. That’s how wars are lost.
4
When a Gail Collins articulates what thousands of the rest of us -but apparently not you -are thinking, it's a dumb general filled with hubris who doesn't listen and surely loses wars. Like Vietnam.
2
John Kelly is not "Gen. Kelly." He is "Mr. Kelly." Confusing civilian authorities with military authorities is how republics are lost.
7
> Ed
As grateful as we are for John Kelly’s service, he didn’t serve his country during WW2. Had he done so, he would have heeded the announcements made by the allied Governments; among them: “careless talk costs lives” and “loose lips sink ships”.
Not adhering to this simply advice, in the way that Kelly is unable to do, is how wars are lost.
How much longer are we going to waste our energy and hope in vain for decency in the Trump administration? This is a group of corrupt and corruptible people focused only on their own agendas.
32
Objective facts are in; aternative facts are out. It was comforting. but fleeting, to have John Kelly in the Adult Day Care Center that the Oval Office has become under Trump. But Kelly, nowithsanding a lifetime of serving his country honorably, has become totally Trumpoid. General Kelly, don't tarnish your well earned stars , and as a favor to the U.S.A. dissuade the dictator wannabe from staging that ridiculous military parade he wants so much. America doesn't need to show its military might; it's a well known fact world-wide. Leave rocket-rattling to Banana Republics!
17
The quick-step way the caravan appears to be moving, one quick question pops up. How long is it going to be before the administration turns the country into a Banana Republic?
10
Every day I wake up and think Trump and his administration cannot sink any lower and every day they prove me wrong. Trump has proven how disgusting he is with both words and actions. Now we are seeing that John Kelly, Rob Porter and Hope Hicks the people how have the most contact with him are just as morally bankrupt and disgusting in words and actions. Many call the Trump administration a reality show - WRONG it's
horror show!
26
He is the perfect example of the famous Maya Angelou quote: When people show you who they are, believe them.
26
So even the Presidential day care center isn't up to its job. The idea is to keep the President from blundering around not pursuing his own agenda. If that's what he wants, let him run for president. He wasn't elected.
11
We knew what DT was before the election. But General Kelly is a disappointment, I lost all regard for him after the Rep. Wilson lie.
28
I never had high hopes about Kelly because he said, "yes" to the job.
That right there means he doesn't know what he's doing.
23
Who is the President of the US? I see Trump as the "acting" President and Kelly, Pence etc are the Directors of the Show. Once in awhile, the Acting President speaks lines that are written for him but during his "off camera" hours, he gets to tweet and say whatever unscripted words come to mind. Or are they "unscripted"? I can never be certain at how much I am being manipulated into feeling angry or appalled at one thing while something truly horrifying is going on behind the scenes of the White House Set and being put into law.
Gail, keep writing. We Americans have a very short memory and need all the reminders we can get.
20
My father was a Master Sargent WWII vintage with 20 years service. He told me that the motto of the marines was not to talk of "politics, religion, or race."
Kelly would do well to remember this. He appears another hired hand for the president/administration being entirely political in his demeanor. After all WE pay for his salary, again he should remember this, as anyone could be fill his position the only prerequisite obviously is loyalty. My how times have changed!
16
Donald Trump has also seen videos of the North Korean dictator and is trying to "one-up" him. Notice how similarly they applaud. What is missing is the huge assemblies of soldiers and the legislators standing in total copycat applause.
13
How can someone with an exemplary 35 year career in the service throw it all away for the likes of someone like Trump.
Worse, how can someone who should know better allow someone so close to the president NOT have security clearance, which Porter could not get due to the FBI reports of spousal abuse?
15
Kelly is arrogant. He is not qualified at all. After how he treated that congresswoman, I have no respect for him.
31
"Or maybe we could get Reince Priebus back."
A reminder to heed: Better the devil you know than the devil you don't.
3
POTUS pick Chief of Staff with similar political views. Wow, who would have thought that possible!
1
Or maybe, since we now know the Russians hacked our election in at least 21 states, we should nullify the election and give the job to the real winner Hillary Clinton. Only seems fair.
12
Like any want-a-be strong man leader who surrounds himself with clownish and cowering yes men, Kelly is cut from the same mold.
9
John Kelly has certainly made missteps.
But don’t blame him for Rob Porter’s domestic violence. Jennifer Willoughby, Porter’s second ex-wife, has stated that Porter is as professionally competent as he was maritally unfit.
It’s clear that Porter was two different people at home and at work. Kelly was commenting on the latter.
3
Porter couldn't get a security clearance because of his violent behavior, that should concern you and it certainly should have concerned Kelly. I absolutely blame him.
24
Kelly is the real law and order guy. If you're 8 years old and you came here illegally, you're a criminal and should be punished to the fullest extent of the law.
Trump talks law and order and love of the military. But he prefers certain laws, say bankruptcy, over other laws. And the military? He'd like to put it on display but had no interest in joining.
12
Everyone surrounding this president (including his own family) has a psychological condition called TAD (Trump Affective Disorder). It turns normally reasonable, intelligent or likable people into angry, disoriented, mendacious creatures. The only way to overcome this condition is to remove yourself from the irritant quickly before it enters your soul.
11
Too bad about Kelly. He came in as a well recognized military man by many people and has let everybody down. He's become as unbalanced as his boss the tweeter-in-chief. Or does the entire Republican Party have a dumb down virus? Since it's catching it is something for medical researchers need to look into. But of course, Trump and the Republicans are more interested in lining the pockets of their super rich friends and building our nuclear arsenal than medical research of any kind
8
One silver lining to John Kelly's tenure in the Trump administration:
Daycare centers many now scrutinize superannuated Marine generals more carefully before hiring them for management positions.
8
"Politically inept" pretty much sums it up. No disrespect to the skill set that gets one four stars, which does include dealing with Washington as well as all sorts of narcissists and miscreants. But it's not your face on the camera. He seems unprepared for the firestorms that his remarks create, and it is not his job to cause trouble or be public.
Chief of Staff for this president is a terrible job that no sane person who didn't want their reputation trashed would take. I believed when he took it that his aim was to improve a bad situation; a chaotic presidency is a danger to us all. I still believe that, in that I don't think he took it to advance his own career or agenda. It doesn't strike me that this guy was looking for a way in to politics. He is being opportunistic now, though.
I disagree vehemently with Kelly's obvious positions on immigration, and acknowledge that part of his job is to advise the president. But the president should have expert advisors and a well-staffed administration on this and every other topic. The lack thereof is the real issue. Were that the case, Kelly could be an invisible gatekeeper.
He should stand down before Ivanka fires him.
4
Of course there are exceptions to what I am about to write. Let us stipulate that fact. But, for me, here’s the thing: Part of the problem here may be having a military officer in a job that probably is better filled by a civilian. A Chief of Staff needs to be able to say “No” to the President (as Collins wrote, "advises the president against doing things that will make the administration look stupid or crazy”). It is understandably difficult for a military officer, however well experienced, to say no to the Commander in Chief. Consider the meeting Colin Powell, as Secretary of State, had with President Bush, when he advised the President against the Iraq war. Powell wrote later that he had learned in his career as a military officer that when you disagree with a superior, you make your case, but when your senior makes a decision, you drop your objections, and obey. Reading that as a former Naval officer, my reaction to that statement was, yes, but at the time of that conversation, sir, you were not a military officer; rather, as Secretary of State, you were effectively a civilian, and you should have behaved as a civilian, perhaps even resigned. Who knows how differently history might have unfolded if Colin Powell had resigned as an act of conscience rather than, as a military officer, obeyed as an act of duty.
16
It is not Kelly...it is Trump. Kelly has his own set of problems but Trump is the mega problem.
John Kelly is really getting under the liberals skin. They cannot stand him. If he was working for a Democrat administration they would be having a love affair with him. It is because he is with the Trump administration that they show so much contempt and disdain for Mr. Kelly.
I hope he stays on the job and does not let this criticism get him down. I highly doubt it as he was a marine and they are tough. They did not make him a four-star general because he was a shy retiring violet. Hang in there Mr. Kelly you are doing a fine job.
1
John Kelly is getting under the skin of anyone who doesn't like proven liars, racists or misogynist apologists. I'm ashamed he hails from Boston.
2
Yeah real tough, picking on children and condoning violence against women.
3
Not sure how Mike from Texas believes the "sausage is being made." What is being made Mike? Can you imagine if a democrat was in the White House and poor Mr. Johnson's torture and death took place? The media would go insane. Kelly is a bully who has been hiding behind the myth of the military man for years. If he resigns there are just more where he came from. He is a fraud and ungentlemanly.
29
Gail Collins nailed it across the board... Great analysis. The trick with critiquing the clown-car of crazies that is the Trump White House is not going over the top. It's too easy to get drawn into a game of hyperbole, spin and double-speak. Ms. Collins manages to tear down the S-show with rapier wit, pointed insights, and the amazing power of faint praise. Keep it coming. We need more analysis like this!
15
This administration continues to move the bar lower.
13
Which is worse? That he is a terrible Chief Of Staff or that he was a General?
I don't know if he was as terrible at being a Genera as he is at being a CoS but a lot of what comes out of his mouth is stuff that has been in his head for a long, long time.
We all knew the joke, "Military Intelligence is an oxymoron." And then we forgot it as we've branded all in the military as "Heroes!"
November, 2018 can't get here too fast!
11
Do tell me of one person, or one institution, that came out unbesmirched after even a passing association with Trump and his ilk.
Just one.
13
The person who ghost-wrote "The Art of the Deal?"
3
It would seem that Kelly is playing Potemkin to Trump's Catherine.
10
If this is the character of a man who rises to become general, little wonder that the US military is hated even by its allies and scorned by its enemies. As general how many accounts of rapes did he keep suppressed? And how many rapists did he promote? One wonders.
21
Robert Mueller is a person of integrity who has served in the military and FBI. General Kelly has no integrity.
21
Kakistocracy is US.
8
Maybe the whole Trump Administration could vacate the White House. This is by far the lowest,most degraded bunch of complete losers to occupy the executive office of our country. I am ashamed.
15
It is so refreshing to read intelligent comments today; I'd almost abandoned reading (and posting) NYT comments but the adults have once again come out in force. Thank you.
9
So Kelly is doing a poor job at what he was hired to do in the Trump White House, and he insults large groups of people without seeming to care. What a surprise.
9
As long as the leader of France has military parades, even though he married a woman 25 years his senior, Trump can have his parades too even though he has bone spurs and a third wife 25 years his junior.
7
Do we get French food in the bargain? If so, count me in!
It isn't too far fetched to believe Trump hasn't already whispered in Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin's ear about minting a new coin with his head (adorned with a Laurel Wreath) on one side and Trump Tower on the back.
18
Judging by the photo in the Post yesterday, you would need more than laurel leaves to cover the bald swath. How about lichen?
2
It seems that we all have to go through the grief process of laying to rest who General Kelly was thought to be. Whether the John Kelly we have now is a product of recent events or his true self oozing through his facade is impossible to say. So taken from the Kubler Ross/Kessler book- "The five stages, denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance are a part of the framework that makes up our learning to live with the one we lost." There are no heroes at this White House to look to or rely on to save our skins or our democracy from those who placed in power there.
4
I am ashamed that he and I share the same Marine Corps. I knew general officers like him in my day: crude, small minded, and always looking out for their best interests which usually meant keeping with those who were powerful.
17
Thank you, Gail Collins, for a witty, funny article. I enjoyed it! And I do agree that General Kelly is definitely not cool.
7
Only adult in the White House General Kelly is an adult was very good soldier. I salute him for his glorious service for the country. But as a person, he disappointed me when he praised Robert E Lee and a big supporter of confederate army. Every time he appears in FOX TV, he says some thing stupid. The job of chief of staff for the president is not easy and it is political job. Look at James Baker, Leon Panetta, Bill Daley, John Sununu and John Podesta, all of them were successful COS. Even Rahm Emanuel ,Erskine Bowles and Andrew Card, all of them did very good job. All of them were good experienced politician and could handle the job politically and tactfully. May be he can not control Trump but he does not have to defend a wife beater, Rob Porter.
3
Well, what do we expect when Trump has never held any elected office whatsoever and has no idea how to run our government and actually do the work of being a president. Not reading anything and being bored in important meetings (unless his name is regularly mentioned) doesn't help.
Normally a president has control over his chief of staff...in this case Americans expect the chief of staff to control our president.
How weird and dangerous is all this??!!
8
This Kelly worked out that Trump has no loyalty to anyone but himself and will go along with anything Trump says to keep his job.
2
Trump, Kelly, and Huckabee Sanders are there to distract. Nothing more, nothing less. There is nothing there.
5
"Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain..."
4
When Kelly mounted the podium for his infamous "empty barrel" tirade against Congresswoman Wilson he showed himself to be a shameless liar, a consummate performer and a likely racist. None of these are qualities one gets from a few months around Trump. So, I'm not buying the "he's not the same guy as we knew before" or "Trump changed him" arguments.
24
Sleep with a dog and you get fleas. With the exception of Mattis, the White House and the Cabinet are full of liars and incompetent sleaze bags. They willingly lie to support the lies of the boss. They are ill-prepared for the jobs they have taken and seem oblivious to the fact they have become the laughing stock of the nation.
It started with crowd sizes, the non-existent Bowling Green Massacre, on to the alternative facts, Muslim bans, charges of supposed biased judges and they have been pumping out garbage ever since. Everywhere you look, you roll your eyes and shudder in disbelief. It isn't just the Emperor who has no clothes, it is the entire procession.
It isn't the military who should parade down Pennsylvania Avenue. It should be this clown convoy. Instead of them throwing penny candy at us, it is we who should be throwing the book at them.
6
Ah, the good old days of Reince and Sean...
Whereas trump is ignorant, vain and insecure, Kelly is smart, devious and organized. He has turned out to be 'the adult in the room,' only his direction has turned out to be a surprise and disappointment to those who thought he was going to be a 'positive' influence on trump.
Kelly has be come trump's shadow man whispering in his ear. Trump has allowed Kelly to show his true self and it's not pretty. He is a bigoted man with little insight into the hardship of others (sounds like trump. too. The irony...)
Can't wait for all those trump enablers to have history come back and bite them in the rear.
9
What a motley crew of misanthropic and misogynistic men and the women like Hope Hicks who will date them and work for them.
7
The White House is in shambles. By choice. And stupidity. A hornet's nest, stirred with satisfying regularity by the 'ugly American' in-chief. For what, exactly? Narcissism demands being fed, as often as possible, to satisfy the beast. But why so vulgar and dissonant, so divorced from reality, so full of lies? John Kelly could have saved some of his 'stature' if he could just have kept his mouth shut. Too late baby. The fish dies by his mouth. Classic case of stupidity, mirror image of his boss's.
9
I have to wonder how a blatantly racist, mean-spirited man ever became a general. Every time Gen. Kelly opens his foul mouth in dealing with minorities from Rep. Frederica Wilson to DACA recipients, he diminishes my respect for the military. My guess is that despite the efforts of Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, the #MeToo movement has yet to expose the Gen. Kelly's in its ranks. In just one day he used the racist stereotype of "lazy" in attacking Dreamers and then turned around and defended a white male sex abuser. In most sane administrations he'd be fired. Instead, he joins the long list of national embarrassments.
18
"I have to wonder how a blatantly racist, mean-spirited man ever became a general." I seriously doubt he is the only one.
9
Scratch a lifer, discover a fascist. Nothing new about authoritarian personalities like south Boston-bred Kelly being racist. A lot of this can be tied to his Irish forebears being equated with blacks when they first came to this country. No excuse, of course, but mick-shikkers like Kelly tend to be more racist than anybody, as a sort of compensation technique for their own penury. He's equated with #45 now, and disgraces the Marine uniform he once wore on a weekly basis.
7
Kell's been a flop. His boss is a deranged leader. You would think he had experience with deranged leaders. I can only wonder how James Baker would have handled this deranged leader.
2
John Kelly is a mirror image of his boss, without the weird hair. Clearly xenophobic, racist, anti-immigrant, angry, mean etc. Just another character in this non-ending national nightmare. Who knows? Maybe even Kelly is Putin's pocket. Just sayin'.
3
Kelly does seem to increasingly weird.
Defending a serial wife beater about does it for me.
6
There’s some crazy stuff that goes on in the army. I mean let’s face it they’re looking for people to kill other people in order to keep America “the greatest country in the world”. (When we live in an age of nukes.)
Looking at the big picture, I still am in disbelief that anyone would vote for a guy like trump let alone work for him. At least they get paid. What all this proves to me is that half of Americans are seriously damaged, any idiot with a big mouth and money can become president of the United States and this country is in trouble.
Let’s hope Americans can come to their senses and democracy wins. Let’s also hope that we get politicians who can help our damaged Americans with more than rhetoric.
6
When our dowdy dangerous dilettante-in-chief promised to take us back to the good old days - seemed like he was aiming for leave it to beaver times.
But with Kelly sanctioning domestic violence and
supporting the confederacy - we're now tracking the administration to a century earlier, just post civil war and pre-suffrage. We need to stop Dowdy Don before he decides that the next jingoist step after his military propaganda parade is centuries before that, with Roman-style gladiator fighting to the death by traitors who didn't clap in the state of the union in NFL stadiums shutdown due to treasonous anthem protests.
5
Apparently the 'Brains Behind'...have gone to his behind.
6
Megalomaniacs never hire anyone to be "the adult in the room." They hire peons and yesmen and -women, of whom there appear to be no shortage. With DT's latest request flowing from his endless reservoir of ego: a military parade like the one he goggled at in France, the probably apocryphal question asked by Hitler,“Brennt Paris?” (Is Paris Burning?) comes to mind. It wasn't. But Washington appears to be, from who knows what inextinguishable depths, like a West Virginia coal vein fire.
11
Would a non racist work for Trump? If the person isn't a racist then they are so cynical they don't care if they work for one. Kelly is just one more minion who works for the dictator who possesses no kindness, fairness or intellect.
8
Trump, Stop wasting our money!!!
2
It’s an administration of jerks and Kelly fits it like a glove, Diogenes would find no worthy person in the despicable clique surrounding our President. Given the contemptible charachter of Trump himself this is entirely fitting. Thanks Republicans.
3
This jerk is an enabler, not a babysitter. He is the worst of America and the world is watching. He demeans the American military - and with troops spread across the world, they'd better watch out.
6
All this because liberals aren't over losing the election. Get a life!
1
They have a life. You just have Trump. Pity.
9
Get real- Rob Porter is getting canned for his own criminal behavior.
He was not even properly vetted.
11
You don't have to be a "liberal" to find much of this man's behavior unprofessional and undermining the very office he is supposed to be assisting. You just have to be a thinking person...that's the kind of life decent people want, whether liberal, conservative, moderate, or agnostic.
3
Kelly has shown his true colors from the beginning. Remember as head of DHS and unleashing his gestapo-like ICE? How about the jokes of stabbing the press w/the Coast Guard sword? Remember his comments about Muslims? Did everyone think he was going to magically change when made CoS? It didn't take long for him to lie about Rep. Wilson and refuse to walk it back, his 1950s comment about women being "sacred," for his hardline views on immigration to come out, calling dreamers lazy, and now defending a domestic abuser. He's always been a trumpista; he's just been able to hide it a bit better & longer until the past several months. The true Kelly has now come out and it has diminished all the honor and integrity he might have had while serving in the military. Now he has destroyed his reputation, credibility, and honor all in the service of IQ45. SAD!
9
Two things: Would Trump's military parade feature him on a float flaunting his big button, complete with martial music? And ironically, John Kelly, who has expressed his disdain for non-whites, is now known as the chief of staff with a brown nose.
9
I had great hopes for Kelly, based upon his experience as a 4-star. What has evidently happened is that he has become subverted by the toxicity of the Dotard and his incessant demand of personal loyalty (the heck with loyalty to this Nation).
A man of character would never have succumbed to the deviance of Trump. If he were who he represents himself to be, rather than support a maniac, he would have fallen upon his own sword than disgrace this Democracy.
As sure as night follows day (assuming no Trump-induced nuclear winter). Kelly will be the next to be ousted in a demonic fit of Presidential Twitter rage. The handwriting has been on the wall for quite a while. Who will Trumps bring in next - Devin Nunez? The competent pickings are small at the very least, but there is no shortage of incompetents in the Cult of Trump. Christy? Giuliani? Beeves?
2
Mattis is even worse.... and what do you expect from anyone who lowers themselves so much to work for this souless evil man.
2
Kelly is a disgrace and embarrassment to the Marine Corps. Robert Mueller is my kind of Marine.
14
Trump is a disgrace. He either attractas those similar or corrodes those not similar. We sure won't forget this administration for a long time. And when it is gone it will be laughed it if it does not cause too much more damage.
1
For his next act Trump with make himself a SIX star general!
7
This has got to be the most embarrassing and exhausting White House team ever. A retired general serving under a very low IQ president who admitted to being a sexual abuser. The only thing they have in common is their racism.
In the meantime, Huckabee-Sanders, who is looking older and more tired every day, has finally come to the conclusion that she has no answers to anything going on in the WH. She keeps repeating "I don't have the answer to that" to every news reporter's questions.
8
Kelly's to blame for taking the job and thereby enabling a racist, misogynistic, racketeering fraud, crotch-grabbing, semi-literate, compulsively lying, wildly incompetent, vile man as President.
But you can't really blame him for failing to convert a malignant narcissist into a responsible adult. Trump's level of lifetime narcissism is irreversible.
4
It is quixotic to imagine that any chief of staff could discipline the psychotic baby Putin playing in his Whited House.
It is equally delusional that any living Republican will loyally place the welfare of the American nation above the selfish interests of our Republican plutocrats, white supremacists, and fake Christians.
Decent Americans are reduced to hoping that democracy somehow survives the Russian-Republican occupation of all three branches of the U.S. federal government.
3
". . . appears to be … a failure? And sort of a jerk in the bargain?" And just why do we think President Donald J. (for Jerk) Trump, alias president bone spurs, would have picked anyone other than someone in his own image?
3
"After the Charlottesville tragedy, he did look depressed while Trump blathered an off-key defense of the Nazi-friendly marchers."
I think he looked so morose because Trump said their were some good people among the counter demonstrators.
But i think Gail should look deep into herself and examine why she thought that Kelly would be anything but who he has revealed himself to me. His record as a a war criminal was there for all to see. Or why Democrats would make excuses for him as head of The Department Homeland Security. He was a brute there. This says as much about them as it does about him.
3
Hey Gail, John Kelly has accomplished more for the U.S. before lunchtime in one day than you have in your lifetime.
2
I wouldn't call destroying our democracy an accomplishment.
5
Can we just give Trump one of Gaddafi`s old uniforms and get it over with already?
4
Wait, so you are saying that someone who willingly works for, & defends, Trump might, in fact, be a racist, treasonous, dishonest, evil person himself? An army general is a misogynist bully. Wow, what a shock. In other news, water is wet.
3
Gail I hope the jerk reads your column today and some of the comments. If there is any trace of patriotism left it may wake this former general up and look himself in the mirror. The White House is increasingly becoming a nest of traitors and fools. It is time to clean house.
7
As in poker, people have a subliminal "tell" that reveals their next steps. Trump's "tells" in the political game are his explicit heroes, thus revealing how he thinks about moving forward. First comes Tsar Vlad, with his dictatorial takeover of Russia, his attempts to overthrow the Ukraine gov't, and his cyberwar missives against a U.S. presidential election, the 2016 interference which might have made Trump president (in turn Putin's hero is the fascist corporatist thinker, I. Ilyin); Trump has also made clear who his legal hero is: Roy Cohn, McCarthy's vicious Commie-chaser who represented Trump's father against discrimination charges based on excluding blacks from Trump apartments and condos -- and who mentored the young Donald in how laws can be manipulated illegally. Cohn's participation in McCarthy's last attack -- against imaginary communists all through the U.S. Army -- could have inspired Trump's parallel attacks against the revered institution of the FBI; and no doubt that will make Trump look as nuts as McCarthy. Duterte's non-legal outright assassination of alleged drug dealers, usually unproven in court, makes the Philippines president another hero, another Trump "tell." What's in common here? One-man authoritarianism, violent prejudice, and continuous expansion of political and egomaniac power.
4
Kellyis the empty barrel.
6
I don't know about you folks but that picture of Kelly accompanying this piece is downright scary. He has the face of evil.
2
It's pretty simple: you either support a huge showy parade that wastes a lot of money, or you hate America.
1
Anyone who joins the Trump administration is automatically suspect. There is no good reason to join this ship of fools.
1
Trump has surrounded himself with like-minded people: hateful, spiteful, white.
4
Are we good and embarrassed yet? This morning he was tweeting about The Apprentice. I have no respect for anyone who defends this clown.
5
"A good chief of staff advises the president against doing things that will make the administration look stupid or crazy."
We are looking at "stupid or crazy" in the rear view mirror. And they are way back. Watch out for the sharp curve and steep cliff ahead.
2
Fellow readers of the NYTs. Some things do not require analysis. Kelly just wants to keep his job.
Kelly has shown he is just as sexist and racist as Donald, but with a tad more impulse control, and no Twitter habit.
5
General Kelly has forgotten that it's "Semper Fi" to the Constitution of the United States of America and not to the orange peacock he's trying to contain. Needs to be more discreet as everything gets over-analyzed.
5
Gail has 20/20 hindsight on her better days, but mostly she just fakes it.
1
If you sleep with dogs you have flees. If you work for Trump you must be desperate or have a defective or twisted sense of honor.
It is like stepping in dog doo with winter shoes. No matter how hard you try you cannot escape the Trump stench.
2
Birds of a feather.
2
Everyone around fake forty five is eventually tainted. They may have been good people or creeps but in the end association to him makes the good people fall to deplorable depths (Kelly) and the creeps (Mooch, Bannon, Ryan, McConnell) look even stupider and meaner than we thought.
3
Yes, Gail, we're in total agreement, at least you and I. John Kelly -- failure and sort of jerk -- is just another on an ever-increasing list of people with whom I may have disagreed, but for whom I had respect -- and for whom that respect has dwindled -- rapidly in most cases. Paul Ryan and Orrin Hatch come immediately to mind, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. Kelly is one more. We look everywhere for spine and principles these days, but the White House and the Republican party are increasingly bereft of both, and, as it turns out, so much more.
3
Kelly along with Trump, Pence, McConnel and Ryan should all be given dishonorable discharges from our government immediately.
4
A Boston Irish, white male with all the usual misogynistic, and racial baggage Kelly makes me want to distance myself from my own white, Boston-area Irish-American heritage. SAD.
7
Trump corrupts. Absolute Trumpism corrupts absolutely.
7
Doesn't anyone remember the incident when Kelly (before he became chief of Staff) made some crack to Trump about the Samurai sword he was being gifted might be used against the press??? He nailed his colours to the mast right there....so why is anyone surprised?? I think he's most likely a fame 'ho....lost his rational mind (if he had one) basking in Trumps reflected celebrity.....just sayin....
3
John Kelly, a fitting chief of staff for Donald Trump, is a bigoted racist obdurate old man inflicting his ill will in lockstep with our deplorable President on the aspiring assiduous Dreamers and the nation at large.
2
Watching White House Chief of Staff Kelly, I keep thinking about Pat Conroy's book, "The Great Santini!"
3
Are they really going to acknowledge and give this little petulant boy-president a parade? Why not just give him a set of toy soldiers to amuse him?
7
So you can serially abuse your spouses, and Kelly's fine with that? No wonder he and Trump make such good partners.
6
Let's assume that Kelly has a modicum of common sense, and that left to his own devices, might do the right thing once in a while. However, can these modest virtues possibly stand up against Trumps unrelenting barrage of thoughtless tweets, babble, nonsense, and perhaps outright insanity?
And who needs a silly soviet style parade of troops marching up and down Pennsylvania Avenue accompanied by tanks and A-bombs?
3
This man was over sold to the American public. He has proven to be unstable, somewhat bigoted, and certainly not that overall competent. Just another example of terrible appointments by a chief executive who has no executive ability.
3
@Karn Griffen: Your comments sounds quite apologetic: "somewhat bigoted"? Have you not paid attention to the plethora of hourly, daily, weekly racist twitter rants? Bigotry isn't a "somewhat" proposition.
3
Everyone had high hopes for General Kelly yet he's proven to be as reckless and dangerous as Trump.
4
I didn't. A four-star toady is still a toady.
How do you manage a president who brings in family to advise him, lies with abandon, never reads, shows up at 11a, insults without merit, can't spell, changes his position on a daily basis and apparently has no clue as to where his responsibilities begin and end? And, never met a mirror he didn't like.
In the movie Driving Miss Daisy, Idella (the house maid) tells Hoke (Daisy's new driver) on his first day at work that she "wouldn't take that job even if the Sweet Lord Jesus himself came down and asked me."
Nothing further needs to be said.
5
Nobody is safe! A decorated Marine with years of distinguished service hired to restore order and "dignity", enters the Trump White House and, within a matter of hours, morphs into General Renfield. Oh, the humanity!
2
Get rid of Kelly and bring in Judge Judy to keep Trump in line. It's worth a shot anyway.
1
Perhaps, next on Donald Trump's leaking-bucket list will be mandatory military service like his two most-favorite nations- North Korea and Russia.
1
Not only Kelly, but let us NOT FORGET: Mike Pence, Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner, Hope Hicks, Steven Miller, Sarah H. Sanders, Kellyanne Conway, etc., etc., etc.! The list is too long and we may never know the full extent of the daily abuses that continue in this Administration!
They are ALL complicit in the ongoing disaster that is this Presidency!
4
Mattis is smart, has integrity and seems to be too good a person to ever stoop to work for the p grabber in chief
Th first hint about who Kelly is came when he was running Homeland Security.
He stood behind trump in the Oval Office as the President signed what has come to be known as the Muslim ban. That executive order has since been held to be unconstitutional by several federal courts (currently pending before the Supreme Court). The first commerative pen symbolically used to sign the order was handed to Kelly. Smiling, Kelly proudly took it and carefully placed it in his jacket pocket. That preceded his arrival as Chief of Staff, his lies about the Florida black congresswoman, his description of her as an “empty barrel,” and everything that has since ensued. If he’s the grownup in the room, I’d like to change rooms.
3
As someone whose extended Irish/Catholic family was largely a bigoted one, I could see why Gen. Kelly, also Irish/Catholic, might also have racist roots. My family outwardly would not say or do anything offensive, but behind close doors and around dining tables, their biases and stereotypes were ever-present. This hidden bigotry is still one of the country's biggest problems. Growing up, I could never stomach this secretive hate. Maybe Kelly did and it lodged in his DNA.
While Kelly's "soundbites" might not reflect the entire man, they do point to some visceral emotion or trait that he, himself, might not have acknowledged before or had tried very hard to hide. As someone now entrenched in a filterless White House with like-minded individuals, Kelly might see no reason to muzzle his bigoted attitudes anymore.
I say to him though: don't silence them, don't stonewall them, don't hedge them. Own them. Call them by their name. That, General Kelly, is true courage and if you can't do so, then you might not be as proud of your bigotry as you think.
7
No surprise. Trump's incompetence cannot be remedied by his staffing taste. He likes good-looking women, handsome guys and tough generals. He picks staff & many cabinet officials like a casting director-- by appearance & strut.
His instincts are so immature & ignorant- it is as though he doesn't know what skill, expertise & competence is.
Why would anyone think General Kelly would be a good Chief of Staff ? That requires keen political & management instincts- quite disparate from a military culture.
Being a tough guy is simply not good enough.
3
This piece just demonstrates how quickly and how often media is caught with both feet tucked in the mouth. John Kelly was going to bring stability and gravitas to a chaotic White House; the poker-faced Military man; solemn, stern and unfazed. Yes- but also, race baiting, malicious and plain old nasty.
We were so desperate to ascribe sainthood to anyone brought into the Trump House that didn't exhibit the characteristics of the overtly deranged- we didn't bother to look closely. Well- John-feet-of-clay-Kelly "ain't" him.
1
Let's not forget that while slandering Representative Frederica Wilson, John Kelly bemoaned that women are no longer "sacred," and that they used to be "looked upon with great honor." I suppose that Rob Porter's treatment of his two ex-wives is what John Kelly considers sacred?
5
C'mon, look at the guy! He looks like muscle for a super-villain, which is exactly what he is.
2
Why does anyone assume generals are particularly intelligent? They have mostly just risen through the ranks of whichever service employs them. And that is the key....they are employed, just like the rest of us, and paid accordingly. Having been a military brat, I have heard lots of stories about inept brass. As in any office setting, if you want to know what is really going on, ask the secretaries!
7
We are discovering that a number of these general are bad news once they are outside their military cocoon. We've now seen both Kelly and Flynn exposed in the Trump administration. It would be interesting to have list. Petreus (Betrayus) under Obama. Franks under Bush. Maybe bad generals push out the good -- I'm thinking of General Taguba getting fired for handing in an honest report on Abu Ghraib as he was tasked to do.
4
Trump seems to have an absolute genius for finding aides and appointees that prove the Peter Principle. (In an organizational hierarchy, every employee will rise or get promoted to his or her level of incompetence.)
1
I wonder if Generalissimo Trump even knows what Bastille Day celebrates. I wonder if he knows it marks the beginning of the French Revolution. Now that was a moment in history. Talk about no compromise.
3
Anyone who is disappointed in John Kelly had unreal expectations to begin with.
2
It seems the president whisperer isn’t who we thought. Considering he is the last person who speaks to Trump, we must hope he oversteps and is replaced. After all, could it really get worse?
Why do people continue to act surprised at Kelly, or any of Trump's generals, when they turn out to be less than great people? Because someone was a general doesn't make them a nice person. It doesn't even make them a moral person. Or a sane one, for that matter. In simplistic terms, it means they were good at one or both of two things: directing armies to kill other armies, and playing internal politics. History is filled with evil and inept and crazy generals who brought bad into the world. Why would anyone assume a general, with a military mindset and used to barking out orders people had to follow, would be good at the complex and subtle mixture of politics and policy required of a chief of staff? Kelly obviously isn't. And he's just as obviously not the greatest of human beings. He was a great general. Praise his service. Then send off into happy retirement where he can go on Fox News to rant about all the brown people destroying the America we once had.
1
Trump wants a military parade in His honor; wants-wants-wants...... Will Military-man Kelly tell his Enfant terrible- NO?
Every time I try to imagine 62 Million of my fellow Americans marking a ballot for "this"- I get a headache followed by a vacant stare. " A Nightmare on Elm Street" is a comedy next to this.
4
John Kelly will be the text book example for years to come why military leaders don’t belong in executive government positions
We need diplomats and someone like Richard Holbrook not warriors.
3
These are dark, scary, unnerving times for Americans able to think.
There had been hope for the militaristic Kelly to restrain Donald, but now it seems like he is almost as bad and dangerous.
My only glimmer of hope is the midterm elections...
2
Past credentials, personal grit, and commitment to duty ultimately don't matter if the public perceives you as unfriendly to the American spirit. Public life is not the same as being in the military. You can't just tell people to shut up and expect dissent to go away.
1
We have a third-rate president who has, at best, second-rate aides. No one wants to work for this guy. He's not only ignorant and bullheaded, but he refuses to take advice and weigh options to decide on the best course for our nation. He is interested only in the best course for himself.
Examples, if we need them: he has spent tens of millions on various weekend vacations to his own properties and now wants to spend millions to have a military parade so he can show off.
We don't need a military parade. We have nothing to celebrate military: we are in wars that have lasted over a decade so far. We have better things to spend money on, like healthcare for children.
I have no pity for Mr. Kelly, who has shown himself to be as crass and as ignorant as Mr. Trump with his comments about DACA recipients.
2
There is no one in the Trump orbit who is willing to tell the Emperor he has no clothes. They have all been infected with the Trump virus which has reached epidemic proportions. There is neither a vaccine or a cure for this spreading epidemic.
In this administration, Chief of Staff is a hopeless job. Still, we did have high hopes and I believe Kelly could do better. Perhaps he cannot--but Trump is not capable enough to judge Kelly's effectiveness or destructiveness.
In some administrations, this is only a thankless job. I suppose our presidents with the best character do thank their Chiefs of Staff--I certainly hope so. But their outward-facing actions can certainly be criticized.
As one former WH Chief of Staff told me about the job, "You keep the world turning." It takes a very special persona and strength of both character and will to do that.
A main fault of this administration is its presumption that flag rank military men are qualified to be civilian leaders. I emphasize the word "presumption" because, in Trump's world, it is as if the rest of us have to prove that a former general is not qualified. Trump displays a fundamental misunderstanding of how and why our federal government is supposed to be controlled by civilians, not the military. Former generals and admirals have earned our respect, for the most part. Many have demonstrated leadership and management skills that serve them well in and out of government. But none of them has ever deserved a "pass" because of the stars on their shoulders. And no one outside of military should ever be intimidated by the likes of Kelly, or hesitate to criticize his performance.
2
I did not know, or know of Kelly before his appointment in this administration. I certainly bought into the many highly lauded bipartisan initial opinions. The difficulty of advising/containing Trump is something we can all agree on--nearly thankless and much of the time, impossible.
But, Kelly has shown his true stripes now that he is in the public eye. He expresses his view in heinious disgraceful demeaning verbiage. He has exposed himself for who he really is. He may have the most challenging job, and I can respect conservative philosophy and viewpoint. But from my perspective, his reputation is in tatters. He does not come across as an honorable man.
4
I'm through with giving John Kelly "passes" or "mulligans". In the past few weeks I have been having flashes of Gen. Kelly presuming/assuming HE is the President. His comments and statements are alarming, to say the least.
2
And I don't think you mentioned the day and night differences in the way he treated the GOP memo on the Trump Russia inquiry (agreement to release even before looking at it) and the Democratic memo (full FBI vetting, criticism of its length, style, content). That's when I understood the man is yet another of the dangerous minions Trump has enabled. There are so many and they are doing so much damage, one can hardly bear to read the news.
2
The problem is that Trump rubs off on people rather than the other way around. Want to ruin your life? work for Trump. Funny that people close to him can't/won't see it. At some point, the list of people that have left the administration either on their own or by firing, will exceed those currently on the job. That is itself is a scandal. And yet, here we are.
No wonder Americans have always resonated with "The Wizard of Oz". Frank Baum correctly diagnosed our ongoing weakness for hucksters - although the one in Oz was way more benign than Trump. Or an enabler like Kelly.
Seeing the recent pictures of Trump ascending Air Force One with both sides of the spun-texture creation on his head lifting up in whole slabs in the wind like animal pelts with the fur still attached exposing a very bald round head and then the whole thing settling back into place as he turned into the wind to give a crisp military salute seems to say everything about America these days. Not your dad's America. Not in Kansas anymore.
3
"Even in this administration, it's possible to be better." Understatement. In fact, in this administration it's impossible to be worse.
A sense of humor is crucial for survival of dark times. When a man serving as president cares more about the way his bald pate is covered up than the fate of people whose parents brought them to this country when they were too young to have a say in it, we are in big trouble. Jokes may make us laugh and distract us for a moment. But then we stop laughing and the situation around around is still terrifying. A military parade won't help calm our alleged president. He'll just want a bigger and gaudier toy. What man or woman with a reasonable outlook would agree to work for this sorry shadow of P.T. Barnum? Who is now working for Donald J. Trump do we really want to defend with or without a smile on our faces?
1
There are several senior military people whom have commented about their considerable time spent with John Kelly while he was a general in the American Armed Forces and their conclusions about him now are unanimous. They all say, "this is clearly not the same man we served with, he has changed considerably and not necessarily for the good".
It would seem even John Kelly has succumbed to "The Trump Spell".
General Kelly is relatively new to politics. He served his career in an organization that does not always tend to the niceties of politically correct statements. In its general tone this article is unfair and incorrect. Let us realize that most of General Kelly's victories are unseen, the outrages that did not happen.
1
No one with integrity works in the Trump Administration, period.
3
Trump's defense of Nazis was "off key." Yes! That is *exactly* the right phrase to use for someone who defends Nazis.
2
Ignorant, wife beating, racist, misogynists seem to populate the Trump White House starting at the top and moving on down. Kelly is equally as bad and you are defined by the company you keep. Only move left is resignation and silent retirement
9
Kelly is a very flawed individual who does not hesitate to air his prejudices against immigrants, African Americans and women. He is also a bit of a liar and a bully like his boss. Trump makes everyone around him worse.
7
“Sort of a jerk”? Among so many other things, Kelly calls Latinos who didn’t sign up for DACA “lazy” and unequivocally defends a guy who beats the daylight out of his wives, and Kelly is only “sort of” a jerk? Seriously, what does one have to do to qualify as simply being a “jerk”...let alone worse?
6
Having never succumbed to the abhorrent fantasy that there were adults in the room because, one, anyone who knowingly gets into this clown car loaded with nukes, headed for a cliff driven by a rabid orangutan, has suspect character and intelligence. Two, high ranking military officers that display no respect for the rule of law and civilian leadership of the military are doubly suspect. The only surprise is that there is literally no surprise to the levels of human degradation that all that come in contact willingly let themselves sink to.
4
Gail, do you think maybe someone should whisper in t rump's ear that the Bastille Day Parade commemorates the beheading of people like t rump by the rabble he likes to denigrate?
It is past time to admit that there are no descent people in t rump's circle because no descent person is going to be able to stomach being around the so called man.
When t rump's crimes are finally fully exposed to the light of day let US vow that he will not get pardoned or paroled by his successor; but will himself be buried away so deeply in our own Bastille that he will never again see the light of day.
No Mercy......
10
Kelly was an anti-immigration from non-white countries wolf in sheep's clothing. But, just think of the toxic air that everyone breathes within our WH at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. You cannot be around Trump without becoming tainted, corrupted, disgusted, frustrated, angry, or experience new feelings of hate either for him, yourself or others just rising up from your skin like poisonous vapors. The toxic air surrounding Trump makes you feel giddy or light-headed exactly as if you entered a fantasy kingdom ruled by a half man/half beast, and you never know which half you will be dealing with.
If you are just a visitor you start to feel like yourself again as you walk out the door and back into fresh air. The fresh air that Trump and Pruitt are trying to make toxic for all Americans. If you are part of the WH administration your brain, your soul and your conscience suffers corrosion much like metal left outside to rust.
It is almost like they need an exorcism to be performed in order to get rid of the demonization effect that Trump has on all who surround him.
3
There’s inherent danger in having military men in civilian positions. Kelly’s just biding his time; he wants control alright, aka a coup, backed by the US military; he’d steamroll Pence in a second. They’re both manipulating #notmypresident into doing something dangerous & unforgivable that will provoke a first class security threat. I can hear it now, (finally) it’s my turn on the red button... throw the orange headed one to the wolves and roll out the tanks boys! The final irony will be the orange’s love of generals...he’ll never know what hit him.
4
Gail..why would you ever think that an adolescent would hire a responsible adult to oversee him?
5
What is Kelly's history with domestic abuse, himself, or regarding subordinates, or others?
I remember when BIll Oreilly didn't even want any discussion with his guests about dt and the p-grabbing, he though it was inconsequential, and he himself was a perp. Mmmmm. Is this a similar situation?
7
The parade idea is a waste of time and resources. If you want the cheering and bravado got to a football game. Soldiers hate marching in parades. They need to drill on how to march and parade around with zero benefits to be realized...unless we're trying to teach our soldiers how to march. How about using them to protect our borders if we're so worried about that? Trump wants to play the mine is bigger than your's card. How infantile is this guy? Mattis has got to think, like Tillerson, this guy is a "moron".
5
I agree with Leon Panetta "Who The Hell Knows?"
Remember, not all Generals are suitable for big Civilian jobs. Mattis obviously is, though I disagree with the new nuclear policy which will be God's gift proliferation. So too with Colin Powell, Brent Scowcroft. Russell Honore and of course, Ike and George Marshall. But compromise is not the first thing that comes to mind when you think of generals and admirals . Mostly they are "deciders" though skill at compromise is an integral part of the Chairman's job and that of NATO commanders.
Some years back I heard General Kelly challenge the room at a conference where there was too much happy talk about the drug war, gruffly saying "we aren't winning". I imagine he still does that. But he has moved from gruff to mean with respect to Hispanics and now, women. Can anyone imagine Jim Baker sitting on hard information about a key White House aide whose security clearance had been denied for cause?
Trump's ill concealed desire to expel Dreamers, coupled with Republican propaganda equating Dreamers, who are criminally clean, with Mara 13 has become an impediment strong ties with Latin America. If Kelly stays, his country needs him to become part of a constiructive immigration solution.
2
My go-to theory about what is happening in Washington is that we have all died and this is hell.
9
That sounds about right.
1
The bottom line is if you're willing to put your self-respect in a box and place it in the attic for the duration then you really, really believe in Trump. That is obviously where Kelly was and is. So now that's established we can say that Kelly believes certain things.....1. Women belong in subordinate roles and should be quiet about it. 2. Immigrants suck unless they're white and 3. The Russian way of doing things really is way more efficient and less touchy feely.
Kelly has sat in meetings where he has watched the president talk about obstructing justice and he just sits there and does nothing. Talk about treasonous.
3
Every time I hear, "he's an honorable man" from anybody in the White House I want to puke. There is nobody close to honorable in that place. Rob Porter used to work for Orrin Hatch. Hatch said, "he's an honorable man". Hatch was never close to being an "honorable man" himself. So consider the source. The worst things about this mess are the complicit congressional republicans and their "walking dead" supporters. It used to be a nice country.
8
It just shows the D-list staff of the White House.
We don’t have the best and/or brightest running the country.
Thing is, NO ONE CARES.
1
There’s an opportunity here for Newt Gingrich! Him and the Pres. can share their 5x draft dodger war stories. Newt can parade around the grounds with a history book under his arm much as he did when House Speaker.
Newt never turns down a bucket of KFC wings, a couple McD’s half pounders or a double scoop of ice cream.
The Sunday talk circuit and Fox News are well trod paths for Newt to pontificate.
Lastly, with Wife #3, Intern 2 in the Eternal City, Newt and the Pres. can guys nite out with aplomb!
4
And to all of those proud Irish--just remember that the John Kelly equivalents during the late 19th and early 20th century asserted the same bigoted attitudes in opposition to the immigration of your own "uneducated Irish" immigration that John Kelly is now manifesting toward others.
2
My opinion of Kelly has done a 180. It appears that Kelly is now emboldened to 'really be himself' and it's not a flattering portrait.
I guess the truth of the man can only stay hidden by the uniform and medals for so long.
With every opening of his mouth Kelly shows us he is no better than Trump, Miller, Sessions or any number of the rascist, white supremacist bigots in the White House.
5
I wonder if our draft dodging President will show up in a uniform he borrowed from Muamar Gaddafi, it would certainly fit in with his pretensions as a tin-pot dictator and at least provide us with a few moments of levity before the end.
5
Kelly can lend him his medals.
1
Trump is only good at one thing, bringing out the worst in people, or maybe he just attracts the worst. His administration is certainly populated by the dangerous and the incompetent and the downright nasty like Kelly and his two older boys.
4
It’s kinda depressing to find that the men of accomplishment we thought of as heroes turn out to be just ordinary folk somewhat less wise than the average history professor but as arrogant as a Roman Emperor.
Think about it! Trump was the great captain of enterprise, Kelly was the tough, no-nonsense field marshal of our mighty Marines, and Tillerson was on top of the world’s petroleum industry.
Just look at them now with their pants down!
7
Kelly has the "Brutus look" to him and he is a military man. Pence and Ryan might think they are in line but they don't have troops. elections? we don't need no stupid elections.
We should realize politics is very incestuous, today they are friends tomorrow enemies and day after tomorrow bosom pals again. Who is to trust Leon Panetta less or more than John Kelly! We associate them with whom they serve under. If Kelly has served under Obama we would all be singing his praises.
1
Not if he did and said the things he has under Trump.
Donald Trump debauches and degrades everyone and everything he touches. He always has. You only have to read the New York newspapers to understand this. John Kelly had an honorable military career but he'll be remembered for having degraded himself in the Trump White House.
1
I have long contended that those who currently, and formerly served in the Trump administration are complicit with, and enablers of, the biggest buffoon ever to occupy the White House. Holders of staff positions and Cabinet positions are unvetted and grossly incompetent. Recent headlines bear this out. Scott Pruitt, Rob Porter, and John Kelly, have demonstrated ignorance, abusive behavior and prejudice just this week. But I guess we have to expect this from staff since these are traits shared and exhibited by their boss.
9
Kelly, the so-called General, shares the same despicable qualities with the one who holds his leash, Trump:
• hatred of people of color
• hatred of women
• ignorance of how government & democracy works
• ignorance of the importance of apology & sincerity
• cowardice — as a Chief of Staff, why does he need to go to Fox News to talk to the so-called President? And yet he claims to have commanded wars when he can’t even talk to a man who wears make up & a wig. Cowardice, plain & simple. And how does the so-called President reply? Via twitter of course, the platform of cowards!
13
Secretary Mattis as CoS of the WH would be a net loss for the nation. He is doing a terrific job as SECDEF, a far more important job than WH CoS. Besides, why would any sane person take that job?
4
Sorta reminds me of Brig. General Buck Turgidson, in Dr. Strangelove.
7
Kelly, and for that matter - anyone working and enabling Trump and this abomination of an administration - should be ashamed. History will not look kindly on them.
10
Kelly is Trump without a twitter account. We hear from him less often, but when we do, it’s the same sneering, factually deficient, jerkweed and racially tinged slinging we get from his boss.
9
All we needed to know about Kelly was clear on February 7, 2017, when he was Homeland Security Secretary, from his full throated defense of Trump's travel ban, saying it was not a Muslim ban and that there was no chaos at the airports. Whatever Kool-Aid he drank then, he is still drinking now.
5
Kelly is apart of a single subject experimental design. Expose a person with consciousnessly surpressed prejudicial beliefs, which is a normal state of being for many well intended persons, to demagoguery and this is what you get....someone who looks like they drank the koolaid. How many more will follow, half the nation?
3
Couldn't we just arrange to have all of the doormen from all of the Trump properties march in a parade for the poor man in their shiny uniforms with gold epaulettes? We could tell him it's the military. Might this not satisfy his thirst for public spectacle?
3
" lobbying enthusiastically for an expensive new military parade"
Only an insure coward will surround himself with generals to boost phony bravado. This is same "macho" who got not one, buy five draft deferment. FIX News clowns are cheering for a military parade to hail The Great Leader.
3
Kelly is quite possibly worse than Trump. The ‘moderating’ ‘adult in the room’ is arguably responsible for the White House’s harder right turn and the government shut down. DACA kids don’t stand a chance with Kelly running the show. His misogyny and therefore his mishandling of the latest scandal is unsurprising. He is a idealogue with obvious disdain for women, minorities and compromise. He enhances Trump’s autocratic tendencies. He is gasoline on the fire.
5
You deserve a black eye from both of Porter's former wives. I'm sure plenty of others would volunteer, if necessary.
You're "getting a bit tired" of the pundit liberati demonizing Trump?
Well, Trump is what you wanted, so Trump is what you get. His bad behavior and lack of character dwarf the misdeeds of all those around him. He's legendary in that respect.
So, get used to hearing about who & what Trump is, every single day. He was your choice.
1
Kelly = tRump. tRump = Kelly. They are made for each other. One in the same. Sean Hannity might be a good idea, yes? Hahahahaha!
In a strange way, Kelly is Trump's mini-me.
3
Unless you are a male who came of age during the draft, you may not know much about the military hierarchy. Even fewer “grunts” (currently described as “our brave men and women in the Military”) get close, on a day-to-day basis to the “military leaders.” But, every rank from major to four-star generals have “grunts” who shine their shoes, dress them, get their meals from the “chow-line” and even do general house-keeping if they are assigned to bachelor officers; if they’re married and live in government-paid quarters, the “grunts” also do a little “yard duty.”
These “grunts” (some with more diverse educations), get to measure the over-all intelligence of their bosses and they don’t always fare well.
Ask yourself, when was the last decisive victory these generals brought home worthy of a parade? Seems like 1945.
They may be in their sixties and can still do five miles in their undershirts in December before breakfast but any 10-year old with an X-box can out-strategize them.
They are “experts” and write “text” books about wars they did not win and like so many WW II vets, break out uniforms (some parts which no longer fit) and march—out of step—in local parades.
Bless us all—I’m one of ‘em—but I don’t believe for a moment that these old duffs can even “march” in a parade with the “brave young men woman, LGBT’s and DACA’s who make up today’s military”—today’s “grunts.”
2
Here's an option for the military parade:
Call up Macy's and have them build some balloons, and then march them down Pennsylvania Avenue with a band. Should fool at least one in the White House.
3
From Mike Flynn on--all those Generals surrounding Trump--it looked like a military coup. Turns out it was a military cuckoo.
4
Our Ship of State is listing, taking on more water and is about to run aground. Maybe NATO can pick up the survivors.
1
I hope this serves as an object lesson about the inherent dangers of automatically granting military generals the obligatory "adult in the room" status.
These individuals are no better or worse than civilians, and can harbor the same prejudices and ignorance that anybody can, no matter how many gaudy medals they flaunt on their chest.
General Kelly shares many of the same catastrophic flaws that his boss does, chief among them an amazingly tone deaf ability to dish out heaps of hypocritical sanctimony in a disgustingly arrogant way.
He's an arrogant bully, just like his boss.
4
John Kelly is the very model of a modern major general
3
Good one.
I remember thinking that Kelly would be a good influence on Trump and help keep our country from nuclear war. I realized with time, that Kelly is arrogant, mean spirited and power hungry. I feel ill when I see him lurking in the Oval Office now, because he’s proven that he’s not to be trusted with the power he’s been given (DACA deal). Also, #I believe the women.
4
Private Kelly would not get a pre-school job with his poor record.
1
I find it VERY disturbing that in 2018 the incredibly diverse US Military can produce a general who is an unapologetic dishonest liar (go watch Congresswoman Wilson’s speech) AND a retrograde, narrow minded bigot.
I thought Russian-loving General Flynn was an aberration but now I am deeply concerned we have a systemic problem.
2
So the bone-spurs guy wants a military parade now? And he wants to use our tax dollars for his ego trip?? LOL
3
Truisms about Trump:
1. he drives everybody, in the sane faction of the world, crazy;
2. everybody who works for him are driven so crazy they turn to other-world rationalizations to cover for their unethical behavior, and their lying, and their blaming, sniveling and projecting, and their grand cover-up productions.
Mr. Mueller, please, please, Mr. Mueller.
2
It’s the Trump effect. Everybody that associates with him ends up a worse person.
3
Didn't the Marx Brothers make a movie about this presidency?
4
Duck Soup. Hail, hail Freedonia...
In the Trump White House it is a package deal. With authoritarianism and militarism, you automatically get racism, misogyny and breathtaking deafness of tone.
3
So much for all those pundits who reckoned Kelly was a stabilizer, a soothing presence calming the Great Bloviator In Chief. Kelly and Trump are two peas in a pod, connected at their mutually racist hips. Kelly's rant on "empty barrels" and his most recent screed against Dreamers is as deplorably racist a comment as any of Trump's. Trump has surrounded himself with "good soldiers". They're not providing their Fearless Leader with objectivity. They're feeding the flames of Trump's already rampant racism and misogyny. With so much fire in the White House, it should surprise no one that this pyre will eventually burn itself out. We can only hope.
DD
Manhattan
7
Trump and its ism, the behavior and thoughts that go with the state of being, Trumpisms, are a contagion.
4
Kelly has been a complete disappointment, to say the least.
9
What both Kelly and Flynn show is that accomplishment in a military sphere is no background for the complexity of working in politics and government. Both appear to have been regularly promoted above their level of competence. Flynn was a spectacular failure at the DIA and Obama had to fire him. Kelly has racist and misogynistic beliefs. He initiated sadistic and cruel actions at the DHS. He is completely over his head at the White House. But worse, he is lacking in character, honesty, morality and decency. Under what sort of system did this man become a general?
12
How about we throw a big military parade when all our soldiers are home safe?
5
You have to give John Kelly some credit. He managed to suppress Trump's absurdity from overt illegality to generally stupidity in a manner of a few months. There has been some improvement. I almost miss the days of administrative civil war combined with obstruction of justice and the occasional classified information leak to Russian intelligence. These days Trump just looks angry, old, and incompetent. Well, at least that's true when he's not fawning for public praise. He's seems happy, old, and incompetent during these moments.
I think Leon Panetta has Kelly's number pegged though. If you take someone on the fence concerning decency and self-respect and put them around Trump for too long, the worst possible personal attributes tend to surface. Trump brings out the worst in people.
9
It seems the litmus test for a White House appointed position is neither acid or alkali, but that you are simply not a nice person.
1
kelly is another delusional trumper raised on the failures of vietnam, iraq and afghanistan. he and his fellow failed military officer in the admistration are enablers for the accidental president. they must go.
4
Unfortunately, it's time to realize that Trump has a tendency to hire toadies.
1
Kelly reflects the biases of many white Americans. A good Marine but one who does not approve of women in the military. One who hates “immigrants” - but do we read of Asians (with money) being deported. This is a man’s White House and all the women wear dresses, skirts, and presumably heels. It has a bunker and locker room mentality. So no surprise here. Trump surrounds himself with like minded people.
5
Here's a way for trump to have his parade.
He, after all, is a parade all by himself.
He could go down Pennsylvania Avenue all by himself in his golf cart.
Millions would be there to watch and applaud bigle
It would be yuge and unique.
Just think of the money saved.
Even better, he would not have to share the glory with anyone else.
The reviewing stand could be filled with all of his favorite dictators and Republican pals. Putin and Ryan, McConnell and Duerte.
Heck, even Roy Moore could be an invited guest.
9
Kelley tells it as it is. A refreshing trait from those of Obama’s and his inept, but politically correct administration.
Tells it like it is, or tells it mean and as you want it?
Were his remarks about Rep Wilson "telling it like it is" or a big, fat lie that he wouldn't back down from? Or apologize for after it was definitively proven to be a big fat lie? Get real.
1
Gail, you wrote what nearly everyone I know has been thinking...Your quote: "So, are we all in agreement that Kelly, retired general turned Trump chief of staff, appears to be … a failure? And sort of a jerk in the bargain?" Right on. Bear in mind though, that birds of a feather flock together. Sigh....I guess it could be worse...and knowing this administration probably will be. Patience!
3
I wonder it was Kelly who told Trump to shut down the government in order to distract from the Second Women's March. I wonder if we are headed to another such debacle, just so Trump can keep his most base of base supporters, those who hate anyone with a non-white skin.
And yes, things can get worse, they can get much worse. Ask any child who was raised in an abusive household with a "strongman" autocrat as father. There are always the weak children who are the constant targets, and the one or two favorite kids...
Putin's day is coming. Some day we will be free of his creepy Trumpists, and be free to really pay Russia back for this invasion. And don't call this "meddling", for we have been invaded by Russia, every bit as Ukraine was invaded when they had a Russian stooge as leader.
Hugh Massengill, Eugene Oregon
3
Obviously, Kelly is in way over his head and panics. Not a good combination.
4
Young immigrants are too lazy to file some paperwork? I thought they were busy stealing American jobs? So which way is it?
By the way, could Kelly also identify the camel? We should have some transparency on that one.
“Maybe Mattis could be chief of staff. Hard to imagine things would get worse. Or maybe we could get Reince Priebus back.”
Maybe we’ll have a nuclear war and just end it all. Maybe we won’t have a choice at the rate things are going. But I think even Kelly isn’t that stupid. At least I hope he isn’t. And I hope that there are people somewhere behind the scenes – people with brains in their heads – people who are actually protecting us, at least until November, when maybe we will do the right thing and proactively protect ourselves from this self-inflicted chaos.
In the meantime, somebody bring back James Baker. Even for two minutes. A dose of sanity couldn’t hurt.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/30/us/politics/john-kelly-james-baker-wh...
2
Ah, yes, hindsight is 20/20, but I’m gonna go with Kelly being sacrificial. He’s giving up his reputation across the board to keep Trump’s finger off the button. Like an editor, he’s working in the background. He knows sausage has to be made and he knows what’s in that sausage and it ain’t pretty. Unlike an editor he can’t just work in the shadows, so he has to let it appear that he’s on the side of an unfit, sometimes unhinged, President, to maintain whatever control is possible. The mission is containment—by whatever means are necessary.
I am just waiting for the "I am in control here" moment.
1
Sitting here tonight cogitating about the White House and Trumps stable of donkeys. Missing Barnum and Bailey. Trump is not a good replacement for that now defunct entertainment spectacular -- then all of a sudden - Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory comes to mind. That's it - Trumpy and the Chocolate Factory. Can't wait for the next sleazy episode.
About the French parade. T wants to do the French. Does he even know what the French were celebrating when Bastille Day was enshrined? .
2
I find it funny that someone with the name of "Kelly" would be against immigration.
3
Next up: gladiatorial combat, replete with the emperor's thumbs up-or-down.
Are we not entertained?
Gail: the next president of the great United States of America:
John Kelly.
whoops, sorry, made a mistake.
Correction: The great Not United trump States
Both Trump and Kelly are in positions of power because they exploited the feelings of voters who chafe at what they deem "PC" oppression and irrational "identity politics."
But if you want to know what "identity politics" really means, it means:
You don't excuse domestic abuse just because the abuser is your ally.
You don't talk about the "sacred" nature of women while you are blatantly lying about particular women.
You don't encourage (Trump) or remain silent about (Kelly) the white supremacists who are using Trumpism to build up their movement.
All too often, anti-PC fervor is a cover for holding on to the "right" to throw women and people of color under the bus because it suits your agenda.
2
After Vietnam and Iraq, never put a general in charge of anything.
8
Way too much mindless chatter from the top on down - recall the delightful saying, "It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool, then to open your mouth and remove all doubt." and, which seems to apply to these folks, "Children should be seen and not heard."
1
I would like to add the following line to the IRS tax return forms: "Would you be willing to donate $1.00 of your tax refund toward a fund for Melania Trump to walk away from her prenuptial agreement and tell the real story of what it's like to live with Donald Trump." I'm sure the story would make Mr. Porter look like a saint. I'd check that box in a heartbeat.
1
Trump is toxic; his poisonous rhetoric and blatant corruption will cause those around him to resign, be fired for resisting the venom, or see their integrity and credibility corroded beyond repair. Even Kelly, who came with military armour, is getting scarred.
2
And you wonder why we don't win wars?
3
Another day in an ongoing 13 month torrent of every type of just awful political news. The presses can't spin fast enough.
2
"Maybe Mattis could be chief of staff. Hard to imagine things would get worse."
Well, Trump could decide to switch Mattis & Kelly & then Kelly would be Secretary of Defense. SCARY!
One of the reveals of the Trump White House is that people who were thought to be adults who would be 'moderating' influences on Trump turn out to have horrible issues of their own. Or they're flakes. Time to give up on anyone around Trump restraining his craziness. I mean, Stephen Miller?
Trump wants to hold a military parade because he wants to be entertained. Trump hates work & is easily bored. He decamps to his golf resorts every weekend & spends his work day watching cable news. Still he feels overworked & wants to be entertained - hence the parade. Estimates are the parade would cost between 5 - 13 million $$. A better option would be someone in the White House could dress up like a clown to entertain Trump. Several people in the White House fit that bill....
General Kelly & Orrin Hatch stupidly defended Rob Porter yesterday after both of Porter's ex-wives revealed he bullied and physically battered them. Creepiest reveal was one said that abusing her, Porter would lie down and sleep lying against the front door so she couldn't leave. House of horrors.
Who are these horrible men in the Trump administration? Most of all Trump himself.
Bye bye Rob Porter. Don't let the door hit you on the way out. Try not to hit anybody on the way out.
1
Wow! A Super-duper parade.....and I guess Trump wants to wear a laurel wreath and wear a toga! Perhaps to ride in his own chariot with all his staff running before him throwing rose petals.
2
Getting a dose of real Power must be like getting that first whack of heroin: you can't control your desire for more and more and more, and it renders you changed forever.
General Kelly isn't fighting for America. He's fighting for the pompous, twisted and racists fever dream that he, the degenerate and murderous president, and their supporters share.
General Kelly is NOT defending our Constitution--you know, the one that created this greatest of nations, but is now being blitzkrieging with his help towards a fascistic dictatorship. Kelly is fighting to cut out the most important words, the premise, and the guiding principles that are the foundation of both our Constitution and the reason our country formed, has grown, evolved, prospered, and has been, admired around the world up until this past year. "Now, Is that treason? I guess you could say that." At least that's what a rational and uncorrupted patriot thinks. I know this, because unlike the president Kelly has chosen to enable, I've know and defend it.
General Kelly is betraying the men and women who have fought and died defending those principles, like the hundreds of thousands of men and women that died in support of the abolition of both slavery and "E Pluribus Unum" --the words that trump has literally ordered removed from the presidential coin (but put his own name put on it three times). Kelly betrays the men and women who died in WWII protecting us from a racist purist dictator. He betrays the men and women who have died, and continue to die, defending us from enemies of these principles, especially the Russians.
Please spare me the lie this is just about "illegal" criminals.
5
The President of Egypt was assassinated by some of the troops passing in his own military parade. Lots of security desn't work when thousands of men with guns march past your reviewing stand.
1
Bless you, Gail Collins, for keeping me laughing!
1
GAIL is very unfair to President Trump and all the members of his administration. She expects intelligence, good decision making, humanity, justice, and fairness from them. She ridicules his lying and deceit as if they were negative mannerisms.
2
Trying to pretend this parade Trumps wants is to honor our military is a despicable lie.
If Trump wanted to honor the military he would respect every individual who has ever served, regardless of their racial background, sex, personal beliefs, or anything else. He would focus on injured and unemployed veterans, many of whom end up homeless due to brain injuries and mental health issues. He would try to utilize our military in the name of peace, to keep us and the rest of the world safe. In other words, he would use our resources, both human and financial, wisely and carefully.
But he’s a vulgar, selfish weakling, and he wants to play with his new big toy set in public. And guess who’s paying for it?
3
This noisome administration stumbles from one clown to the next, meanwhile the real business of governing falls by the wayside. Shutdowns loom and who can say that would not be the worst thing.
Hercules is sorely needed now to clean this worst of Augean Stables.
1
Trump in a narcissistic genius, keeping the focus on himself, while the government and agencies are in disarray, understaffed. My friend who works for the Bureau of Prisons is worried about the consequences of and ever-increasing numbers of inmates and ever-decreasing funding. Once there were eight people in his office. Now there are three. There are stacks and stacks of paper that no one is qualified to attend to. And, in the meantime, they can't get Xerox paper. Regulations are being dismantled. Businesses continue to move overseas. And on and on. So while I appreciate columns like this and shake my head, we need more columns about the gradual and certain destruction of our government and our diminished standing in the world.
If we want to talk about the president's quirks and inept staffing, lets talk about results, as in how can we expect this bunch of nasty incompetents keep the biggest, nastiest, most incompetent of all keep us out of a nuclear war. Trump will go, the damage that he's done will live after him, long after him.
152
Thank heavens Mr. Trump isn't a genius! Otherwise, where would we be now? Imagine if he had been able to accomplish just a fraction of what he has said he wanted to do.
We would have courts that find in favor of his every action. F.B.I. investigations of his political adversaries. Congressmen and women imprisoned for the treasonous act of failing to clap at his speeches.
If he is in any aspect a genius, it is only within the narrow and marginal confines of celebrity and the manipulation of his white nationalist mob. All in all, it is fortunate that the Constitution makes no allowances for ignorance, incompetence or the general absence of genius.
Joan1009 wrote:
"Trump in a narcissistic genius, keeping the focus on himself, while the government and agencies are in disarray, understaffed. ..."
1
I hope Ross Douthat reads your letter.
Great points... well said and documented.
I suspect that working at the White House these days for a president who wants to do things his way would wear on any chief of staff, even John Kelly. I can't imagine all the forces that would bear down on him. It seems, from watching all the reporting about Kelly, that the corrupting influence of the White House is bringing out his baser instincts or beliefs. Or Trump is cajoling Kelly. But maybe it's the other way around since the President has been negatively influenced by Kelly on a number of occasions. One of the most recent being this whole debacle around the Nunes memo.
1
John Kelly makes it easy for me to talk my son out of serving in the military. The wasy he speaks about/treats women, minorities, and immigrants is disgusting. Who would want to serve under people like him? What a shame since I am sure there are many worthy and exemplary military leaders out there. He does no credit to them.
11
History is replete with stories of generals who were not noble, intelligent or patriotic. A democracy that blindly worships its generals simply because they're generals will not remain a democracy for long.
16
Why not make Jared Kushner Chief of Staff? He has proven to be barely spoken instead of outspoken, should have plenty of time on his hands after having completed the long list of duties assigned to him a year ago, and has no known record of domestic abuse (unless he is the victim of his father-in-law's abuse). Oh wait, there's that security clearance thing. Given that Porter got a pass and so far Kushner has, no problem!
Does he have any parade experience other than watching on Thanksgiving Day?
7
Wait a minute, wasn't he supposed to bring about a resolution to the Israel-Palestine situation? Or perhaps he just erased that from his to-do list.
Gail, many of us could have predicted Mr. Kelly's behavior when he first stepped into the Chief of Staff position. I'd posit that he and Trump are of the same mind on many issues. I'm (not) surprised at the defense some commenters are giving to Mr. Kelly. It's unfortunate that people have a hard time realizing/admitting that an otherwise rational person such as Mr. Kelly can be a bigoted oaf.
9
A true test of Kelly's love for the country and her constitution would be when he organizes the meeting to discuss article 4 of the 25th amendment.
7
When the core of anything starts to rot, the rest is sure to follow no how healthy and stable. Kelly wanted to be the "adult in the room" but even was eventually caught up in the rot. There is really no hope for this administration to do anything based on factual evidence and realistic assessments. Calling is right, it is all about emotion and impressions for Trump. God help us for the next three years.
3
I'd be all for the Parade if Mr. Trump, Mr. Ryan and Mr. McConnell would lead it while GOOSE STEPPING up Pennsylvania Ave. We could hope for hats off and a windy day!
9
I say give the President his military parade the day after he ends 17 years of war in Afghanistan.
6
Democrats and members of the media who waxed poetic about the charms and abilities of Kelly when he was appointed were naive, clueless or "in on it". It never ceases to amaze me how "experts" know so little about what is really happening. They have given us Paul Ryan, Donald Trump and many others. They have turned a blind eye to fake wars and the oppression of women in the hopes of catching a get or being on the inside track for a story. Oppression of women is wrong no matter who dies it Christian, Muslim or no religion. Fake wars are wrong no matter who does it Russia, the USA or others.
We are now bobmging Syria again...no doubt for the good of ? It's reidiculous. Trump will do. and say what he wants and the GOP will get away with what ever it wants because no one except Bernie Sanders is really willing to stand up to them and the "leaders"'of the political parties and the big media types hate him for it!
Kelly is no better than Trump, just less loud. He's no adult. Th media needs to get a grip.
2
Ms. Collins, they all need to go —
Trump and every last one of them, surrounding and enabling his autocratic lunacy. I never would have dreamed so many horrible people could comprise an administration (or GOP Congress), but here we are. Sigh.
10
Maybe Kelly's inappropriate ranting is that he realizes the seriousness of the situation with Trump (that he needs a minder), and it's more important that he keep his job. He can do this by expressing what might be considered obvious flaws to placate his boss, or realizing day to day he needs support from those in the trench with him, no matter how flawed their previous existence.
He's right about the Homeland security laws. They are overreaching and need to be changed.
1
Sometimes we assume the uniform makes the man.
6
Mike Flynn and John Kelly have busted that bubble.
Flynn up there at the GOP convention in uniform screaming Lock Her Up was one of the most disgraceful things. He looked insane.
Just as many Americans equate being rich to being smart, so too they believe that a military career bestows some kind of special integrity and standard of conduct. People were impressed with Kelly because he was a general, and that set him apart from others in the White House and surrounded him with an aura of respectability, simply because of his rank. But, rising that far in the military requires political skill, shrewdness and ruthlessness. There was never anything to indicate that Kelly would be better or different than Priebus, except his military rank. Kelly has no more integrity or character than any of the other hacks that have propped up Trump. His military career taught him to go along, not to stand alone. Assuming military officers are better or have more character than anyone else is as big a mistake as assuming millionaires are smarter than the rest of us. Even if they tell us they are.
217
Well said. Thank you.
2
Good points. I'd only add that expecting pius/religious people to be good is equally mistaken. One can be good without god and those who wear religion on their sleeves are often suspect.
3
You are absolutely right. History is littered with the bones of soldiers who were slaughtered because they followed inept generals into battle. Having stars on one's shoulders is not a sign of integrity or intelligence, it just means that you were smart enough to out wit the bureaucracy.
2
Trump corrupts everyone around him. This is not a surprise.
3
Kelly is a Vietnam Era Believer. Lots of prejudices and resentments, and the guy at the top exploits all those feelings and allows them to surface in public. Under former presidents, Kelly would have kept his mouth shut, followed policy or been removed.
2
Trump’s press for a military parade has everything to do with pumping up Trump to his base and less to do with any “love” for the military or patriotism. With all the blood, treasure, and misery that our military has been through over the last 17 years, in Afghanistan and Iraq, a parade is probably the last thing they’re interested in. I’m a veteran, my wife is a veteran, and my brother-in-law is veteran Green Beret. We have nothing against the military. We have everything against unnecessary militarism, especially started under false pretenses. We hate being lied to. We also hate having a doofus as Commander in Chief with access to the nuclear button. None of Trump‘s immediate family, including Trump, has served their country in the armed forces. Why is that?
8
And, slightly off-topic but relevant, they couldn't even manage to cast successful absentee ballots in the recent election!
1
Another day, another knot in my stomach.
Like the routine at the dentist--rinse, spit, repeat--with one major difference.
No Novocain.
8
It would behoove General Kelly to restrain from expressing political opinions.
2
Paris, still slightly ruffled when I ventured that she might be needed at The White House to soothe Trump's feathers, and with swift speed, she responded 'I am no Lady's Maid!'.
But if there was one great laugh earlier here where the word 'Nursery' does not feature, was the flash of a Tabloid News sentence: 'John Kelly treats Trump like a mushroom, keeping him in the dark', followed by a photo of a resigned looking Chief of Staff, having long decided that it is futile to address these absurdities.
Ok, we're swallowed our caution and depended on ex-military men to have the skills to sit on Trump. And prevent global nuclear war. A difficult swallow. So if it's not working, perhaps veterinarians might have a better skill set. Exotic animal specialists with tranquilizer guns.
2
You can’t serve the emperor without giving in to the power of the dark side.
1
Gail Collins, and everybody else (except Fox News) has no arguments from me about their Trump group complaints. My question is, why does it keep continuing?
1
In reply to Mike from Texas, you are entitled to your opinion. And we can respectfully agree to disagree. And disagree with your analysis of Kelly, I indeed do. But my perspective of leadership is a lot different than yours. I look beneath what is being done politically re progressive or conservative policy. I look at character. And I see a bigot and racist, pure and simple. I see a military man of "order" - so some think; yet by the very fact that he supports and "advises" a man known to impugn other ex-military men (remember McCain) or the brown-skinned parents of a war hero who died in service to our country or our Justice Department and FBI, I see a scoundrel.
Mr. Kelly to me is just as culpable in usurping our rights and democracy as his orange-haired boss. This horror show in the Oval Office can not end soon enough for me.
7
Given my lines of descent, I like Gail Collins best when she is writing a deadly serious column like this one, judiciously spiced with Collinian humor.
As concerns Bastille Day and the United States of America I recommend a book already reviewed in the Times on January 10, the same day in which Kristof interviewed its authors.
"How Democracy Dies..." by S. Levitsky and D. Ziblatt opens by observing that democracies may die by revolution, but they also may die a slow death, and that slow cooking-the-lobster to death approach may be what Donald Trump and his Kelly type friends are laying on us.
Read the book, vote on November 6, and for another take on our future, read Ali Smith's "Winter"
Disclaimer: I have no financial interest, I just love those books, two sides of a single coin.
Now I am going to go out and cross-country ski, having fulfilled my American-side obligations.
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
Dual citizen US SE
5
@ myself - The cross-country skiing on lakes in Ullstämma skogen naturreservat was a lot more fun than reading about Kelly. New snow criss crossed by the tracks of early morning foxes. Maybe show them tomorrow at my blog.
How fortunate you are that you experience all of this Trumped-up mess from such a distance.
Kelly does seem to have revealed himself as a rather awful person.
Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis (maybe Rex Tillerson? Elaine Chao?) seems to be about the only non-awful person in the administration. He showed restraint and common sense in that first Cabinet meeting, where all the secretaries were falling over themselves to be the Top Trump Flatterer, saying some version of "Thank God for President Trump, the greatest leader in the history of leaderdom!" When his turn came around, Mad Dog Mattis calmly thanked God for America's military personnel, and flattered those who serve.
Unfortunately, Secretary of Defense is only 6th in the line of presidential succession. Mattis is below Mike Pence, who is enough of a weasel that he has probably gone to great lengths to keep clean of Russians, and Steve Mnuchin (think about that). I'm hoping Mattis is in the room when (yes, when) Trump reaches for his great big nuclear button.
3
Kelly may have been a good soldier but he is a disgrace as a political appointment. He reports to Trump but he works for the American people , all of us , who pay him.
3
Gail, you left out the part in the “condolence” call to the widow of LaDavid Johnson where Kelly invoked the death of his own son in Afghanistan to legitimize Trump’s reprehensible actions. Details like that matter as part of the record that is being built. It shows how low people sink when they work for Trump—or the low quality of people he seeks out.
4
I believe most non career type military vets such as myself look at generals as dubious and power crazy. Kelly fits the mold. They were used to saying dumb things but were never questioned. Good piece Gail.
2
Collins is one of my favorite writers, helps me sort out complicated conflicts by pointing to absurdities, up there with Twain in terms of sharpness. She also helps me keep an eye on how much I'm drifting from Democrats, generally my team. Take this: "That kind of outspokenness in a chief of staff is “very unusual,” he added, not to mention “politically inept.”..." Democrats aren't getting it, that Trump excels in political ineptness; that's the plan and the fan base. He's catching the ear of people tired of polite, inert jargon, and who are angry at being devalued. The challenge is to read/adjust to the other team. Take the Patriots. Imo, the Eagles played a little dirty, with more than one moment of shirt-grabbing and a touch-down that wasn't really legit. So...the Eagles were Trump's republicans (bad form) and the Patriots were the democrats (dumbfounded). Likewise, just complaining about Trump's circle of deplorables isn't getting us far. These bad behaviors are ok with many people, and I think the democrats should try and understand what that actually means. I'm not saying accept but if we understood the root cause better, we'd probably make stronger plays.
3
These people believe in the free market. Perhaps they could hire Obama as a consultant, or outsource governance to Canada.
2
The problem with this analysis is that just because NYT’s opinion piece writers and readers (myself included) think things like military parades are stupid or crazy does not mean Trump supporters will. They will love it. So by that measure it is not stupid or crazy, but arguably politically astute. I think we need to move on from daily hand-wringing and actually work out how to win back the hearts and minds of the millions of ‘deplorables’ who voted for Trump. This will not be achieved by an excessive focus on gender equality or the rights of immigrants. These things are important and must be advanced, but improving the lot of the working poor (and unemployed) in rust belt states and elsewhere needs to be given equal priority. That requires new thinking - a somewhat harder undertaking than daily Trump-bashing.
1
I enjoy you humor immensely, but for this piece I say: Thank you a clear-eyed and somber description of yet another example of how proximity to this president brings out the worst in even those persons whom some thought had a moral core!
1
They are all sailors on a ship of fools. Where's Captain Kangaroo when the nation needs him? Meaning: there is no point in comparing Priebus and Kelly, or even Kelly and Mattis. Mattis does seem to be more mature than his peers, but they are a group of oligarchs, and their policies are hurting America and the world.
4
I do not recall all these problems from the young inexperienced guy named Obama. Where are all the best people that Trump was going to hire, how about his never taking off a day, or the tax bill that ws going to hurt him?BELIEVE me?
5
What we currently have in this White House is a classic example of "Birds of a Feather."
1
"Politically inept" is a beautiful characterization of Kelly and Trump. Whipple was right on target.
2
The media always describes people in superficial ways. For years they have portrayed Paul Ryan as the serious policy wonk and great economic intellectual. But when Paul started making public his economic and budget proposals, it was obvious that his figures didn't add up. All he knew anything about was "gutting" social security, medicare, and Medicaid so he could cut taxes for the wealthy.
Likewise the media touted General Kelly as a distinguished pillar of competence, integrity, honor, and military discipline. As we can see, we are finding out the truth day by day. Far from being the "adult in the room" trying to tone trump down, Kelly apparently holds many of the same views as trump and is anxious to express them publicly. Is he playing to the trump base the same way trump does?
It has always puzzled me that republicans seem to love chicken hawks. Of course, one of the biggest chicken hawks is trump. If trump loves the military so much, why did he get five deferments to stay out of it?
People say that everyone closely associated with trump sees his/her reputation and standing diminished or they become a laughing stock. The only exception that I can think of is General Mattis. I like him and hope that his reputation for competence, integrity, and honour stays in tact.
127
The wealthy do indeed love the military - for preserving and promoting their global interests and assets. Their children don't serve in the military, of course. Military service is for peons.
12
He only plays a military leader on TV.
1
Um. No! While some of the media did indeed portray Kelly as the fulcrum to a volatile leader, many news outlets signified their disquiet by writing about Kelly's support of waterboarding, keeping Guantanamo open, and whitewashing rape in the military. So I take exception to your idea that everyone thought Kelly was going to be Doris Day. It's a symptom of how lousy is our president that Kelly looks/looked decent by comparison.
1
On Kelly’s comment that the Civil War was caused by “the lack of an ability to compromise,” he should brush up a bit on American history.
In President Lincoln’s second inaugural address, Lincoln spoke on this subject:
"Both parties deprecated war but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive and the other would accept war rather than let it perish. And the war came."
6
Republicans with one voice have relentlessly condemned - and called for the jailing of - Hillary Clinton for having the terrible bad judgement to have an email server in her home, holding national security sensitive information just sitting there for the taking by foreign adversaries. (Never happened, but for them that's beside the point).
Now, we are treated to the situation that a White House staffer - the President's and the Chief of Staff's closest aide - has been employed in that position for over a year WITHOUT a security clearance commensurate with handling the nation's most sensitive, confidential and important documents on a daily basis.
So far, I have heard nothing from Devin Nunes, Trey Gowdy, Paul Ryan and the boss of them all - Sean Hannity. Am I surprised? Are you kidding me?
6
Too many Americans believe the Hollywood fantasy that Generals are smart. Looked at the results of any of our wars the past 70 years?
7
We don’t get it yet. This is administration is not trying to do politics. They are bent on domination by any means necessary for their own personal benefit and this of their compatriots. The story should be more about why everyone failed to see Kelly for exactly who he is and how we can see each and everyone of these people exactly for who they are in the beginning not after they’ve had a chance to wreak their havoc.
6
Trump might want to re-think his goal to "recreate Bastille Day in Washington" because, if memory serves, isn't it a celebration of the French Revolution that overthrew the aristocracy?
Piketty noted that aristocratic overreach resulted in "The Pitchforks are Coming," which may prove to be quite prophetic in the U.S. as well.
9
We all know that Trump follows the lead of whoever talks to him last and/or flatters him the most. Perhaps the policies and attitudes we see now are merely those of General Kelly, the shadow president.
3
Why is Trump drawn to military top brass? Gold plated epaulets? Experiencing vicarious bravery? Autocratic impulses?
Actually, generals fit very well into the Trump business model. No, it is not because they are the "adults in the room." It is because their success is dependent upon, and their fidelity is pledged to, the chain of command. The acquisition of their stars of power resulted from the fact that throughout their careers subordinate officers were required to salute and carry out orders. Furthermore, generals are themselves strict adherents to the belief that the Commander in Chief is the ultimate link in the chain of Command, and that they will faithfully carry out Presidential policies .
Certainly competent generals will provide their best advice to their superior; but they know the limits of their influence- they will not intervene in matters of policy. Their job is to execute policy. Furthermore they know that their responsibility is shielded by comporting with political policy.
You can't blame the generals for the Iraq debacle or the Vietnam quagmire.
Generals fit into the Trump organizational chart perfectly. They provide a veneer of gravitas. Trump has long bragged what he will listen to his generals. But he also understands that as a class of executive, loyalty to the commander in chief is essential to their job description. And as we know, loyalty is paramount for Trump.
When are we going to put to rest the notion that there will arise a knight in shining armor, a person with statesman-like sensibility, to reign in the president's narcissism and prevent him from placing the country and the world in harm's way? It is no less believable now than when it was used as a justifyimg mantra by the delusional "moderates" who voted for Trump. The media's obsession for putting a human face on the asministration by searching for such a person is comparable to placing faith in finding the holy grail.
Rather then focus on the "palace intrigue" of the administration maybe more light should be focused on identifying the Republicans legislators who enable the president to stay in office by alllowing him to avoid public scrutiny of his financial and foreign and corporate political influences.
4
Perfection eludes us all, even a retired Marine 4-star. His case illustrates in a general fashion (groan), the unsuitability of the military temperament for jobs that require challenging authority. Of even more significance is the fact that we have two other Generals serving as SECDEF and National Security Adviser.
1
John Kelly appears to be yet another loose cannon among a whole set of loose cannons. Being a general or a former general does not necessarily make you a good or even competent man or woman, just as being President does not make you same. We need to get over our ideas of office, power and position automatically defaulting to decency and morality. Ask any of the Me Too-ers about that - or go no farther than the Oval Office and the West Wing to find an answer.
1
Give trump his parade - i for one will be present to stand in opposition and block it from going down the street. It will be the American version of Tianamen Square! Hopefully as he spins and tweets it as “the best parade ever” it will be from an orange suit in a jail cell or a straight jacket in the looney bin where he belongs.
5
I’ll be right there with you, Thereaa
The guys who brags about having a high I.Q. has never had an original thought in his life. He admires Putin and tries to imitate him as a leader. He has seen a parade in Paris and wants to imitate it. Never much of a church goer, he is suddenly pious with the evangelical right. He dodged the draft 5 or 6 times, but now is a super patriot who has disdain for a football player exercising his rights. My wild guess is that he watches Fox news and then spews forth with their radical spin on the world. Even there he is imitating not leading with an original thought. The laugh is that some pundits claim he was being Presidential at such and such time. He imitates. He imitates. His language is without music, and is high-lighted by its meanness! Every time I see him, I think of a bad actor trying to play President!
4
Great as usual Gail, but I differ on the origin of the Military Parade's origin.
While he did like the one Macron provided, I believe Donald is really a closet "Fan-Boy" for his counterpart in North Korea.
The similarities are too striking between our collective "Dear Leaders" to dismiss with Donald's matching Kim's young "advisor" who has his ear, is alleged to help keep him sane(?) and helps with major decision decisions.
For Kim it's his sister who will be with the the DNK Group viewing the Olympics and possibly meeting with Pence (though all deny), Donald's "Yang" is Ivanka who performs many of the same tasks, equally well, for Don.
Who knew all the time he was trash talking with Kim, Donald was really yearning for a really big, really great parade, just like Kim gets!
3
People ( especially pundits ) have made the same mistake over and over again ~ that is to think that people around this President are going to have some sort of leverage over him.
The man is and has surrounded himself with sycophants and the like minded.
So don't be surprised that time and time again, those people around him come out and do things or make statements that are even more radical, heartless or even racist than the man himself.
This is the government you voted for. ( at least a clear minority of you )
7
The real John Kelly is slowly emerging from behind the frozen, expressionless mask.
21
You see the real person when they get a lot of power and/or money. It usually isn't pretty.
23
Hey, what about that "ability to compromise?" Kelly appears to be a "Compromise 'em all, let God sort 'em out" kind of a guy, which is NOT working out for anyone. Maybe the stress of babysitting trump has taken a toll on the good general.
6
Why is there so much emphasis on containing or restraining the President? If Trump acted like an adult, Kelly could focus on his actual job.
8
Kelly is becoming as great an embarrassing sycophant as everyone else who flies to close to the black hole that is Donald J Trump. Trump’s gravitational pull sucks the joy and integrity out of the most honorable people, over and over again. It is no mystery why the best and brightest refuse to work in his administration.
21
Is it the old Peter Principle with John Kelly? Or, maybe instead of being the calming factor in the White House, the free-wheeling off the cuff shoot from the hip and accuracy be damned is rubbing off on Kelly?
None of the above. We are just seeing Kelly as he is: arrogant and mean-spirited. Anyone who sticks his nose in what was a bi-partisan agreement for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals and unravels it, throwing 800,000 young lives into the meanest form of limbo, is just a mean man himself.
21
How can anyone cogently argue that the former General has somehow had his former values, principles, attitudes, and basic worldview upended and dramatically changed for the worse by his relatively short proximity to his amoral boss? Leon Panetta's "On the other hand, who the hell knows?" comment candidly reveals that he, too, may have disturbingly misjudged the well-hidden but true content, or lack thereof, of Kelly's actual character.
Like a moth to a flame, the most obvious explanation for Kelly's continuing reveal is that he has always been perversely attracted to his "soul mate" in the Oval Office, in silent agreement with that vile bundle of racism, misogyny, divisiveness, and falsehoods that accompanied that allegiance. All that was waiting for Kelly's personal "unmasking" was the shedding of his Marine uniform and the assumption of a civilian proximity to the ultimate source of power where he and Trump could, in unison, play out on the largest stage their shared core being.
While the public's continuing "demotion" of Kelly to the hinterlands of strong disapproval and disgust is very sad and tragic, his post-service stint with a Fake President was a risk-filled mission that he voluntarily, most eagerly, signed up for.
19
"The best Panetta could do in a phone interview was to suggest the new, bad version of his old friend might be the product of too much time spent with his current boss. 'On the other hand,' he added, 'who the hell knows?'”
Good question. Everyone Trump touches turns mean, mendacious and venal at best. Do they absorb these qualities in order to work for him, or does he merely amplify what was already there?
14
Mr. Porter should have been shown the door when his non-disclosure of past domestic abuse prevented him from getting a security clearance. He became vulnerable to blackmail. The rationalization is the same for closeted homosexuals, adulterous heterosexuals, or any unusual sexual proclivity; and that’s just sex; there are disqualifying criteria from bad credit to bad friends.
As for Chief of Staff Kelly’s comment, it is not in the article in full, but I think people are missing the whole point of it. Here it is:
"The difference between 690 [DACA] and 1.8 million [additional getting the DACA inclusion] 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.” http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2018/feb/07/context-john...
Kelly is USMC to his DNA, fear (“too afraid”) & indolence (“too lazy”) are anathema. Marines, like all the military, experience fear, why you learn courage. Courage is feeling the fear & doing the right thing regardless. Similarly, apathy & inactivity-laziness in mind & body-is impossible if you want to be mission ready. Notice he said not word one about fearful or lazy DACA recipients, they courageously stood up and are working hard, he berated the people who did nothing and got the same benefits that the courageous and industrious did.
Please stop denigrating Gen. Kelly in order to undermine the presidency of 45. Scurrilous.
1
The last refuge of a scoundrel is to wrap himself in the flag - or his military uniform. I am sick and tired of the inevitable trope - that a long military background exonerates whatever they do - trotted out on all these occasions. (Btw, before you attack me, I'm a veteran of a foreign war, too.)
1
I thought that the top brass - the Joint Chiefs down to the colonels - would see themselves as the protectors of our Constitution to which they are sworn, as saviors of our imperfect democracy, as stewards of our continually ravaged land, & as models of a multi-racial and democratically fair institution including, of course, helping the careers of females & protecting the bodily integrity of those military women in service.
Well, my eyes have been opened by Generals Kelly, Mattis & McMaster. We hear nothing from the Joint Chiefs. I now fear that our military leadership has slid down the slope toward an authoritarian president & they'll do their best to protect him from his own missteps, mistakes & dangerous speech. General Kelly's recent comments about "lazy Dreamers" was a shocking acknowledgement that he is at one with his president's politics & policies. He just wants to tame the beast a bit to make his job easier & ensure his president's re-election. If there is a coup, it will surely come with Trump's military connivance.
Now I must view the military as potential enablers of Trump's desire for authoritarian control, and possibly onward to dictatorship. Now this president wants a big military parade to show off our armaments and civilian support. Trump's ego is so obvious - he identifies with the military since the days he went to a military-style high school. He loves the title of Commander-in-Chief, which is to be invoked only during times of a declared war.
198
It is more than a little ironic that HR McMaster's fame within the Army rests in large part on his book "Dereliction of Duty," in which he seriously and coherently castigates the members of the Joint Chiefs for their willingness to cast aside their personal honor and integrity to please President Johnson and Secretary McNamara on the conduct of the Vietnam war. And while not a member of the JCS now, McMaster is highly influential. He must find it difficult to shave in the morning...
The "Press" is missing a major point by narrowing their focus on only half of Kelly's comment. The first part of his comment was that immigrants were afraid to register for DACA. Everything Kelly and Donnie have done in the last year says the immigrants were correct to be afraid to register. Donnie and Kelly have not respected the promises made to those who did register.
18
Anyone who sidles up to this unbalanced menagerie is bound to become unhinged. It's impossible to avoid.
4
Wow, wishing for a return to the glory days when Reince Priebus was in charge....that is the TRUE "state of the union".
Just because some Trumpists have "general" in from of their name is certainly no guarantee of anything, least of all sanity. In fact, after Flynn and Kelly, they might be the least sane...
9
I got the "feeling" from Reince he would not have had an opinion on this matter or any other crimes of obstruction being plotted in the WH.
Compare/contrast Trump's need for a French style military parade, with Nixon's dressing up the White House with European style palace guards.
8
This administration and all of its members are beyond pathetic. This man Kelly who was thought to be able to temper the asylum has either caved or caught the same disease.While the scandals and abusive accusations toward or Security agencies and the opposition party mount on an hourly basis, the wannabe dictator now deems a parade appropriate!
A parade that will stroke HIS ego, never mind our military.Not only would such a display be a terrible waste of money (the pentagon claims it needs more!) but it sends out the wrong message.Do we really want to depict ourselves as a militant, aggressive society?
Further, wouldn't the costs, in the millions, be better spent on improving the quality of life for those returning vets who are struggling with health issues and readjusting to civilian life? If our authoritarian inclined chief con artist really wanted to honor the military ,who does this parade serve .
tRump must be watching old newsreels from 1930's Berlin and Rome. Will stadiums filled with marching youth ,goosestepping, clad in brown shirts ,waving red banners be next?
11
You cannot blame Trump for his gaucherie with Mrs. Johnson; he was trying to be sympathetic and charming...for him. As for forgetting Sgt. Johnson's name, we all know that Trump has the attention span of a gnat. The only reason he can remember his own name is because he has plastered it on everything in sight.
Kelly is out of his element because he is unable to order people around anymore. Come to think of it, that applies to Trump, as well.
5
Wonderful Gail. Thank you. re: The Bastille Day Parade. Do we storm before o wait until after?
14
We can not identify any single individual in the White House as either culprit or savior. Everyone — EVERY ONE — inside that building has an agenda, either kleptocratic, ideological, or psychological. Kelly is likely there out for all three reasons: ego, long term material and political gain. Clearly he’s decided that enabling the Eight-Year-Old-in-Chief suits his agenda.
2
Ms.Collins leaves out the most important event last week — the State of the Union, which got kigh marks from Republicans.
That was a non-event for many of us. I found something much better to do to fill the time before Rep. Kennedy came on.
With the relentless news of Trump’s buffoonery it’s hard to see the forest of blunder through the trees of daily outrages... Gail your column was a perfect summation and indictment of Trump’s top lieutenant.
Thank you for the perspective you gave of yet another dangerous and incompetent facet of a very dysfunctional administration.
8
The evidence suggests that our generals are incompetent and have been for quite some time. Don't believe me - look at Afghanistan!
7
This is a classic public sector cover up, occurring at every level of the public sector. Somewhere along the way, people forgot that by protecting the man you rarely protect the institution. The self-serving cliques that have evolved in government, often highly nepotistic in nature, are the root-cause of most institutional failures. Kelly has fallen into the trap of protecting the man rather than the institution. And in that he has failed both institution and country. Everyone reaches their own level of incompetence, or foolhardiness, at some point in life. Most, however, understand that fact and step aside before everything falls around them. But not in modern government, apparently.
3
Kelly has made matters worse because he is willing to be an enabler.
11
Who invited Kelly to be chief of staff, to “guide” the tantrum thrower.
who ,exactly ,chose a man with only a military background to “guide “an angry
Narcissist.
Now we’re surprised this military fellow is more in line with Trump?? And his thinking ?Really?
6
I watched the exculpatory videotape of Frederica Wilson's speech twice. Not only did Kelly utterly mischaracterize the entire tone and message of everything she said, but he created a completely false and derogatory set of quotes designed to impugn her. It was a deviant lie. Completely false. His lies about her bore not the remotest resemblance to reality, and were exactly opposite to what any sane listener would take away from her completely appropriate and touching speech.
So a white male USMC veteran, a former general, used his powerful position to viciously lie about a black, 76 year old female congresswoman to punish her for making public a tone-deaf phone call POTUS made to a grieving widow in her presence. And when videotape evidence revealed his filthy lies he would not give an inch. To date, he has refused to apologize.
From that moment on Kelly totally lost my respect, and subsequent crude, insulting, unfair and obnoxious statements made by him have confirmed my opinion that his warped ideas about women, immigrants and minorities were either well-hidden during his military career, or else the USMC's tolerance for such views is sad and dangerous.
30
Why do we continue to refer to people(men) by the title they had when they were working at a particular job? There should be a limit to how long we refer to them as General, Senator, Governor---you get the picture. Once they are no longer in the job they should lose the title and just be Mr. like everyone else.
3
This administration is a puzzle. Kelly was not one of the ones whom we were worried about. We were sure that Kelly, a decorated military man, would be not only competent but also staunchly decent.
His racist monologs and his racist version of history tell us that he is not decent and tell us that he is not adequately grounded in the fact-based evidentiary world.
Kelly torpedoed the bipartisan immigration bill that needed only the president's signature. Trump backs down whenever his base is angry. Now Kelly is pushing him farther toward the right?
14
So Kelly has caught the Trump Flu. The symptoms of this highly contagious disease are misogyny, racism, boorishness, lying with impunity, and ignorance. Breathing the air in the Oval Office is dangerous but not fatal. Those who catch the disease are richly rewarded those who remain disease free are eventually fired.
4
John F. Kelly is a total failure as White House chief of staff. His desk may be more neatly organized than Donald Trump’s, but his mind isn’t.
Kelly has more deep-seated prejudices against immigration and people of color than his boss, and except for an occasional outburst of public candor, Kelly is sneaky about his bigotry.
Donald Trump enjoys the trappings of office and the spotlight. He likes being the boss and getting his way. Kelly, on the other hand, prefers authoritarian rule over democracy as a matter of principle.
When you think of John F. Kelly, imagine Donald Trump without the ebullience.
12
Reading my comment a few hours after it was submitted, I think I got John F. Kelly right, but my brief mention of Donald Trump’s end of the partnership is too benign. Trump has a gratuitous vulgarity, dishonesty and cruelty, all of which he had long before Kelly crossed his path.
Donald Trump will never change. He is incapable of changing, even if he wanted to.
IT seems that anything or anyone Lord Midas Trump touches is instantly and irredeemably debased, corroded and morally bankrupted. Maybe they start that way (Conway) maybe they end up that way (Preibus). But it doesn't matter. We are living through sickening times, and I fear it's just starting, because the number of people who find this acceptable is on the rise.
6
Too often we equate rank, privilege, and power with intelligence, forthrightness, and morality. This administration proves the fallacy of those connections over and over again. The line from the movie "All the Presidents Men" rings true all too often. To paraphrase, "These aren't smart guys". That rings true not only for the White House and the Trump administration but for Congress as well. Some are, many aren't. We vote for them. Shame on us.
5
The only military parade suitable for Trump would feature him as a vanquished and disgraced leader. The Romans had such a custom, and the victorious Julius Caesar once led a triumph with Vercingetorix in tow. Unfortunately, the Gallic freedom fighter, who was a far better man than Trump, met an unpleasant end at the the parade's conclusion. I'd settle for Trump carried off in an orange prison jumpsuit.
5
This chaos president seems to infect everyone around him.His bad language and worse judgment is contagious! General Kelly should be in charge of efficiency in the Oval Office and there should someone appointed to keep the president calm and focused.It is beyond sad that the presidents' instability and bad moods take such a toll on work at the White House.Mr.Trumps's insensitivity defines his presidency and the reputations of those who try to please him, including member of Congress.
1
Mattis definitely the better pick. I'm sure he's working on a virtual military parade right now at a cost of $975. Can include huge virtual crowds on the Mall with the New Jersey and the Iowa sailing up the Tidal Basin. Throw in the virtual Merrimack too. Everyone can watch it on Fox of course
5
If 45 watches it on TV, he won't even know it's not real -- the same as everything else he sees on Faux News. Brilliant idea!
John Kelly's proclivities are suspect. Military men placed in high civilian positions must recognize that civilian authority is subject to more restraint and act accordingly. In this administration, that is especially difficult as Mr. Kelly's job is restraining a narcissistic Child-President from self and national destructive tendencies. The difficulty of the task aside, Mr. Kelly's tendencies themselves are now brought into question. Is he aiding and abetting or attempting to restrain?
Do we have two loose cannons in the White House?
2
We already have lots of parades on our Independence Day.
2
My theory about John Kelly is that because of his upbringing & his 40 years in the Marines (1976-2016) his world view has not changed. He still sees the world in black & white with no grays in between. Perhaps if he had been a civilian some of his views would have moderated.
3
So how's the work force at the Adult Day Care Center? Worse than we even imagined. Porter couldn't get a security clearance yet he's interpreting intelligence briefings, has access to classified info and state secrets.
Kelly knew Porter had spousal abuse on his record. And most ironically tells him to stay and fight it out rather than resign. Yet more irony--- it was Kelly saying awhile back “women (used to be) sacred and looked upon with great honor."
But Kelly's no better than Scaramucci. Let the myth of a dignified gatekeeper in Kelly be put to rest. Everything about this white house is a lie.
8
It's heartbreaking that so many men and women holding positions of power and trust in our government have revealed themselves to be white supremacists. I had no idea there were so many. This is the ideology that we must eliminate. It's born of ignorance. Unfortunately, ignorance is celebrated by POTUS, his cabinet, and apparently, the entire GOP, and the conservative Blue Dog Dems. They have no vision for our country. Their vision is "Free money, swirling round my head," as Patti Smith sang about a dream. Unfortunately, the donors who back these white power supporters are making their dreams come true. I weep for my country.
7
The John Kelly list of acceptable behaviors has expanded to include domestic violence. Although he tried to walk it back, he was unsuccessful. His stated and intolerant beliefs on race, gender, and immigration have created an indelible black stain on his career...that stain grew larger today.
10
Kelly has been an utter disgrace. It's clear he holds hard-line anti immigrant and racial views. In addition, he has helped Trump and his congressional minions impede the Mueller probe...
8
I actually thought Kelly would maintain some level of integrity and quit shortly into his Chief of Staff stint. He is a prime example that Trump does in fact corrupt those around him.
6
Gail.....
General KELLY is an incredibly intelligent man and a great American.
Nothing in his long & distinguished career could prepare him for the hyper partisanship and the political insanity of his current assignment.
In terms of providing some sort of intellectual oversight/air cover for Mr. TRUMP...Ron WHITE said it best...."You can't fix stupid".
I believe General KELLY is struggling to come to grips with this reality....and like most people who enter Mr. TRUMP's orbit....trying to figure out how to exit this soul-crushing experience gracefully...
Oh, please. "Struggling to come to grips". "Hyper-partisan". After 40 years in the military he should have those down-pat, no problem. As far as leaving, not going to happen. He is in the catbird seat and will stay right there next to this POTUS until the electorate votes all of them out of office.
3
These are not the best people
They are not even competent people
The president has surrounded himself with a coterie of dangerous people who are more than willing to use force and our military to protect their power.
Be concerned and vote in November to put a total check on his power. Vote the democratic ticket - straight up and down - that is the only patriotic thing to
17
The WaPost has a piece today that tries, as does Collins here at the end, to make Mattis the new hoped for "adult in the room" since Kelly has showed himself to be part of the Stephen Miller racist rearguard of the Trump Kingdom. But Mattis is complicit too -- he wants to build a military to fight WWIV (language is to take on russia or china) and he's been conceding to the horrific idea that you can hit N Korea with a 'nose bleed.' The sad truth is that there is No One in the WH who moderates any of the truly ugly "impulses" of our furor.
7
There is the old saw, politics makes for strange bedfellows. With Trump it's more like politics is a black hole that pulls his ilk into his sphere. We are shocked when these appointees free from the shackles of civilized society show their true stripes.
3
John Kelly is disliked because he is not a liberal and will not bend over backwards to their demands. Mr. Kelly is a patriot and has served his country admirably. He is not afraid to speak up against those in which he disagrees.
John Kelly advises President Trump but it is the president who has the final say as to how the country should be run. It is the leftists who are displeased with Mr. Kelly because he refuses to promote left-wing causes. Good for Mr. Kelly for standing up to them and showing he has some backbone. He is not anyone's puppet.
John Kelly makes me proud to be an Irish American from Boston. I can relate to his patriotism and defense of our country and moral values. We need more men like Mr. Kelly and not less. You know he is being successful when he upsets the progressives. If he was a liberal they would be singing his praises. Hopefully he will continue to turn a deaf ear to them and continue assisting President Trump that benefits all Americans. He is a true American hero.
Hero's don't beat their wives,Hero's don't cast aspersions on less fortunate people,Hero's don't lie about the actions and statements of others! Liberal or conservative, hero's don't worship liars and cheats like Trump.
1
As Samuel Johnson said, "Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel."
Moral values like broadcasting blatant lies about an African American Congresswoman and defending an aide who couldn’t get a security clearance because of spouse abuse against two wives? Wow. What an upstanding American hero you got there.
Kelly, the guy who came up with the idea of I.C.E agents lingering around elementary schools waiting for the undocumented to pick up their children after school. That Kelly.
Principals of schools have enough to deal with and he added another layer.
That Kelly?
18
There is no compromise position on slavery. If slavery is not wrong, then nothing is wrong.
9
I am very disappointed in Kelly. I expected a four star general to exert more influence on the Head Man. He has simply taken the chaos and dumbness and made it orderly. And he certainly should have put a stop to that ridiculous parade - as a retired GI myself, I can tell you that the military does not want to waste time and money on some North -Korean- style parade pageant. A parade makes us look like the Banana Republic we have become in one short year.
14
The good news is that my fellow Americans are expanding their vocabulary. Take, for instance, megalomania; a good, useful word. Many of us hadn't taken that dog out for a walk. Wait, there's plenty more. Someone with a little time, please fill out the list of newly revived words.
2
This is the dilemma. The only competent members of the administration are military men, so they hold essential positions. However, the absence of competent civilian voices to balance the military worldview is glaring. Miller, Kushner, Hicks, Mulvaney, FOX and Friends??? Seriously?
On another subject: As a student of history and political science many years ago, I was distraught when the news of the military parade first came out, but am pleasantly surprised at the level of opposition to it.
8
As bad as Kelly appears to be, he's still head and shoulders above Trump.
Porter didn't have a full security clearance because of the order. How on earth did that work for his job in the White House? And where was Orrin Hatch on this issue when Porter worked for him?
5
When I was a young pup growing up in Connecticut, I was a Fairfield County Republican. We were socially liberal and fiscally conservative. Surprise! Those two viewpoints could exist side by side. We wore ties and were nice to everybody. Sadly, that branch of the Republican Party no longer exists. I don't know if it started with the meanness of Barry Goldwater, the interjection of the hypocritical Moral Majority, Reagan's disparaging remarks about government's involvement of our daily lives, the rise of Fox News. All of them had a part. I'm now an independent, disgusted with both parties.
It is true that we all thought Kelly would bring some sanity to this administration. However the false pride generated by such enormous power has seduced him to the point where he is just another mouthpiece to the corruption and judgmental sanctimony were are now witnessing.
In April, 1877, Lord Acton wrote "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority, still more when you superadd the tendency or the certainty of corruption by authority. There is no worse heresy than that the office sanctifies the holder of it."
That last sentence strikes me as being particularly prescient. When simply standing on the Mall, you can feel the power of the place. It is a rare individual that has the ability to understand the responsibilities to the people that this power generates.
8
I want to live long enough to read all the books the enablers and champions of this mess will write. They will be self-serving. backfilling, and inflated but they will be written by the score. "What I really was thinking" and "I really didn't want to but."
[ I dont' think the leader will have such a book, not even ghost written. Think Elvis - bathroom - cheeseburger. ]
The parade is so he can stand and be saluted endlessly. Next will come the noble equestrian statues in every town square. May i live to see them toppled.
5
Why does the press keep deluding us. First the narrative was that Ivanka Trump and Jarred Kuschner would be moderating influences on the president, sort of closet democrats. That proved to be a total illusion. Then we were told that it was the fault of Bannon. Bannon is long gone. Has anything changed? Then we were told that we could rely on Kelly. Gail Collins helps put that myth to rest for those who had not yet noticed that Kelly is as obnoxious as his boss. Now Ross Douthat tells us that we can trust Senate Republicans to contain Trump. A year from now, once Republicans have scaled back and partly privatized Social Security and Medicare, the news Media will have to find another narrative.
9
Gail:
You forgot to mention the irony: an Irishman as Chief of Anti-immigration. The General's ancestors arrived in America by the MILLIONS for the same reasons that many of today's immigrants come here: lack of food and work, and a desperate gamble to make life better for themselves and their children. Many Americans of that earlier time greeted the Irish with the same compassion Kelly is now showing to today's immigrants: "Not hiring Irish". You should invite the General to tour the Irish famine memorial in Battery Park NY with you. He'll be able to see the Statue of Liberty from there. And, perhaps, Kelly will realize that he only became an American General because some true patriots saw fit not to deport his own ancestors.
16
There is no surprise here. Kelly is Trump but with a modicum of discipline. It's no wonder we are mired in these immoral quagmires of wars. Getting a closer look at "his generals" certainly explains a lot.
We must remember every day to support our troops. What the generals obviously lack, we need to provide in support. Our treatment of veterans is a disgrace. We can do better. We must.
2
"When Kelly first came over to run the Trump team there was near-unanimous expectation that he’d be the adult in the room. "
Why?
5
The fish stinks from the head on down. No matter who you put in the chief of staff role they ultimately will succumb to the impulsivity and whims of the chief executive.
4
When Kelly either misspoke or lied about Congresswoman Wilson and got caught, he had a perfect opportunity to show leadership and some would say act like a man, setting an example for all to see. Teaching children and adults proper behaviour when you misspeak or offend someone; you acknowledge your mistake and apologize. Kelly took the approach of a weak man unable to lead; his inaction was cowardice. Trumpian in fact.
417
No one in this Administration is allowed to apologize for anything. Trump wears his refusal to admit error as a badge of honor and expects his staff to do the same.
We should stop calling John Kelly a great American Hero and call him what he is, a "Racist."
I was disturbed when the President's Cabinet or close associates in the White House were either Military Generals or close to the military. It did not bode well for our Democracy.
Since the days of Kelly being in charge of Homeland Security, he proved himself to be a "strong Trumpian" enabler and supporter.
12
If Trump gets his parade, worldwide anti-Trump marches will occur on the same day. And they will be YUGE.
7
When Kelly was appointed chief of staff I was reminded of a small but telling incident. On May 17, 2017 at the US Coast Guard commencement ceremony, Trump was presented with a ceremonial sword. As he returned to his seat, next to Kelly, Kelly leaned over and said to Trump, not realizing that the microphone was on, "You can use that on the press, sir." To which the President of the United States responded, "Yeah."
I was not optimistic about Kelly's appointment.
8
In the Bastille Day Parade here, the group that gets the loudest applause is the clean-up crew that follows the Horse Guard (La Garde Républicaine). The perfect metaphor for so much.
9
So Kelly is an immigration hardliner. Hardly a surprise. That issue is why he supported Trump in the first place.
1
What is profoundly unsettling is how easily the American people have allowed this abhorant, immoral behavior to become normalized. I truly expected more from my fellow Americans.
4
And you will get more --- of same.
You'd think a marine general would have regard for authority and the rule of law. Yet he works for a rogue president who has no respect for either.
I nominate Leon Panetta for president in 2020. He appears to be decent, competent, and could actually find and hire the best people.
1
Well, I would say to Gen Kelly the same compassionate words Trump said to the widow of Sgt. La David T. Johnson: "I guess he knew what he signed up for." These are hollow men with transparent motives. We citizens don't need to extend any more sympathy or understanding to these failures. They have forfeited that consideration time and again.
5
Kelly is a truly remarkable disappointment, on so many levels. You could argue that this is yet another example of Trump destroying someone's dignity. But it is becoming clearer that these are simply Kelly's true colors, and he can't hide them standing in the middle of the stage all by himself.
4
I'm still depending on the Chief of Staff to take the nuclear football away from Trump when Mueller finally has the President cornered.
I wonder exactly how many different “presidents” will run America while The manifestly incompetent one infects our White House and our nation. We’ve had president Bannon, now it’s branched out to what seems to be three: President Huckaby-Sanders, president Miller, and president Kelly. Funny, I don’t remember electing any of them, including trump.
Not sure if it’s that no one who works for Trump ends up looking good, or that no one good ever works for Trump.
3
I am reminded of the saying, Touch fire, get burned. I'm also reminded of the saying, Lie with dog, get fleas. It seems everyone who comes into contact with Trump, even decent, well-meaning people, become corrupted by the force of his psychosis. John Kelly seems no different. He thought he could impose some constraints on Trump. Instead, he becomes more and more like him every day. John Kelly's stellar reputation, developed over decades of service, has been tainted and he will forever be remembered as Trump's alter ego and stooge.
1
Kelly and his cheerleaders, bless their hearts, never understood that the only part of the title Chief of Staff that matters is the very last word:
Staff.
As in the help.
And no one from the help is going to tell The Man what to do.
Because a guy whose idea of a noble and honorable life is to wear camouflage costumes and order others to kill "foreign" people is a surprising failure when it comes to real and compassionate leadership. Who could have seen it coming? Why do we have such a disconnect, when we idolize war and amass insane amounts of weaponry out of fear and a love for violence, from the reality that those we choose to command such arsenals and intents are also violent and insane?
1
Shallow and naive are a dangerous combination, especially at the very top of our government. When they respond to trouble, reactions are mechanical and strapped to an ideology, religious or political.
Libertarians head this crowd, this type of person. I had, for many years, business in the pentagon. Meeting over the years with those customers had a common refrain re: Generals. "At some time after the first star, they are sent to 'charm' school. They will still cap your knee caps but will do it with a smile". General Kelly in a nut shell. A warrior, nothing more.
Too many debacles to count now. And, still Trump's supporters love him. That leaves me with a cold assessment of them: They are also liars, cheats, wife beaters, philanderers, and sub human.
Did I leave anything out?
"So, are we all in agreement that Kelly, retired general turned Trump chief of staff, appears to be … a failure? And sort of a jerk in the bargain?"
Agreed. Kelly seems to misunderstand that his present position is a civil one, not a military one. He seems also to have started to channel his boss's tendency to blurt out whatever happens to be on his mind at the moment, totally without an operative filter.
2
A great Chief of Staff is like a great soccer referee; getting the job done well, but invisibly.
Kelly appears to share some of the bigoted views of his boss. And as you'd expect from anyone who climbs to the top of his or her profession (he's a General after all) a big ego that he can't entirely control.
He's gotta have his 15 minutes of fame (or infamy, depending on how you look at it) too.
Time to look into Kelly's past. His bad character cannot be new.
While Kelly's tirade of lies against Representative Wilson was an indication of who Kelly really is, a more telling insight is how he besmirched the Arlington National Cemetery.
Recall that before telling his lies about Ms. Wilson, Kelly related that he went to the cemetery and walked through it to calm and collect his thoughts among the fallen heroes. By saying this is where he decided to defend Trump, he dragged sacred ground into falsely accusing Ms. Wilson simply because she had the audacity to expose Trump's heartlessness in calling the widow of La David, not to comfort her, but to later make the false claim that he calls the families of fallen soldiers and Obama never did.
Kelly is reprehensible. His disgusting behavior is not the influence of Trump, except for the fact that being around Trump frees Kelly to be who he really is.
5
It's HUUUge mistake to put military men in high civilian positions, at the very least until they've been retired for a few years. Surrounding a chief executive like Trump, who is a wannabe dictator (he's already an autocrat), with military men whom he refers to as "my generals" should be a strident wake-up call to anyone concerned about the survival of democracy in this country. Kelly is reflecting the frustration that men, who have spent their lives giving orders and expecting everyone to jump, experience when the messy business of politics get in their way. Besides, many high ranking military men are autocrats-in-waiting, if not in fact, themselves so it should be no surprise that Kelly is slowly "blending in" with this administration.
1
Simple question to ask yourself:
Would you work for Donald Trump? I wouldn't even if I felt that I could be a mediating force. In the best of circumstances, one cannot escape the culture of an organization, and you will end up compromised. In this case, the president is crazy, undisciplined, and besotted with power. There is no normal range to mediate between as you lurch from crisis to crisis. No, John Kelly’s distinguished career is in the ash heap. As Rick Wilson states, “Everything Trump touches dies.”
1
I don't understand Kelly's xenophobia. I'm probably being naive here, and I was a Marine office in the 70s and then resigned (that Vietnam thing), but this guy was a command officer in charge of a unit at a time when the Marine Corps was a rainbow of brown enlisted and officer Marines. His subordinates were from every nationality and ethnicity. It's not new to him. But then, they had to follow orders. Maybe he is a latent xenophobe, expressing this hate after becoming a civilian. It's difficult in my naivety to understand how the Commandant granted him three stars.
1
What a strange president, what a strange administration.
I have not cared for John Kelly since he lied about Representative Frederica Wilson -- it wasn't inaccurate, Ms. Collins, he lied.
During that bizarre impromptu press conference, Kelly not only lied, he went off on a weird soliloquy about how women used to be treated in the good old days:
“When I was a kid growing up, a lot of things were sacred in our country,” he said. “Women were sacred and looked upon with great honor. That’s obviously not the case anymore, as we see from recent cases.”
Now we know, from a report in Politico yesterday, that Kelly had been aware of the 2010 protective order, which prevented Porter from getting a full security clearance and why Porter couldn't get clearance.
And yet yesterday, Kelly still defended Porter, a man who physically abused two ex-wives, and had police reports to back them up, Kelly the man who waxed poetic about women a few months ago, still defended a man he knew physically abused women.
I'm no longer shocked by President Trump and his disgusting behavior, his lurching from defending Nazis, the sexual assault accusations, the paying off of a porn star, the slurs against immigrants and entire continents -- still disgusted, but no longer surprised. But what is wrong with all these other people in this administration?
Seriously?
Have they no moral compass, no ethics, no basic decency?
18
Kelly likes power and isn't very good at his job. Noted.
14
Deep sigh. Just another example of "extreme vetting" by Mr.45. The whole list of failed people who were in the Trump White House doesn't show at all that Mr. 45 is such a stable genius as it comes to human resources.
4
The aftermath of that "condolence" call, when Trump made the war widow cry, and Kelly rushed to the podium trading in his son's ultimate sacrifice to lie about Congresswoman Wilson and defend Trump, should have been the end of any thoughts that he was the "adult" in the room.
You noted how distressed Kelly sometimes appears during Trump's speeches or press conferences. I'm pretty sure that's not distress, it's just the standard miserable look on his face. People like this tend to be miserable people.
12
Being loyal to an evil and unstable leader can reveal the worst in human nature. Even people of integrity can be corrupted by such an alliance.
11
A military parade in Washington? Surely we need that more than paying for repair of the DC subway system. At what cost? How many tanks are parked nearby? Missile launchers? Armored personnel carriers? How many divisions of Army, Marines, Navy and Air Force to make a really good show? Will it need new music? Maybe newly designed military dress uniforms for this very special occasion?
What if the crowds are too small? Maybe we'll need some NFL attired cheerleaders? What if no one watches on TV? What if corporations don't buy SuperBowl quality TV ads? What if the TV ratings are too low?
And what if some pesky Democrats or women want a counter-march? Will the troops feel threatened and be ordered to "stand their ground" and "protect themselves" from Americans exercising their First Amendment right to "assemble peaceably?"
And there is always the eternal question, "What could go wrong?"
18
Kelly is revealing himself to be not as admirable a person as we first thought, and he is forgetting that everything he says in public is subject to comment and criticism. He has made some nasty and unwise statements, e.g., about immigrants who are to lazy or afraid to register for DACA, overlooking the fact that immigrants who respond to ICE requests often are summarily deported without promised safeguards. Still, he is being subjected to "death by sound bite" in the press, e.g., his comment that the Civil War resulted from an inability to compromise, which anyone who reads history knows is true. Virtually ALL wars are due to an inability to compromise, although there always are additional motivations for the conflict. I'm sure that Kelly is fully aware of those deeper, morally justified reasons for the Civil War, but the media has gotten its dreadful sound bite and not reported more deeply, implying that Kelly is purely a bigot.
There's no question that Kelly is turning out to be something other than the paradigm for control of fifth-grader Trump we had hoped for. The press could do a service by probing the range of Kelly's thoughts more completely than it does now. Don't expect him to respond positively if the implications of your reporting are negative. Do sound him out to learn the nuances of his thoughts and actions. Recognize that he is in a very difficult position and is trying to hold the WH together under trying circumstances.
43
Uh, no. Compromise means moving to the middle or giving ground on an issue. the civil war's main cause was slavery. THere is no compromise. would you have said that children of slaves could be free, but not their parents? Slaves under 30 could not be free, but those older could be? C'mon.
5
Maybe the immigrants are smart enough to have taken note of Kelly's work in ICE and are a bit wary of revealing who and where they are?
1
Robbbb writes, "Virtually ALL wars are due to an inability to compromise". I guess that WWII was a result of Chamberlain's inability to work out a deal with Hitler. Kelly infers our civil war was a result of Lincoln not being able to convince the South to abandon slavery. Also, WWII could have been avoided if someone had been able to talk Hitler out of his "world domination" thing and got him to treat Jews as human beings.
1
A military parade? Let me tell you something: Almost to a man (and, I presume, woman) the participants hate a parade they are forced to march in. The only ones who really get a bang out of a parade, are those with the power to demand one for the purpose of inflating their own sense of self-importance. SEE WHAT I CAN DO!!
When I was in the Army, I lost count of the number of perfectly delicious Saturday mornings were ruined for the sole purpose of puffing up the ego of a company or brigade or battalion or post commander.
This is just Trump, envying Putin and bald-facedly seeking to emulate him in every way (except for taking off his suit coat, shirt and tie). How many military parades did Washington demand during his 8 years in office. Lincoln, during his truncated time in office? Teddy Roosevelt.
If the idea of a military parade excites Gen. Kelly, let him go back on active duty and he can have all the parades his heart desires.
Whatever happened to "Speak softly and carry a big stick?"
9
This country is looking more and more like the Duchy of Grand Fenwick.
9
Predictable. Kelly naysayers come out of the woodwork as POLICY successes start to stack up, and Trump's poll numbers (particularly on the economy) begin to rise. Time to double down, General.
2
A sneak preview of the team who will circle the wagons to protect Trump when the heat from Mueller gets white hot (soon). Kind of miss those soft-spoken, polite predecessors who were effective without vulgarity and base meanness. Kelly and his minions should heed the history lessons from the downfalls occasioned by hubris. They see themselves fortified on the top of the hill, impenetrable, not accountable for their excess. And always the most shocked when the ground crumbles beneath them.
4
Absolute power corrupts, unless it's balanced with grace and humility. Neither Trump nor Kelly have the grace or humility to offer an apology when it's necessary. We have seen this over and over again.
Our republic was set up so that there is a balance between the three branches of government. The executive branch has grabbed all the power currently, and the legislative branch has failed to act. I reserve judgment on the judicial branch (pun intended). I wait to see how they will act when called upon.
4
I think we can better understand why so many Trump ventures went bankrupt. He is incapable of vetting the people he hires. Has any President had to fire so many people in their first year than Donald Trump?
4
John Kelly has now allowed someone denied a security clearance to handle classified information.
This rises far beyond jerkness. This is criminal. He needs to be removed.
13
As a retired general, Kelly should realize how much good could be done with the parade money at VA hospitals and clinics which are chronically underfunded.
11
Gail, thank you for writing this necessary column. Kelly has gotten a pass from far too many for his military service, but he has truly failed our country in his current post.
11
Let us not forget Kelly's defense of Robert E Lee as an "honorable man." Understanding the President's loose grasp of the Constitution, he might consider not applauding him treasonous. Lee, on the other hand, was actually guilty of "levying War aginst."
2
Water seeks its own level. Evidently, so does venality.
10
Birds of a feather, flock together. A decent , stand up, honest guy would not put up with the kind of antics and rhetorics that Trump spill out daily. It is called self respect.
4
This is a bad situation getting worse. And even more frightening is the good people leave, empowering the remaining thugs. Good people have no interest in tarnishing their CV with time served with this administration. The best we can hope is Mueller indicts Trump, Pence at the time of midterms and a Democrat becomes president. Or we determine the election was, indeed, compromised by the Kremlin and Hillary Clinton won.
If none of this happens, we will continue this slide into oblivion and the history books.
5
For all those Americans holding out hope that John Kelly was the only sensible adult in the room -- let this be your wake-up call, as well as a warning that no one who comes in the immediate vicinity of Donald Trump is ever immune to his particularly venal brand of chaos.
Mr. Kelly is no exception.
8
Please. Let's have the parade. To celebrate our POTUS builder/real estate magnate/testosterone infused risk-taker. Commander in Chief can come wearing a giant red, white and blue prophylactic. Head to toe. His remaining staff (including all adult children) can step to a choreographed march of the Condom-Minions. Little bow to anyone who came out on the wrong end of a Trump building project.
No weapons. Kelly and Pence should toss monopoly money to the adoring crowds from their float. A giant crucifix. Because we're nailed, and everyone except the 1% will suffer. And 6 million of them still think it's the girl's fault.
2
From the beginning I had little expectation for the "three little generals" (to borrow phrasing from their boss). First anyone of such apparent stacher who would actually go to work for such a Despicable character is automatically of questionable charachter and unqualified for the job. Secondly, to the extent they are at all successful in raining in our Resident Evil in the White House they will only be advancing his cause by making him seem normal when he is anything but.
Besides that a closer look at their record shows they were not as successful as some would like to believe and rather than standing on principal they gave us a losing cause that cost thousands of lives.
Since taking the position Kelly has shown he is not there to rein in the president but he is actually a willing participant in every nutty thing the president does.
11
This column sums up succinctly the deplorable White House climate of bigotry and racism that prevails in this administration. Thank you Gail Collins for keeping these issues alive. This Mafia (best name for this administration) oscillates between its dictatorial core, its chaotic policies, its embarrassing display of historical ignorance, its disdain for the truth and its mindless sell-out to the wealthy class that represents less than 1% of the population, at the expense of all other citizens. It rejects the fundamental ideas of Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Franklin. Moreover its fanatical and hypocritical pandering to fundamentalist Christianity as exemplified by the vice president and a number of White House consiglieri is a flagrant attack on the constitution's intent to keep religion and the state separate. The servility of the leaders of the party in power and especially that of the congressional committee chairs toward the executive branch is yet another violation of the separation of powers that is at the basis of the republic. The electorate in its traditional wisdom one hopes will rectify these unprecedented unconstitutional violations in the 2018 elections.
12
Remember when Kelly would only take questions from reporters who had lost a family member in military action?
5
Water has a propensity to seek for level ground. So does all the debris in a sewer. It’s very difficult for anything pure to come out of garbage. In time, it all starts to look and smell the same, even if it was once beautiful.
The cure? Drain the swamp. Yes, it’s as simple as that. It’s the only solution. Don’t expect a Pearl of Great Price as long as it touches Donald Trump. So–How do we do that? We simply pull the plug. Republicans stop supporting Him. Although it will be painful for Republicans to admit that they helped create this monster, and many Democrats aren’t much better, if you truly love the concept of this country, be willing to make decisions that can get us back on course before it’s too late.
9
There was also the incident in May at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy when Kelly suggested to Trump that Trump use a ceremonial sword "on the press".
11
When John Kelly looks back on this from his personal history perspective, how will he feel about his time as Chief of Staff? The worse decision of his life?
2
He's got a messianic complex, so he'll stop at nothing to "save us" from ourselves.
1
Hard to believe that Kelly had a reputation for running a tight ship. Somehow, he let Porter work in the WH and with classified materials, even though Kelly knew that Porter didn’t have security clearance because of his long history of wife beating. Kelly describes Porter as an honorable man, and he has not yet pulled his support of Porter. I wonder what stories Kelly fed to the FBI about Porter continuing to work in WH without FBI clearance. I think Kelly may well be Trump’s little brother.
9
Our history has produced many great Generals (lots of wars will do that), but not every General who climbs the career ladder is the hero of some action movie. Even Generals put their shoes on one foot at a time and like the rest of us poor mortals have their weak/peculiar/odd sides. I remember how a Major General I encountered in Europe fifty years ago stopped two young enlisted men walking past him in a snow storm, who didn't hold their salutes long enough to suit him. He then had them stand at attention on the sidewalk for ten minutes in that blizzard reciting their general orders.
General Kelly's didn't make rank because he was a free thinker and an an out of the box type. He got there because he embraced taking orders and completing the mission assigned to him. Trump's personal General is probably doing what he does best, that's take orders.
6
What is it about the uniform that clouds the judgment of normal people? What Kelly's uniform and stars signify is a special expertise in conducting a battle or managing a war. Nothing in that job description bestows on him any expertise or for that matter any wisdom on how to work within democratic structures to craft policies and worldviews that would benefit the common good. In fact, quite the opposite, he had spent his entire career working within authoritarian structures to craft strategies whose only goal is winning a battle or a war. Even using this narrow goal, our track record with managing and winning wars in the last three decades is not a record I would include on a resume.
19
Looking back on Trump's military "career" the highlight occurred in New York at the Columbus Day Parade. To the surprise of his fellow cadets, he was somehow named to a leadership post, and in this capacity he marched in front of his corps of 90 young cadets-- after pushing a Girl Scout Troop to the second slot. This was the proudest moment of a promising career that was cut short by the scourge of bone spurs.
This grand parade is Trump's attempt to recapture that lost glory. The few, the proud, the US President.
20
Honestly, most of the time the only things missing in this administration are the white sheets. And that's only because they don't even try to hide their beliefs now. It's all out there for all to see, every sickening bit of it. And it runs stem to stern, starting with an Ahab-mad captain.
26
I expect a missive from Melania in my mailbox any day now telling me how I can buy a hat or other tchatchka celebrating this great military event. Just wait. The Trumps will make a profit out of this.
15
I need coffee. I commented on the wrong article. This, of course, is a comment on DJT's desire for a big military parade.
8
I do not tamper with the US mail. but I carry it to my sister at the other end of the house. She is a Republican, so she gets the nastiest mailing telling her the Dems are out to destroy her way of life and Trump is her great white hope. I admit I do go through her garbage to laugh at it.
2
I find it difficult to be critical of General Kelly because of his past service and the supreme sacrifice his son made for our country. So I ask General Kelly to stop taking the hits due this administration by mouthing their talking points.
3
He already showed us he would insult a war widow to secure an infant's ego. Kelly called her a liar and then lied about her supportive Rep for defending the widow!
I'm sure Trump berated him for choosing the wrong words to parrot. Trump thought the story about having chosen to serve was for HER! Trump missed the boat entirely and still thinks we serve HIM! I cannot honor that as much as it pains me to admit it.
1
He had no problem throwing his son's honor under the bus to cover for our blunderbuss of a president, so I don't feel he deserves any comfort for his excusing criminality or insulting spouses of dead soldiers by claiming they are liars.
2
Truly successful leaders, male or female, surround themselves with people who know more, have better contacts and different insights into a variety of areas than they do. Rather than trying to belittle them, they listen and compile all that wisdom into a policy plan, then bring in the key people in that area not only to identify the points that are on target but the ones that have flaws--and suggest fixes. Look at any great presidency and you'll find a whole that is greater than its part--a man (and hopefully soon a woman) who surrounded himself with the best minds he could find--and not always the best ones who agreed with him but the best minds with other viewpoints. Trump could never do that, because he can't admit anyone is smarter or more informed of more brilliant than he is. Good bosses assemble an inner circle of people who will think before they speak, research before they think, clearly share their thoughts--and fall into line behind the boss only after a final decision is made. And they will ensure that the policy is implemented in a way that makes both the policy and the boss look brilliant. And they will help him (and hopefully someday her) look so brilliant that s/he never has to say so-the whole world can see it. One valuable slogan from the anti-Vietnam era sums it up: "The whole world is watching."
31
This is this is the reason why generals should not be in the cabinet.
50
Sounds like Kelly likes his job and the power that comes with it and will do almost (?) anything in order to keep it. He's lost his center (assuming he had one) under the pressure to defend the indefensible.
36
Folks who survive in the military, politics and even most corporations are the "go along to get along" types. They sense the directions of the bosses and what they want and they then fit in. They do not want to appear a "troublemaker" or make others uncomfortable. Its "group think" always. Kelly is a long time career survivor and one does not get a high military rank if they cause any problems, they learn to fit in no matter what. He figured trump out and has modified his behavior to keep his approval- they all do.
23
The best do that, but also more. See George Marshall. He kept the respect of FDR while also keeping his distance, one of very few to do that with FDR. His judgment shaped WW2, and as he thought, not just as FDR wanted him to think. But yes, he was also at all times careful to maintain his relationship and not cause trouble. The boss is the boss.
I would hesitate to to praise Mattis too much. Under his watch as SecDef we have wandered into the mother of all snake pits is Syria. Juan Cole's article in today's "Informed Comment" tells us about it. https://www.juancole.com/2018/02/attack-troops-vulnerability.html
Kelly seems to be quite comfortable with the Big Kidnap. That was Trump kidnapping the futures of 690,000 Dreamers, and holding them in ransom for "wall" money and his favorite immigration plans.
Stars on the shoulder are more an indication of successful transit through one of the worlds biggest and richest bureaucracies, rather than a symbol of excellence.
34
I wish Syria was the mother of all snake pits. We have a wide range of choices for that label. However, Mattis has done nothing to get us out of any of them, so your basic point stands.
3
It's a case of who you hang around with. Call it environmental pollution, hanging out with Trump will always bring the bad out of people. Kelly obviously has some pretty fixed personal views which are not underpinned by sense or political acumen, add Trump into your daily life and the inevitable happens. His conduct however is 100% his responsibility.
28
Being Chief of Staff to a president has a way of either making or ruining one’s reputation. An old mentor once told me that “life is a series of snapshots,” and that admonition certainly applies to occupants of that role. One moment, poorly displayed, can establish one’s reputation for life, in spite of any previous achievements.
No one is perfect, and we are all susceptible to slip ups and mistakes. But there is far less room for error at the apex of the hierarchical pyramid than there is at its lower levels, so it is more important that individuals occupying positions in the rarified air also demonstrate a modicum of humility and self-doubt.
We know that Trump doesn’t manifest those qualities, and it’s troubling that Kelly, rumored to be at odds with Trump, may be attempting to shore up his standing by becoming Trump’s Mini Me, which brings to mind another axiom: people who lie down with dogs, get up with fleas.
234
I dont count supporting a wife beater, insulting immigrants, abusing a Congresswoman and not apologizing, or tacitly supporting slavery - as 'slips ups'. These are fundamental character insights. The John Kelly we thought we were getting never existed.
1
John Kelly may not be the right guy to be chief of staff, but the job itself is an impossible one, given who the president is. PLEASE don't suggest that Jim Mattis ought to move from Defense to Chief of Staff. We need Mattis right where he is. None of the problems mentioned in the column compares with what could happen if we face a military crisis and we have the wrong person as Secretary of Defense.
225
I would like someone to name just one Trump appointee that is qualified to be in the position they are in? I certainly can think on not a single one. But Trump was going to appoint the "best" and "most qualified". His appointments have been dismal failures and many have serious conflicts of interest. This fact does not receive sufficient coverage in the press.
32
I worry that Marx's pithy observation of history repeating could go both ways. He said it's first time tragic, then repeats as farce. What if we're watching a farce that could repeat tragically?
Inviting in the generals to mind the store, because the President is dangerous, seemed a decent devil's bargain early on. Kelley and Mattis were supposed to provide ballast to a flake. But this is the gang that can't shoot straight, and its generals are crazy too. If we survive, history may record it as a travesty.
But what if the President was dangerous and smart, and the generals found they liked to rule? I suppose this could happen too, now that the mold is set. First time it was farce, the second time tragedy.
It's a bad idea to put military men in charge. Eisenhower had been a political general, not the warrior type. So he was OK, when MacArthur would have been a disaster. But the military no longer has generals who must rally the international community. Instead they're rule setters who give orders, as generals almost always are. Trained to demand obedience, they shouldn't be given the reins of democracy.
Kelly is exhibit 1. Let's hope you can't invert Marx, and there's no exhibit 2.
15
Many acquaintances of general Kelly , who’ve known him from his days in the military, expressed surprise by what has become of him since joining the Trump administration as chief of staff.
It begins to feel like this president’s White House is infected by a virus, possibly the flu.
11
Well the CDC (which they have not yet put out of business) did say it's been the worst flu season in a long time...
1
Instead of repeating these sorts of satirical essays about Trump and Gang (we get the point) why not start highlighting some of the brave individuals, many of them women, stepping up to run for office. A little national publicity for some key candidates can build to the only crescendo that matters.Humor can easily be found in the ridiculousness of many of their Republican opponents. Go for it, Gail. Please! [Others reading this -- why not join me in this request?]
28
I agree completely. Complaining won't get us anywhere, we need to take action.
3
I like your thinkin, Just. Has the media not learned that their constant drum beat of everything ‘Trump’ was party responsible for getting him elected? We are not doing ourselves any favors by giving him more real estate in our heads. I’m exhausted and dispirited already. You are 1000% right to suggest we focus on these wonderful fresh faces with new ideas.
4
Let other reporters cover that. Gail’s column is unique and a tonic I can’t live without.
Hard to understand why anyone with a high level of integrity would be willing to work in the Trump White House. Kelly, who is 68, probably won't have to worry about a resume', just his "legacy". But younger people? In the years after Trump I sure wouldn't want my resume' to include "worked for Trump".
21
It's a sign of someone's character to agree to serve someone like Donald Trump. I had initially thought that the military code of honor would guide Gen. Kelly but clearly that has meant nothing to him.
19
It is a sign of someone's character to agree to serve one's country after already putting in a full lifetime of service, and to serve in a very difficult job while so many do everything possible to make that harder, all for a boss who seems impossible.
For some people, when the President asks for service, "no" is not an option. That too is character.
Four generations of my family have served in the military. I've seen a lot of improvement when it comes to the way women and people of color are treated but Kelly's generation was one of the worst when it came to racism and misogyny.
3
Kelly has become the news now. He will next to be fired by Trump. Anyone who gets in the way of the spotlight turning on Trump needs to be wary.
Kelly obviously is showing us who he really is. And somehow he must have hid it in order to get to the position of General when he served in the military.
Who knows, maybe Kelly suffers from dual personalities. Besides, as a former General he probably craves power and the spotlight. He certainly is no Eisenhower.
13
But it's all catnip for Trump's base. To them, democracy is not an issue. America to them is white, monolingual, Christian, factory-based and free to verbally and physically bully those who hold more diverse world-views. If a democracy gets them there, fine. Unfortunately, what they see is an America that seems to be moving closer to the spirit of our founding documents: a nation of religious, racial and cultural diversity. America to them is not the separation of powers, respect for different points of view and compromise. To them, these democratic ideals are part of the problem, not the solution.
They also see a world that is increasingly urban and making great technical advances that require higher-skilled workers, for both blue and white collar jobs. The Democrats platform, to the extent that one exists, is perceived as too supportive of both our increasing diversity and the additional training required of workers in a high-tech world. This is not seen as good news by many of the 70% of adults who don't have college degrees. It seems they would prefer to return to the era when jobs in the local factory were as certain as death and taxes.
So it's not surprising that Trump's base is holding fast to a president who promises a return to the post-World War II economy where the U.S. was in the enviable position of competing against a world on the mend and that access to the fruits of our economic strength was not nearly as racially diverse as its population.
14
I have a soft spot for Marines. My son served for four years and was deployed to both Afghanistan & Iraq during the worst of the fight. He learned a lot of leadership skills in the Marine Corp and tried to live up to the code of honor the Corp embodies.
General Kelly, a retired Marine Corp General, lost me when against obvious evidence to the contrary, he made false, derogatory statements about Representative Wilson. He should have apologized, but didn't. His other controversial statements and actions seem to highlight his true feelings of predjudice against people of color, women and immigrants. Allowing a person that had trouble getting a secret clearance to contiue in his job, a job that involved having access to top secrets at the highest level, while all along knowing he was abusive to his ex-wives, is inexcusable. John Kelly should resign. His judgement is too clouded and mired in some strange sense of how our country should harken back to the bad old days, when women, people of color and immigrants knew their place.
39
Smedley Butler is your kind of Marine Major General.
In 1933, he was approached by seditious US fascists to lead a March on Washington of veterans for the Gold Standard. They hoped to exploit his having supported the Bonus Marchers during their Hooverville occupation of Washington.
Gold Standard? "What about their Bonus?"
"You just tell those vets they don't want their bonus in Rubber Dollars!" Then they told him to watch Paris in February, and it devolved into a fascist emergency state after same parade became a fascist riot.
Butler declined the leadership, but offering to advise, kept his eyes on these seditious bums and eventually turned them over to FDR.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_Plot
Rather than expose the nation to a horrific fascist show trial, FDR had Joe Kennedy tell them to take their Glass of Steagall or else.
1
Great column, Gail Collins: funny and insightful as usual. Underscores the fact that “being smart’ only takes you so far. How about some emotional intelligence and compassion? That would be a relief to see in people who have power and also in the expectations that we, as citizens, have of our leaders.
14
There have been a slew of articles, since the time of the last election, raising eyebrows about the notion of "too many generals" surrounding the president. And most of them are marines--the smallest and most insular of all branches of the service. These selections--however admirable their past service--do not enhance the range and depth of political experience arguably needed for that environs. Perhaps Mattis would be better than Kelly as Chief of Staff, but he is arguably better left as Secretary of Defense.
I can simultaneously acknowledge that Kelley has imposed some order on the White House staff, while understanding that he does not have major experience in this national fishbowl, that some of his behavior and judgement on this job are less than admirable.
Somehow this all fits within the reality TV script we see unfolding with this president.
5
38 million women have reported spousal abuse. Hardly any of the offenders are prosecuted and hardly any quit their jobs. Most work jobs where their abuse of their wives does not make them a threat to co- workers. So resigning makes little sense. I am not aware of widespread resignation by mothers who abuse their kids. Men in prominent positions, like Porter, are the only ones who resign. There is clearly public pressure on the 1,000 well known abusers. The othe 38 million get to keep their jobs because that’s what makes sense.
Wow. Seriously? So you're perfectly comfortable working alongside a man who assaults a woman?
Newsflash, women who abuse their children should be in the same place as man who abuse their wives, prison.
1
"When Kelly first came over to run the Trump team there was near-unanimous expectation that he’d be the adult in the room." Why?? It's amazing how that myth felt so real (and still does) to so many people. Maybe it was a result of the nation's deep despair and yearning for any good news about the Executive Branch, with a healthy dose of unquestioning respect for a military leader thrown in.
6
Does anyone seriously believe that Trump was willing to take advice from anyone? He's been lost in a forest of his own insecurities since Roy Cohn passed away.
Kelly was the one who made the mistake. He can't rein in Donald but in taking on such a pivotal and highly visible role in the Administration, Kelly's own prejudices and gruff dismissals of anything that doesn't suit his military-infused self-regard have now surfaced for the whole world to see.
Kelly is just another in the long lineup of people around Trump who are definitely not the best. Not even close.
15
It seems as though anyone who becomes part of the Trump circle is eventually poisoned. I often wonder, when all is said and done and he’s out of office, what the future professional life will hold for the people who willingly chose to align themselves with a demagogue.
11
Didn’t Trump say he would hire only the best people?
Well, what he actually did was surround himself with enablers.
11
There are plenty of smart people in the army, eg, Mattis, but Kelly seems to be a good example of Lewis Mumford's statement that the military is often the refuge of third-rate minds.
10
Kelly was not chosen to be the adult in the room. He was chosen because he and Trump are ideological soul mates.
16
You hit the nail on the head.Kelly turns out to be part of the problem , not the solution. Actually the same could probably said of McMaster who has long since stopped acting as an "adult." Sometime before these two Tillerson demonstrated real shallowness.That leaves only Mathis, who so far has truly has been the most sensible person around and probably will stay so.
6
Kelly seems to be living proof that The Peter Principle is accurate.
The Peter Principle (1969) posits that people are promoted based on their performance to date (military) and not their ability to do the job they are promoted into (WH chief of staff). Eventually this leads to them reaching their level of incompetence.
14
I understand the that Ivanka Trump, who access to her father was limited by Kelly, is looking for a replacement as we speak. Nothing is going to right Trumptanic, the ship is sinking fast under its own hubris.
The Trump administration border wall and immigration policies do grave harm to my city, San Diego. Millions have been spent by the county to protect the 'border wall' prototypes across from Tijuana, Mexico. I know of families that had their fathers deported, leaving a broken family behind. The human cost is too high to pay.
The money to be spent on the wall would be better spent on the nation's crumbling roads and bridges. Donald Trump is afraid of visiting California, because of potential protests. He hasn't visited the largest state in population since campaigning here in spring of 2016 with large protests at the California Republican convention.
Trump lied when he said Mexico would pay for the wall.
10
Instead of spending that money on a military parade why not use it to help those that have served in the military? Our VA is a nightmare of red tape and inadequate care put the money there.
13
I'm trying to develop the idea that power expresses itself by suppression, but that's not a bad thing. Traditions of yellow journalism are fueling all the screen media. and things that should be suppressed are not. The power is leaking out of proper channels and dissipating. It's all the fault of Congress, where everybody is busy remodeling but nobody knows how to repair the plumbing they took apart. Now it will be difficult to suppress the sewer gas. The Imperial White House envisioned by certain 'Neocon' theorists such as Rumsfeld and Cheney now has the dysfunction living under the roof, mean and nasty. And then the gatekeepers are caught in a runaway revolving door.
1
While Kelly is currying favor with Trump, he might want to suggest that before Trump’s “military extravaganza” takes place, our soldiers get a crash course in the goose-step. The goose-step has been beloved of dictators throughout history and if our soldiers used it while marching down Pennsylvania Avenue it would send a clear message to Kim-Jong-un and Vladimir Putin that under Trump this country will not be out-dictatored by anyone.
10
Once again, we disastrously conflate image with substance. Kelly’s appearance and demeanor reek of world-weary wisdom, with the photogenic rugged good looks of an iconic American hero, clothed in the battle-tested uniform of a true scholar/warrior patriot. That is, until he opens his mouth. By all accounts he is a great soldier. For that he should be praised and respected. That does not make him a wise, or even a good, man.
11
Thanks for this opinion piece- it's well written and it made me laugh. I wanted for Kelly to be the one high-profile staffer who felt it was his patriotic duty to babysit Trump and keep him from prematurely launching the nukes after another spat with "rocket man". Instead, we found ourselves with another enabler and cheerleader who cannot say no to a ridiculous parade to humor our commander-in-chief. Sad yet comical at the same time.
5
Trump utters "might is right" and heaven help us all he believes it.
AND, the chief of staff is life long military man without the human emotion called integrity.
wake me up, please.
8
The chaos in the White House IS better. The problem that we now have more efficient toxicity. Trump's time isn't taken up by Ivanka or Omorosa and other hanger-ons . He has more time to focus on Making America Cringe Again.
And isn't that why he installed Kelly?
What people missed is that they were making up their own definitions of "better" rather than thinking about what better meant to the White House. So Kelly is better for them and not for us. Huckabee Sanders is better for them, not for us.
More focused, more efficient, more capable toxicity is good for the White House and bad for us. Viva all the poorly functioning White House staffers. May your ineptitude run free and unreplaced!
7
That's it. The world has gone totally insane. I feel like I am living in "Alice in Wonderland" where everything is upside down and nothing is what it seems.
10
I am very suspect of anyone who isn't a jailer that would is willing to spend more than 5 seconds with trump.
8
Bad reality TV. Good set-up for the Trump family's post presidency new series. I see that Amarosa is coming back to reality TV in Big Brother. Sounds like many of Trumps family and cabinet officials may pursue reality TV for the big bucks rather than lobbying once they leave.
3
Yes, lots to be said for the company one keeps. Kelly is a tough cookie with not a touch of respect or simple human kindness but for what, troops, military manuevers, and the necessary command in certain situations. He's proven as inept at much else as those in this circle. Apologize? Not in his book. To be other than a "chief" ain't his style. As others have mentioned, Irish in Boston and other places were hardly welcomed for such a long time, that immigrant background could have been brought up to show at least an understanding of all who have come, are coming, to our shores, not for vacations but to try to live, survive. Nope. He knows the East, and military knowledge of war, but as to the border with Mexico, the rest of the story, Kelly is as sorely lacking in knowledge and intuition as all of 'em. A military parade? Gosh. Just the right thing needed now. If the boss wants it, so be it.
7
It could be that Kelly has come to see himself as a reality tv star-a key supporting actor in the Trumpshow.
27
"So, are we all in agreement that Kelly, retired general turned Trump chief of staff, appears to be … a failure? And sort of a jerk in the bargain?"
Absolutely! Like many, I thought, well, distinguished general, that's what Trump needs is some good military style discipline.
Never mind that's where Trump got his start (sort of) when his dad sent the willful teen to an academy to toughen him up. Not sure that worked, but he does have a love for all things military except...actually serving.
But Kelly? Now every time he opens his mouth something racist, derogatory, inaccurate or downright jaw-dropping pops out.
Empty barrel indeed--general, heal thyself. Perhaps it's true that General Kelly just got ensnared by the old axiom that Trump taints everybody in his orbit.
Or perhaps, Kelly was just born mean. And mean-spirited. And bigoted. Which made him the perfect choice for the Trump inner circle.
Now, if he'd only get back to controlling the flow of information instead of opening his big mouth and making things worse.
266
I live in the town where Donald went to school, and have friends that work there. There is nothing military there, except some marching once in a while. The school was closed for a while, because people didn't want to send their kids there. There facilities are in bad shape and need an overhaul. They only have at the most 150 students. Inform yourself first before typing.
4
Trump is an antipsychotic resistant, opportunistic parasite that infects all it comes in contact with. Like any respectable alien robot vampire zombie, it eats human brains, drains our dignity, steals our lunch money, pulls our collective braids and snaps unsuspecting bra straps. It's effect on retired military is particularly pernicious. The more exposure you accumulate the more your humane system is compromised until you acquire a sickly pallor and a wicked case of barking tourette's. Kelley presents with stage 3 or this malady, characterized by the inability to estimate crowd sizes and a growing resemblance to a pit bull. Symptoms are aggravated by the irritation of constantly competing to be capo de regime to the capo dei capi, which all afflicted never realize is unattainable, only approachable, acolyte as asymptote. Only in the terminal stage 4, when you're thrown under a bus then kicked to the curb, do victims face the true gravity of their predicaments, and pray that Dr. Mueller has the cure. Too often they've already surrendered so many pounds of flesh that there's not enough left to save. This pandemic is approaching catastrophic proportions affecting the majority of folks in congress, everyone with a cabinet portfolio almost 50% of the electorate. Tracking it's progress is like watching the blob meets the walking dead meets Abbott and Costello, but it's really no laughing matter, now is it?
@NewYorker: what do you mean, "inform myself before typing"? His dad did send donald to a military academy, it's a part of his bio. What does it matter if the school is in disrepair now and only has 150 students? The fact remains that Trump actually liked the school and got a decent education.
It would have been nice if he'd learned some humility there as well, but from everything I've read about his time there, he made few friends and was quite the braggart.
1
Gail, thanks for helping us keep track. Trump's incessant distractions make it hard to distringuish the bad from the worse in this administration.
Sad that ''shithole'' is now part of our public discourse, but important to be reminded how the last bipartisan agreement on immigration got sidetracked.
Kelly and his White House comrade Stephen Miller are bigots, xenophobes and jerks.
Question: Who becomes COS if Kelly is forced out?
126
Think of Animal House with nukes. That our White House.
319
And not nearly as funny.
This Emperor has no toga, though.
2
Trumps tweets to tell the stock market that it is making a "big mistake." Kelly and a platoon of Marines couldn't hide his delusions!
206
We have a president who wants to build a big wall to keep out Mexicans, blames everything bad on the Democrats but takes credit for everything that goes well, and now wants a super parade to outshine France. One would think that there might be someone in the Oval Office who could say NO to the toddler-minded tyrant. One would hope that someone might be Kelly. But apparently there's nobody who can stand up to the tantrums of a contrary Trump.
322
there is no way we could outshine the pagantry and opulence of the French parade. We simply don't have their history that goes back centuries. Those horsemen and their uniforms reflected all that. The best we could do to be "showy" is get out the pipe and drummers (a segment of the parade) and a few bagpipers to show our British history .... What a lousy idea if Trump thinks we can match up to the ornateness of what he saw in Paris. And what a waste of money.
And who doesn't realize that, in his twisted little brain, Trump will look at the parade as honoring HIM.
1
Do tune in to Colbert Late Night! "Dictator Bingo" and more ...
137
Any time anyone indulges in tolerance and optimism about Trump and his cast of destroyers, racists, and kleptocrats, they discover they were mistaken. We have a tendency to want to think well of people, but there's nothing OK about this bunch.
Kelly's treatment of "others" explains why he's willing to support Trump. Lie with a straight face? No problem. The pregnant widow and her Congresswoman were Black, don't you see? Those immigrants? I guess he thinks they're "dirty". Lies aren't lies when his supreme whiteness is in question.
Meanwhile, I hope you all are noticing the current campaign to criminalize not only other races and poor people, but Democrats as well.
You see, there is no crime worse than being a democrat.
If you're not worried, you should be. We're next. Vote. Enough with victim blaming and complaining that your allies are not "pure" enough. Nancy Pelosi wasn't good enough for you today? Really?
933
I will hand it to Pelosi. I don't think I could pontificate on any subject for eight hours. Much less in four inch heels and I am not 77 years old.
Nonetheless, what did she really accomplish? I am reminded of Ted Cruz and his infamous green eggs and ham nonsense. A lot of talk with nothing to say.
Where was Nancy during the 2nd Iraq invasion?
1
When we are in the majority, we can begin to move the goalposts back to the center.
We can begin to care about everybody, not just the rich and the white, we can care about planet earth's hospitality and not poisoning it and removing worker protections to give kleptocrats and profiteers more pennies from hardworking working stiffs.
Until then, splitting off into factions, circular firing squads, and victim blaming are not helping.
We have a lot of good people recovering the meaning of public service that is more prevalent even in the Democrats that come in for constant sniping.
Vote, people, vote. Get to work. Don't shoot your allies, notice there are real enemies of humanity in town.
2
It's not quite midnight and there's a new scandal, leaving Kelly looking like an apologist for an aide who reportedly had a penchant for abusing his (ex) wives, altho' one of them says he was great at his work . . . A great place to work, that, if you can ignore the sexism, and the racism, and the xenophobia, and science denial, and . . . and . . .
449
Interesting this guy is fired but the biggest abuser with over a dozen complaints, known cash pay offs and even a national confession on TV is President. Hardly seems fair.
3
I believe you’re looking for “ misogyny “.
A five time draft dodger who can't even remember which heel had the bone spur wants a full blown parade of arms, usually reserved as a celebration for returning troops, and even then, without the show of military might and weapons, and a five star general, who thinks the Civil War occurred due to a failure of compromise, a man rooted in military tradition and values but who lied on a Congress woman without apology and today wanted to keep in White House employ, a wife beater who kicked, choked, and dragged, and punched two wives beginning with their honeymoons, doesn't object. This is the elaborate, tangled skein of modern white privilege!
Witness its power and promise: the million dollar fantasies of a delusional narcissistic memorializing his election with a wall and parade, a grown man acting with the ego and cravings of a child.
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He got the idea from France, eh? More like North Korea.
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Please Walter don't give this guy another star. Four are four too many. The Draft Dodger In Chief loves HIS generals. I remember the first time he referred to "my generals". I thought they were our generals. He does love parades though he even bought himself one in the eighties. The NYC veteran's group didn't have the funds for a parade that year so Trump came up with 50 grand but they had to make him the grand marshal. That was a first. A certified coward leading a group of veterans. Active duty military people don't like parades. They all have regular jobs so doing parade duty means your going to do a double shift or give up your day off. I remember being stationed in Puerto Rico and every time a senator or Washington big shot came we had to have a parade so the commanding general could score some points for another star.
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Four-star. Please, God help us if we anoint a general with five stars when we've had nothing but a string of profit-center wars since the Korean police action.
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A repise of Faust the opera should played in every city in America to remind people what happens when you make a pact with the Devil.
Poor Faust when one of the things he asked for in his bargain with the Devil is to see Helen of Troy laments " Is this the face that launched a thousands ships and toppled the timeless tower of Illium".
Would that Paul Ryan read that instead of Ayn Rand.
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That's Doctor Faustus, the play, by Christopher Marlowe that you're quoting. Marlowe also wrote about a Trump like figure in his two Tamburlaine plays
Men blaming their follies on women . . . nothing new here. Move along.
I don't think the Russians would approve of Trump's plan to recreate Bastille Day in Washington when Moscow is wide open and available. The snow might not melt until July 4th. Perfect!
The military is authoritarian and the ultimate in rigidity. Trump is authoritarian when he remembers he's president, but the ultimate in disorganization. On the surface Kelly appeared to be a good choice. The white house desperately needs structure. Only he's a fish out of water working for Charley Tuna with tie-dyed, yellow fins. Probably shouldn't judge a fish by it's appearance. In this case we have more than enough behaviors and tweets to make our judgements.
P.S. Didn't they tell you? Obama gave Porter's wife that black eye!
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And the truth about the black eye is burred in the missing Clinton emails!
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Again the question arises as to how many overt acts does someone have to commit before he is public labeled a white supremecist? 2, 4, 10? How many people does he have to attack? Does it matter that the positions he holds support white supremecist views? And who's back does he have - a White Supremecist in Chief.
It's become clear what John Kelly is. The only question that remains is how low can he take it.
It'd be interesting to see if there is more of Kelly's racist behavior throughout his service as a commanding officer in the military. Any investigative reporters out there?
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My husband, whose father served in the 442nd Regimental Combat Team during WWII, and who, himself served in the Air Force in both Turkey and Vietnam 50 years ago, has said that the military has been and continues to be both one of our most egalitarian and racist institutions. Mr. Kelly obviously feels freed now to express long suppressed xenophobic and racist thoughts constrained during his service period. During this past year, I have often wondered what would happen to our military readiness if significant numbers of young minority populations elected to seek a better life through some other form of service or training than the U.S. military. That is a story I would like investigated.
4
You are so right.
Kelly also knew for months that Porter was a wife beater and still defended his wonderful character. Even for Kelly that is scraping the bottom of the barrel.
I was suspicious of Kelly being just like Trump early in tenure as chief of staff. Remember when Trump was presented with some sword in a ceremony. Don't recall the details. Kelly was seated next to Trump. He leaned over to Trump and whispered, and I paraphrase, is this the sword you would like to use on the reporters? His whispered comment was picked up on a live microphone. They both laughed. Trump said yes. I said, "uh oh". I knew then that Kelly was cut from the same cloth as Trump. It was very telling. Kelly has done nothing but encourage and enable all of Trump's worst instincts. Tonight, he is trying the Trump weasel dance, trying to distance himself from his own adamant support of a domestic abuser he held in the highest regard. Up until photographic proof of the abuse was published. The White House weasels are really trying to dance away from this. Does Rob Porter get a mulligan from Tony Perkins on this? Is the whole, rotten Party of Putin, formerly the GOP, just going to ignore this latest corruption emanating from the White House? How much longer must we endure this horror reality show coming out of Washington?
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With all due respect, the photo isn’t really proof of anything. I have no love for this guy, but there isn’t enough information to simply take that photo at face value. Who took it? When? Were police involved? I may have missed something and welcome any links to further information.
2
When the President is a 16 time accused sexual predator maybe there will always be a problem with hiring people people with the morals and values that such position command.
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Super-calla-narcissistic-macho-men-atrocious ....
1
Kelly is a sinister, incompetent Mary Poppins -- presumably without the musical abilities.
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Perfect description.
I wish he'd get his umbrella and fly away.
1) Kelly came to the job disinterested in diversity, to put it mildly, and
2) this may be what a controlled WH looks like. It’s all relative.
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Mr. Trump: "General, I want a uniform for my parade."
Mr. Kelly: "Uh, Mr. President, that would be highly unus..."
Mr. Trump: "Waah! I wanna uniform. I wanna uniform!"
Mr. Kelly: "Well, I could borrow one from 'The President's Own,' - Marine Band."
Mr. Trump: "Ah, I like. They're really bright! And I want a gold, a very gold..the bestest gold sash..with 'TRUMP' in big letters. I saw Idi Amin wearing one, I think."
Mr. Kelly: "Of course, Mr. President."
Mr. Trump: "And, maybe I can ride a horse, in front? Like a Commander?"
Mr. Kelly: "Certainly. And, may I say, Mr. President, that after leading courageous, duty-bound Marines, for decades, how wonderful it is to now be babysit..,err, happily serving as your personal foot-stool,..I mean Chief of staff."
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