When John Kelly was appointed White House Chief of Staff this past July, most people in Washington breathed a sigh of relief.
Kelly, who was serving as Secretary of Homeland Security had impressively served this country in the United States Marine Corp. for most of his adult life.
He rose through the ranks to General having served in a variety of positions both at home and abroad and along the way saw combat during the Iraq war.
Kelly knows the sacrifices of war on the most personal level. In 2010, his oldest son, a First –Lieutenant in the Marine Corp was killed in Iraq when he stepped on a land mine.
Kelly became the highest ranking officer to lose a child in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
His other son, John Jr. Is a Major in the Marine Corp.
When Kelly arrived at the White House his earliest personnel changes were impressive.
He showed Anthony “the Mooch” Scaramucci the newly appointed Director of Communications and a bully, the door.
He ended the chaotic access that everyone had to Trump by requiring everyone to get his consent before seeing him.
He ultimately cashiered Steve Bannon, Trump’s Chief Strategist and personal Rasputin.
When Trump found moral equivalence between protesters and alt-right white supremacists in Charlottesville, Kelly was seen standing by staring awkwardly at the floor. The impression he left was that he shared the embarrassment of the others surrounding Trump.
So, it came as a surprise to me the way in which he dealt with the dispute that erupted over Trump’s callous treatment of the widow of a soldier killed in Niger.
When Trump disputed the account of his conversation given by Congresswoman, Fredrica Wilson, who was in the car with the widow, the White House, sent Kelly into the press room to vouch for Trump’s version of the telephone call.
Trump’s defense also encompassed a claim that President Obama had not made calls to the families of fallen soldiers and cited Kelly as an example.
Thus, when Kelly was forced to defend Trump, he also had to address the loss of his own son.
As it turned out, Trump’s claim about Obama’s failure to call the families of casualties and also express his sorrow to Kelly about his loss turned out to be a lie.
I fully expected that Kelly would refuse to be used in this manner again.
That turned out to be wrong.
Kelly attacked Congresswoman Wilson as a grandstander, who falsely claimed that she had obtained the funding for the construction of the FBI building in Tampa, Florida at its dedication.
When an audiotape of her remarks revealed that his accusation was untrue, Kelly refused to apologize.
Kelly, it has turned out, seems to hold many of the same alt-right views that Trump’s domestic adviser, Stephen Miller and Miller’s mentor, Steve Bannon hold.
On the subject of the Civil War, he praised Robert E. Lee and attributed the cause of the war to “a failure to compromise” apparently on the issue of slavery.
Recently, when Senators Richard Durbin and Lindsey Graham brought an immigration proposal to the White House that would resolve the DACA issue and protect the “Dreamers,” Kelly, along with Miller scuttled the deal, which Trump had signaled he would accept.
In the aftermath, Kelly has made it clear that DACA would not be extended beyond Trump’s March 5, deadline and has said the fault lies with “Dreamers” who didn’t “get off their ass” and register under it.
Mark my words.
McConnell may hold a vote on the issue and if anything passes, Ryan and his House members will not pass it and if anything does pass, Trump will veto it.
We are going to see deportations.
This past week, it was disclosed that Kelly’s deputy, Robert Porter, was a domestic abuser.
Porter beat and abused both of his ex-wives and the photographic proof of that is undeniable.
Kelly, Huckabee-Sanders and others in the White House came to Porter’s defense and urged him not to resign.
Their defense of Porter was reminiscent of Trump’s defense of Roy Moore, the pedophile that they endorsed and campaigned for in Alabama last fall.
“He denies it,” they proclaimed.
Since Porter had not been able to obtain a security clearance following an FBI investigation, it is inconceivable that Kelly didn’t know about Porter’s history.
Nevertheless, he described Porter as “a man of integrity and honor, and I can’t say enough good things about him. He is a friend, a confidante and a trusted professional. I am proud to serve alongside him.”
John Kelly spent most of his life in honorable service to this country. His sacrifices are undeniable.
The tragedy is that his legacy will be his role as another of Trump’s apologists and enablers.
Trump inevitably tarnishes everyone who serves him.