Trump’s former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly seems to have discovered something nearly resembling a political spine after leaving the administration. While he has stopped short of outright denouncing this disastrous president, he has decided to lend his support to some of those targeted by Trump. Recently, he sided with former National Security Advisor John Bolton, saying that he believed his claim that the president told him about freezing military aid to Ukraine in order to coerce the country into opening up damaging investigations into Democrats.
The Atlantic reports that just last night Kelly also expressed appreciation for the actions of Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman, who decided to report concerns to his higher-ups over Trump’s now-infamous phone call with the Ukrainian president. After he testified during the impeachment trial, Vindman was expelled from his National Security Council roll and Trump even floated the idea that he would be investigated and punished.
“He did exactly what we teach them to do from cradle to grave. He went and told his boss what he just heard,” Kelly said during an appearance at Drew University in Morristown, NJ.
“Through the Obama administration up until that phone call, the policy of the U.S. was militarily to support Ukraine in their defensive fight against … the Russians. And so, when the president said that continued support would be based on X, that essentially changed. And that’s what that guy was most interested in,” Kelly added.
Kelly went on to say that hearing Trump push for Ukraine to open a shame investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden and his son was basically like overhearing “an illegal order” and that military men like Vindman are trained to disobey illegal orders and inform their superiors.
Kelly also offered some reasonable and levelhanded criticisms of Trump’s North Korea and immigration policies. It was only a matter of time before Trump heard about the remarks and lashed out, and now he’s done just that.
The president took to Twitter today to claim that he couldn’t terminate Kelly fast enough because “he was in way over his head,” which is ironically the best way to describe Trump and the presidency. He further mocked Kelly and claimed that he “misses the action” at the White House, which is an incredibly childish way for the President of the United States to describe the duties of state.
Trump even brought Kelly’s wife into the mix and said that she once told him that Kelly “respects” him “greatly” and that he would never speak ill of him. As usual with this man, the safest presumption is that he completely fabricated the interaction with Kelly’s wife. This is just another mistruth-filled meltdown from the man we’ve entrusted with our nuclear arsenal.
At this point, it’s clear that there is really only one ironclad way to avoid getting targeted by Trump after leaving his employ: don’t agree to work for him in the first place.
When I terminated John Kelly, which I couldn’t do fast enough, he knew full well that he was way over his head. Being Chief of Staff just wasn’t for him. He came in with a bang, went out with a whimper, but like so many X’s, he misses the action & just can’t keep his mouth shut,.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 13, 2020
….which he actually has a military and legal obligation to do. His incredible wife, Karen, who I have a lot of respect for, once pulled me aside & said strongly that “John respects you greatly. When we are no longer here, he will only speak well of you.” Wrong!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 13, 2020