White House Chief of Staff John Kelly’s gruesome defense Thursday of President Donald Trump’s call to the widow of Army Sgt. La David T. Johnson was shocking.
But it should not have been a surprise. Any examination of Kelly’s past public remarks makes clear he is not a sober professional, calculating that he must degrade himself in public so he can remain in place to rein in Trump’s worst instincts behind the scenes. Rather, Kelly honestly shares those instincts: He’s proudly ignorant, he’s a liar, and he’s a shameless bully and demagogue.
The chief of staff in an administration headed by any halfway-normal human being would have said: “The president is deeply concerned by news reports that he miscommunicated his condolences when speaking with Sgt. Johnson’s wife Myeshia. He hopes to talk to her again as soon as she feels able, to apologize and make this right. And while he would have preferred that Rep. Frederica Wilson had not spoken publicly about what he intended to be a private call, he appreciates her personal connection to Sgt. Johnson and that she is mourning his loss as well.”
Instead, Kelly did not express any concern for the well-being of Johnson’s widow and family. He did not acknowledge any possibility that Trump had done something wrong, even inadvertently. He engaged in a Trumpian scorched-earth attack against Wilson, claiming to be appalled that she had “listened in” on the conversation — when obviously she could not have avoided hearing it while in a car in which it was on speakerphone — and making up a story about her statements at a public appearance in 2015. He metaphorically dug up every body in Arlington National Cemetery to use them as human shields for Trump. And he interspersed all this with rambling, Strangelovian remarks about how women, life, and religion used to be “sacred” in America but are no longer – and hence “there’s nothing in our country anymore” that indicates that it’s worthy of sacrifice.
Wilson immediately responded that Kelly “is willing to say anything” because he’s “trying to keep his job.” But in fact all the evidence suggests that she is wrong, and Kelly said what he did because he believes it.
This can be seen most clearly in a celebrated speech Kelly delivered on Veterans Day in 2010 while still a Marine Corps general. It demonstrates conclusively that, long before Kelly and Trump ever met, they were on the same page when it comes to hysteria and venom. (Kelly’s son Robert had been killed in action in Afghanistan just days before, but Kelly said identical things both before and long after his son’s death.)
So here’s Kelly’s worldview, as expressed in 2010:
1. No one outside of the military can legitimately question any of America’s wars.
“If anyone thinks you can somehow thank [members of the military] for their service,” Kelly proclaimed, “and not support the cause for which they fight — America’s survival — then they are lying to themselves and rationalizing away something in their lives, but, more importantly, they are slighting our warriors and mocking their commitment to the nation.”
Kelly’s words would be an excellent way to teach ninth graders what the phrase “begging the question” means. Critics of U.S. foreign policy of course do not accept Kelly’s axiom that the military is fighting for “America’s survival.” And indeed it appears Defense Secretary James Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson don’t either – they reportedly informed Trump that America’s military (and its intelligence and diplomatic apparatus) exist to support the expansion of U.S. corporations.
Furthermore, Trump himself famously questioned the Iraq war. Kelly has yet to speak on whether Trump, Mattis, and Tillerson are all slighting and mocking the military.
Most importantly, Kelly has all of this completely wrong. What’s most impressive and significant about the U.S. military is its 230-year unbroken commitment to civilian rule. That is, people who join the military accept that “the cause for which they fight” is not up to them. That’s truly admirable.
But Kelly would never say that, because it would make clear that criticism of U.S. wars isn’t about low-level military personnel but America’s political leadership. And he evidently does not believe current U.S. foreign policy would survive open, honest debate. So he uses the same banal, childish, crude intimidation technique beloved by right-wing militarists everywhere though history.
2. No one who is in the military ever questions any of America’s wars.
“America’s civilian and military protectors both here at home and overseas have for nearly nine years fought this enemy to a standstill and have never for a second wondered why,” Kelly said in 2010. “America’s warriors have never lost faith in their mission, or doubted the correctness of their cause.”
This is a preposterous lie. No one who’s ever been in the military, or knows more than three people who have, honestly believes this. Soldiers are thinking human beings, not mindless patrio-trons. Again, what’s most praiseworthy about members of the American military is that many do wonder why they’re doing what they’re doing, but understand that their orders ultimately come from elected civilians.
And obviously many of the most coruscating critics of America’s wars have come out of the military. Kelly should look up his fellow Marine Corps general Smedley Butler, author of “War Is a Racket.”
3. America and its wars are and have always been good.
According to Kelly’s speech, the United States has never gone to war “to build empires, or enslave peoples, but to free those held in the grip of tyrants. … The only territory we as a people have ever asked for from any nation we have fought alongside, or against, since our founding, the entire extent of our overseas empire, are a few hundred acres of land for the 24 American cemeteries scattered around the globe.”
Apparently Kelly never walked by any of the Pentagon’s Comanche, Chinook, Cheyenne, Kiowa, or Lakota helicopters and wondered, Hey, who are these things named after?
4. America is under terrifying threat from incomprehensible lunatics.
“I don’t know why they hate us, and I don’t care,” Kelly declared. “Our enemy is savage, offers absolutely no quarter, and has a single focus, and that is either kill every one of us here at home or enslave us with a sick form of extremism that serves no God or purpose that decent men and women could ever grasp.”
It should have deeply concerned everyone serving under Kelly that their commander took an insouciant pride in making no attempt to understand their foes. There’s a reason Sun Tzu said, “If you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles. … If you do not know your enemies nor yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle.” The joyful ignorance of U.S. elites like Kelly about both us and them unquestionably has something to do with the fact that, as Trump says, “we don’t win anymore.”
Kelly also demanded that we stand in awe of the might of Islamist terrorists. “America is at risk in a way it has never been before,” he insisted, and “future generations” will “ask why America is still free and the heyday of Al Qaeda and their terrorist allies was counted in days rather than in centuries.” The answer, said Kelly, is the valor of U.S. soldiers. However, it’s more likely history will record that — while American valor may have played a role — Al Qaeda failed to murder or enslave 300 million Americans because, as of 2001, there were maybe 200 of them. Also, the Atlantic and Pacific oceans are quite large.
5. Our country is hamstrung by its sniveling “chattering class.”
“Our enemy fights for an ideology based on an irrational hatred of who we are,” Kelly said, “no matter what certain elements of the chattering class relentlessly churn out.”
Also, we are winning the war on terror but our successes are concealed “by the media elite that then sets up the know-it-all chattering class to offer their endless criticism.”
Additionally, “the chattering class and all those who doubt America’s intentions, and resolve, endeavor to make [military members] and their families out to be victims.”
The only thing left out of Kelly’s 2010 speech was a condemnation of fake news. He was even more ahead of the curve in remarks in 2007, during which he fondly remembered a time when “to stand up when the national anthem was played … wasn’t considered offensive to the sensitivities of the nation’s self-proclaimed intellectual elite.”
Kelly is right, of course, that the U.S. has an out-of-touch, disgustingly frivolous chattering class. But they are almost uniformly supportive of each new war America launches. Whenever things fall apart again and they start meekly asking questions, they’re easily whipped back into line by the kind of bullying in which both Kelly and Trump specialize.
So even before Kelly’s ugly performance Thursday, there was no reason to hope he would put any kind of brake on Trump. Kelly may be personally far more palatable; he’s certainly no mewling coward like Trump and has unquestionably put his life where his mouth is. That goes for his children as well — his other son is also a Marine — even as Trump’s kids are the living embodiment of every criticism Kelly makes about U.S. society.
But there’s a reason these two men found each other. They see the world in fundamentally the same way, and Kelly is going to help Trump do what he wants to it.
Top photo: White House Chief of Staff John Kelly in the Oval Office of the White House on Oct. 19, 2017 in Washington.
Seriously? “People who join the military accept that “the cause for which they fight” is not up to them. That’s truly admirable.”
Admirable??
See, this is exactly the problem, people not knowing or understanding the “cause” they fight for, if one can call being a pawn and disposable foot soldier in fraudulently perpetuated wars by the rich and powerful that get innocent people killed and destabilize the world a cause worth fighting for.
Blindly going into the military and glorifying warfare as some romantic heroic thing is precisely the problem, isnt it? Maybe they SHOULD care about the “cause” for which they fight. Maybe if more people did sit down and think about the consequences of joining the military and what they are signing up for, we wouldnt have such a militaristic culture where we worship the troops like they were the saviors of human kind.
Blindly joining an organization, mainly based on jingoistic impulses, that, as has been the case for the US military since after WWII, engages in countless harmful and fraudulently perpetuated wars is not admirable. It is stupid, reckless and irresponsible. I am always disgusted when I hear people thank our troops for “serving the country” and “protecting our freedoms.”
How exactly have any of the wars we have fought over the past 70 years, but especially the past 25, made us safer and freer? How is our military pillaging and raping and setting on fire Afghan villages and murdering millions of innocent Iraqis while displacing tens of millions of others good for us? Or them? I am so sick of hearing how the military is supposedly the best thing since peach pie when in reality it just an organized murder machine set to carry out the orders of those on top under the guise of serving one’s country.
As to Kelly: He is a f-ing army general. They are the epitome of bully and murderous. What do people expect? Military ranks are basically the symbolic manifestation of a murder score sheet. The more you helped and planned to get people killed, the higher your rank. That is the perversion of military and war. legally licensed killers arent honorable people. War for defense ONLY.
When i look around me it is not muslims or brown people or illegal immigrants, LGBT and the poor I worry about ruining this country, it is straight, white men like this a/ss/hole and our fascist in chief. These are the people who need to be rounded up and deported and sent to Syria or Russia or North Korea forced to fend for themselves. They have no business running this country. In fact, they are toxic for the US as they neither love it nor understand it. All they understand is oppression, exploitation and killing.
One tiny quibble: Why should Syria, Russia or North Korea have to take these toxic dumps? :)
“As to Kelly: He is a f-ing army general”
He is a retired 4 Star Marine general- even more homicidal.
“That is, people who join the military accept that “the cause for which they fight” is not up to them. That’s truly admirable.
But Kelly would never say that, because it would make clear that criticism of U.S. wars isn’t about low-level military personnel but America’s political leadership.”
Schwarz is much too approving of this aspect of the US’s military policy, and much too forgiving of human beings who knowingly put themselves under command to kill. I was able to figure out by 10 years of age that being in the US military was deeply, morally wrong. I simply looked to the many, and some very recent examples, of US militarism.
Thank you. Romanticizing warfare is truly one of the most disgusting things we do in our society and anyone who sees it differently is dismissed as a pu/ssy traitor.
The media, unfortunately, fell prey to the fallacy that because Trump has generals in his administration, that they must be the rational, sane, adults in the room. This is dangerous given that these people in the White House control the nukes and can wage war at any time, taking us with them on a ride we do not likely want to go on, putting this country’s future and reputation in further jeopardy. General Kelly has shown himself for who he really is… Kelly and those like him are not nobleman. They believe in and share the values of Trump, to some degree.. it compels them to stay on his “Team”, because they fundamentally agree with many of his views… they yearn for the days when white men were the majority and there were no cultural influences by minorities, gays, etc. A time when women were subservient to men, when they dominated and ruled the country, and everyone else “knew their place”. That’s what t hey mean when they say they want to “Make America Great Again”. This is what we must come to realize. This is what we must fight against. To save the country.
All this time we were led to believe that Kelly, Mattis, Tillerson and maybe Mnuchin were the “adults” in the White House who were going to curb Trump’s worst tendencies. Kelly’s shameful defense of Trump, his outrageous assaults on Congresswoman Wilson and the truth were therefore real shockers. Now this article appears to say Kelly was ever thus, a jingoist through and through who loathes any dissent. And an imbecile too.
This opinion piece offers bullet points based on bias taking the suthor’s basic premise that General is a bully. Although it is wordy trying to back up original talking point the entire piece will only sway others who reads this narrative with a bias towards President Trump. Editorials can be better written.
Slain US special forces troops on apparent assassination mission in Niger
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2017/10/25/nige-o25.html
John Kelly is such a piece of shit that he thought nothing of exploiting his dead son’s memory. He doesn’t give a shit about the deaths of US soldiers or the deaths of civilians in the countries terrorized by the US.
What a dishonorable piece of shit.
Why did Wilson thank FBI agents at the dedication event? Given the long record of FBI criminality against communities of color, Left organizations, activists, etc, why would Wilson express gratitude? Why would she applaud these criminals? Why would she tell them that she’s proud of the government agents?
I couldn’t finish this drivel from Kelly. He knows damn well that his son died for nothing. How he can continue to spread the gospel of government propaganda is mind boggling. I’d be pissed if my son had died for nothing.
Plus he spreads the drivel about not knowing why our enemies hate us. Here’s a hint: it’s because of what this country has been doing to others for over two centuries.
In just this century, we’ve destroyed Iraq, Libya and Syria. We destabilized Ukraine, Honduras, Egypt and have unleashed our drones that we use to kill thousands of innocent civilians for gawd knows what reason. And we are helping Saudi Arabia commit genocide in Yemen. I too would hate any country that did these things.
It’s too bad that so many people cannot see this.
well said.
Kelly joined the military cuz he’s a dumb shit. Most people join the military because there are few other decent options. Kelly’s son was corporate cannon fodder… I was going to join the marines but someone slapped me.
Your are a fuc____ coward!!! General Kelly fought for his country for over 30 years you chickens___!!
Hey Macoon, fuck off.
Kelly is a fucking traitor to humanity and has long forfeited any human rights.
https://www.aclu.org/other/john-kelly-facts
“Defense Secretary James Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson don’t either – they reportedly informed Trump that America’s military (and its intelligence and diplomatic apparatus) exist to support the expansion of U.S. corporations.”
There you have it – the definitive statement that the US Government is a fascist enterprise, and the military exists only to kill and steal resources from others. The only honorable thing for soldiers to do is resign from the service and its terrorist activities.
I rely on a handful of organizations like Intercept to keep the war-mongerers in check. But I rely on them to do so honestly. Unfortunately, your charter seems to be eating its own integrity with this piece. It follows the MSNBC/NYT/CNN/NBC formula of strategically removing or adding a single word or tense that mischaracterizes an actual quote. Then ramble on with a diarrhea outpouring of prose that explores the mischaracterized quote.
Kelly’s criticism of AN ELEMENT of the chattering class is re-worked without that “element” qualifier, and then examined as if he derides the entire chattering class. Wrong.
And how dare Kelly care not one damn about the motivations of an enemy wanting to kill all of us. This article turns that into an affront against Sun Tzu teachings, to know your enemy. As if Kelly’s single-minded focus doesn’t include ample reconnaissance of his enemy, Sun Tzu or not.
So, the sooner Intercept drops off Jon Schwarz at the nearest MSM personnel office, the better for my taste, for its tastefulness, and for the integrity of a valid battle against actual evils.
Please elaborate, how is Kelly caring “not one damn about the motivations of an enemy”, not in contradiction to “know your enemy”? How would you define “knowing your enemy” if such knowledge does not include knowing their motivations?
You don’t believe Gen. Kelly, or any American for that matter, should care about what motivates “an enemy” to want to kill “all of us”? Or that purported enemy’s purported ability to, you know, actually kill “all of us”, in deciding how we as a nation or our armed forces are going to defend against that enemy?
If you don’t think people and military personnel of a nation shouldn’t be very concerned with what motivates another people to want to kill us, or their actual real world abilities to do so, then both you and they have zero business acting on most Americans behalf.
If you’re actually one of those fools, American or otherwise, military or otherwise, who believes statistically insignificant numbers of supposed members of a major religion (which isn’t even what motivates most “terrorists” as determined by repeated military and independent studies), is some sort of existential threat to America or Americans, then you’re a misinformed fool. If you actually believe America’s actions and policies have nothing to do with creating that “enemy” in the first instance, you’re an even bigger fool.
You actually believe that Jon Schwarz or the regular readers of this comment section give two rips about what you, me or anybody else in the world thinks about your “tastes” or opinions on Gen. Kelly?
What “battle” and which “actual evils”, please be specific. Most wars fought by men, including all the ones I can think of fought by Americans and the reasons for fighting them, generally aren’t best characterized employing the word “integrity.”
Building on MO’s words, working in the White House doesn’t define who you are, it reveals who you are. All these incidents are just confirmation of a dysfunctional administration and congress. SCOTUS will be the next casualty.
Off the topic perhaps, but here it is: There has been a great deal mentioned about Russian oligarchs and how they capitalized from the fall of the Soviet Union.
But, missing from this narrative is mention of the U.S.
Corporate control of Washington began many years ago, and came to a head when Henry Paulson plundered the Treasury for his Wall Street buddies. In the Soviet Union, it happened rather suddenly. In the case of the U.S., it is being done in slow motion. As Trump began appointing corporate CEO’s to lead government agencies. Make no mistake, he wants his administration to be an Oligarchy. Even if he doesn’t quite understand what that is one of the reasons he has been so enchanted with Russia. These are the U.S. oligarchs. Uber-wealthy individuals who have been given control from someone who has the same agenda. Their purpose is exactly the same: To run the government for their benefit. Here, rather than suddenly under a socialist philosophy it is happening slowly under the guise of a democracy. As in Russia, the results will be the same the country will be plundered for the benefit of a few. And it has already been. Does anyone remember “T.A.R.P.”? And will continue why do we not discuss this reality?
Fuck John Kelly and any of you who hold these war criminals in high esteem. Wearing stars doesn’t valorize what the killers of the American Wehrmacht do.
The US lurches toward military dictatorship
http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2017/10/23/pers-o23.html
Another right wing, military bigot, trumpian fetishist, implementer of alt white fascist programming to create a better Amerikkka.
USGOHOME might be a good start?
Kelly’s assertion that the only territory that America has ever asked for was the few hundred acres for 24 American cemeteries scattered around the globe is laughable on its face and his easiest nonsense to debunk as currently America has–scattered among the cemeteries– 900 military installations in 130 countries.
Reading the comments here, one wonders about the enforcement of The Intercept’s comment policy.
One must also wonder how, while most of you here seem to have never served, every single one of you has a negative opinion about something and someone about which/whom you admittedly know little or nothing.
You all have made this personal, including the author of this piece.
From The Intercept’s own Comments Policy and Guidelines –
“Commenters should strive to attack the substance of arguments, rather than the person who is making them.”
What is the argument being made here by anyone, including the author of this piece? Did the honorable Representative include the entire sentence made by the President, or just a portion of a sentence taken out of context? Have any of you even researched to find out?
Your self-reinforced echo chamber here, with not one of you questioning anything at all, boggles the mind.
And I’ve no doubt my comment will never make it past the mods here. Semper Fi.
I was in the military for 25 years. Comment moderation here is the same as anywhere else…capricious and incompetent.
Unlike you, who apparently needs your poor, sensitive ego stroked every 5 minutes with gung-ho military drool, I can do without it.
The thrust of the article is right, but it gives some life to the “fake news” charge, which we don’t want to do. The AP article, linked, wherein Mattis and Tillerson told POTUS that the US military, and diplomatic and intelligence services exist to protect American business interests didn’t go quite as far as that. Rather it proffered that Mattis and Tillerson needed to find a way to explain how the world actually worked by appealing to what Trump, with his minimal attention span and anemic curiosity, could understand: “To be successful, Mattis and Tillerson decided they should use talking points and commentary with which they believed Trump would be most familiar: the role that the military, intelligence officers and diplomats play in making the world safe for American businesses, like The Trump Organization, to operate and expand abroad. American troops provide stability, diplomats push rule of law and anti-corruption measures and the intelligence community provides context and analysis that drive the first two, the briefers explained, according to the officials.” There is nothing particularly shocking or new about America’s (or Germany’s or France’s etc.) projection of power, the use of diplomacy, and the use of intelligence analysis to protect business interests. Every country with sufficient resources does the same thing. Let’s not give the dolts in DC any ammo, OK?
President Eisenhower, in a high-profile speech at the end of his term, warned of a military-industrial complex and the danger for the future:
https://youtu.be/8y06NSBBRtY
56 years later, we are at war in countries only a few Americans can find on a map. We are involved in obscure regional conflicts that pose no danger to us.
Our kids are dying and are trillions of dollars that could help health, education and infrastructure are wasted on the other side of the world. Eisenhower, and America, has lost. They have won.
Job well done .thanks for the truth.
Wow. Looks like Kelly just broke the POS Meter.
A hard right bully keeping you safe. You ignorant left democrats who believe in utopia. since the dawn of man the enemy will attack and attack until it consumes all good and love thats left. General kelly is keeping you safe dumbsxxt. Wake the fxxx up!
25 year vet here…you know nothing.
Did YOU order the ‘Code Red, ‘ there, Colonel Jessup? I guess we can’t handle the trooth, eh?
Bloody moran.
No hard right bully is keeping me safe from anything.
And yet as between or among enemies since “the dawn of man” wars end, peace deals are struck, trade is resumed, former enemies become allies . . . so I’d guess you’re wrong unless actual human history doesn’t count.
Keeping us safe from who exactly? Terrorists? There are more in the world today by an order of magnitude by the military’s own admission, than there were 20 years ago? And most agree, in our military, that much of that growth is a consequence of our actions in Afghanistan and Iraq, and all over the Middle East (among other places but who can really tell when America’s military is all over the globe in the vast majority of all nations, doing what exactly? . . . Does America really have enemies all over the planet needing us to garrison troops all over the planet, or does America’s military footprint all over the globe have something to do with “keeping us safe”?).
Maybe Americans, like you, dumbshit right wing morons apparently who don’t actually understand much of anything about the larger world, should try to educate yourself on why it could possibly be that so many around the globe don’t like America’s government (hint it isn’t “our freedoms or liberty”) or Americans.
Or not, most of you are leaving in an alternate reality anyway so not sure it’s worth much time or effort on the part of your reasonable fellow citizens to try and educate you on much of anything. You simply are too ideologically blinkered and brainwashed, or simply too dumb. Take your pick.
Someone who lies with dogs will arise with fleas.
I’ve only known a few generals in my life, mostly retired brigadiers working for defense contractors, but I do have an unusual generals story from the mid to late ’80s.
One day, at an intentionally low-profile base, a software colleague and I were headed down to the cafeteria for lunch. As we approached the chow hall doors two MPs with long guns on their shoulders rushed to intercept us, telling us to stand aside for general officers – and that the chow line would be closed until they were done. Before we could wonder what it meant a long line of USAF generals walked up behind us and entered while all others waited. As they walked past I counted 45 USAF brigadiers plus two major generals (TIs?).
Many bases have their own general, some more then one, but I’d never heard of that many generals in the same place at the same time before.
Out of curiosity I later asked some officers I worked with and was told it was like an OJT tour of bases for newly minted stars. It hadn’t dawned on me before that new generals might have to go through something like another OTS/Basic Training, but there it was. My “squadron” at Basic started with 50 airmen, and it never escapes how most of that training was about removing individuality.
A hate piece from a jealous, pathetic little man.
Jon, thank you for so beautifully and insightfully writing this: “So he uses the same banal, childish, crude intimidation technique beloved by right-wing militarists everywhere through history.”
As far as his statement: “…more importantly, they are slighting our warriors and mocking their commitment to the nation.”, this type of propaganda is most disgusting as it uses the veterans that served all over again to help the cause of as you put it: “…they reportedly informed Trump that America’s military (and its intelligence and diplomatic apparatus) exist to support the expansion of U.S. corporations.” You could have added to support right-wing Israel the purchaser of our federal and state; executive, legislative, and judicial systems.
Many of our veterans share the opinion of a veteran, admonishing a talk radio host taking the right wing war mongering mission upon himself in Philadelphia, as the veteran said to him “Do not patronize me a veteran, especially you a chickenhawk”. Yes, many of those so willing to send someone else’s son on to offer their life and limbs never severed themselves, or will allow their own children to ever serve.
We can honor our veterans best, especially those that gave their lives, by trying to do what they were once propagandized into believing, which was fighting for “a war to end all wars” so their children and grandchildren could live on a better planet. This slogan is no longer used as the warmongers find it best to establish the psychological framework that will enable a more profitable war forever scenario.
We can best honor our veterans by doing everything our society can to circumvent conflicts that can be avoided, and let the nations of the world find their own way while using their own resources as is best for them not plunders. We must stop letting ourselves be indoctrinated into the mindset of hate and fear, which fosters the never-ending profit of war, and the most corrupt moneymaking clandestine ploy of war re-construction.
Im concerned that editorials like this one show up in the Google news feed. Maybe this is what will pass for news in the future in which news sources write libelous statements into their “news” stories. I am reminded of bullies and the weak minded, tossing profanities in their speech for the desired impact.
Never stand in the way of US marines….their way to victory is total destruction of the enemy.
Yes, they did SO WELL in Somalia in the ‘90s…
The main difference between shadowgovernment and the military is that the latter has not understood that total destruction of the enemy is not victory. Shadowgovernment knows its power derives from the creation of enemies and perpetueal wars against them and therefore advocates to never totally destruct in order to liberate….
You know, after 25 years in the military, I NEVER KNEW that until you told me.
Sorry to hear that ! I hope you never have killed a person following the orders….
Still, be proud of your carreer !
“What’s most impressive and significant about the U.S. military is its 230-year unbroken commitment to civilian rule.”
Here is the scary thing about John Kelly. Kelly is now chief of staff to trump our civilian rule.
I fail to see how any American soldier fighting in Afghanistan, Syria (illegally as a war criminal) and/or Iraq and other “theaters” of war is protecting Americans from anything. In too many instances, the United States has fought, or is fighting, the very malevolent forces it helped create. It’s a load of bull that the military-intelligence-media-political-arms industry oligarchy dishes out to average Americans who want no more than to have decent jobs, decent schools and a retirement we can count on. The time will come when the United States will collapse because its appetite for empire exceeded its treasure, when its delusions of grandeur of bringing peace and “democracy” to foreign lands was defeated by its own inability to keep order at home. Humanity will look back at a nation that could have done so much for the world but instead chose selfishly by putting its supposed self-interest (which can be debated) above that of its own people, not to mention the “foreigners” whose lands the USA illegally invaded. A nation whose people often claimed to be Christian but whose actions were nothing short of ungodly. A nation that bragged about democracy and equal rights but a nation whose presidential elections have often been rigged (Kennedy-Nixon, Gore-Bush, etc. etc.). In the aftermath of the stupidest war in world history, “The Cold War,” the United States could have led the way to a better future for the world. Instead, it allowed its NSA, CIA and military (and who knows what else) to become a malevolent unipolar power that has now squandered not only its treasure but its blood.
anyone who defends a PRESIDENTIAL P??SY GRABBER must not be trusted. Mr.John Kelly ,a highly decorated soldier, should be ashamed of himself.
i don’t usually make predictions, but i am predicting kelly’s self-inflicted demise before the end of 2017
I really enjoyed this article, and appreciate many of the well-reasoned comments below. It seems that even after this horrific diatribe by Kelly, many in the media (aside from clearly you and Lawrence O’Donnell) have continued to willfully deny the truth of John Kelly’s character.
I will admit that I, too, had been blinded by everyone in the media extolling Kelly for his military service and talking about how comforted they had been by his appointment to Chief of Staff. But his comments from the podium this week just shook any belief I previously had that this man is “honorable” and were the single most disturbing moment in this presidency for me, so far, because the person who is supposed to be sane was exposed as being just another MAGA mouthpiece.
Kelly’s comments revealed that in fact no honorable people exist in Trump’s White House. Kelly is not “serving his country” by working with Trump despite Trump’s ugly opinions. Kelly is working for trump BECAUSE of Trump’s opinions. Kelly, too, laments the “good old days,” which just so happened to be the days when black people could not vote, schools were segregated by law, and women were not permitted to attend Yale and not allowed to open a bank account or a credit card. He is perfectly fine with denigrating a sitting member of Congress with an unabashed vitriol that is completely disproportionate for the “offenses” he claims that she laid upon him. His seething anger toward Cong. Wilson was so unreasonable and irrational that one cannot help but read between the lines and understand that there was a racist and/or sexist undertone to his absurd rebuke of her. Like Trump, he fails to admit wrongdoings or mistakes, even when they have been made plain for all to see. That is not honorable.
I now fear that Bob Corker was actually wrong – this White House has not become an ‘adult day care.’ There are no adults. There is no daycare. The inmates ARE the asylum and no one was ever standing guard.
it needs to be said:
John Kelly is and has been a terrorist. Don’t let the titles fool you.
His son Robert was a terrorist who lost his life terrorizing the people of Afghanistan.
We really shouldn’t be surprised. Those without fleas won’t jump into bed with dogs. Kelly did when he joined this administration.
If you are under the delusion that military people are good people, then this might come as a surprise to you. For us sane people, of course Kelly’s a pig, he’s a general. Sheesh.
You sound like Trump.
Really? When did Trump say anything bad about military people? In stark contrast to your lame comment, Trump has filled his administration with military people. Pretty much the opposite of what I said.
When the loon is in the Aryan House
And Putin aligns with Kochs
A cultured ignorance guides our policy
And we are all the butts of jokes
This is the dawning of the Age of Iscariot
Age of Iscariot – Iscariot – Iscariot
Censorship, disinformation
Schadenfreude, distrust abounding
None but falsehoods and derision
Cross the echo chamber of our vision
Mystic Beast of Revelation
Snuffs all hope of liberation
Iscariot – Iscariot
(I thought this up on the spot just now; I release my altered lyrics Creative Commons CC0. Go ahead and sing it per https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjxSCAalsBE if you can manage not to have a legal issue with the music.)
One doesn’t become a combat General without being a demagogue and a bully. Like it or not, but that’s part of the personality of any successful general. Take those personality traits, and you start getting a lot of dead soldiers.
An excellent article, I’m so glad to have some background on where this man is coming from. It’s too abbreviated, though. I would like it to be updated to include what, to me, is the more shocking fact about Trump’s treatment of the Johnsons. After Ms. Johnson affirmed Rep. Wilson’s account of what Trump said, Trump denied it and accused them of lying. That was pouring vinegar in the wounds. Kelly’s disgraceful attack on Rep. Wilson tarred her as disrespecting the military dead (as you say brilliantly, he invoked everyone in Arlington Cemetary as a shield), even while his own boss had accused Rep. Wilson and Ms. Johnson of lying. And when he called Wilson an “empty barrel,” he did that knowing that she was there as a guest and friend of the grieving family, which was an indirect attack on them too. Also, please update this article to include the fact that Kelly “stands by his word” despite a video that proves his word was a lie. That makes him just another Kelly Anne Conway.
Excellent piece.
There’s a very good reason generals usurp power in a collapsing civilization.
They understand brute force — and only brute force. They’ve read Sun-Tzu (presumably).
Autocrats like Trump and Kelly confuse belligerence with strength and compassion with weakness. This is why they are surprised by the ordinary and then full of blame for everyone else. Their own mistakes always belong to others. Kelly listens in on Trump’s call and then fumes because someone else innocently listens in on the same phone call. Lies become true when undisputed — and dispute always brings blustering threats and further lies.
They attack purely from weakness — a weakness they necessarily hide from themselves. Their sycophants will hang on. Those who exploit their public offices will continue grabbing their goodies because they know they have no serious oppostion. The chattering class will continue chattering and clucking their tongues.
The rest of the world watches the US collapse with little more than a schadenfreude shrug.
What did we expect when we accepted a man like Trump as president?
I cannot tell you how much I hated officers like him when I was in the Army. We would call them “the hoorahs” and were sure they would be the ones that would get us killed if we were deployed–the ones with not a shred of humility or acknowledgement of their limits. It came to seem to me that the officers NOT like him pegged out around Captain, because beyond that you had to be a kind of politician to advance in rank.
You’re being kind. Officers not like him pegged out at Captain because they weren’t as good at kissing ass. You have to have your nose up someone’s ass constantly to make General.
Excuse me, but you are both slandering my late father, who was a USMC general, and was as square a straight-shooter as they come, as well as a friend of mine who is a retired USAF general and one of the smartest and most ethical persons I know. Your unfounded generalizations demean a lot of good men and lets bad apples like Mattis, who deserves our scorn, dismiss you as ignoramuses.
I guess the moderator/censor on here doesn’t like me agreeing with you…
Agreed. We had a great CO in our squadron. He was good with the enlisted (us), backed us up and removed officers who screwed us up, managed to get the work done (geodetic surveying for navigation, maps, etc. all over the world, from USA to London, to Seychelles, Laos, Burma, Cambodia [we were in locations that were secret so we weren’t officially there in the mid 1960’s]). He started in the army, went to West Point, moved to the Air Force (us) and never got past lieutenant colonel.
It isn’t the “Peter Principle” it is the “They’ve got a club and you’re not in it.” (George Carlin). It isn’t just military. Look at almost any corporation or board of [fill in the blank, such as arts boards]. You will find incompetence enshrined in the social structure controlling the organization. The hard, honest workers are the ones getting shafted and faced with the impossible tasks they are ordered to perform. When those tasks don’t succeed as pre-advertised they are declared a success anyway and added to corporate CVs.
Never served myself, but my parents did, and have told me stories. But I didn’t need to hear them to realize that a certain type of person acts this way, usually someone with huge daddy issues, masking deep feelings of inferiority and inadequacy, whether justified or not, by overcompensating, which in the military means acting hyper-tough and bullying people around to show you “mean business”. I’m guessing that they’re usually poor military leaders and their decision cost lives unnecessarily and lead to all sorts of avoidable fiascos. The Caine Mutiny comes to mind. Also, Paths of Glory.
When I was serving in the Canadian navy, a buddy of mine described our National Defence HQ located in Ottawa, Ontario, as “Fantasyland on the Rideau”.
Heard a US marine that I knew call The Pentagon the “Fumble Fort”.
Good times!
Yep…Canadian navy 25 years…and that shit gushed down to the Snr. NCO level.
Some guys would sodomize an infant for a promotion.
Kelly, like Trump and everyone other cretin in this train wreck of an administration, are uninterested in anyone but their core voters. The racists, White Nationalists, hillbillies and swamp people who inhabit the rusted out shanty towns in every corner of this country are the target of their dishonest rants. The rest of us exist as fodder for their cannons. They’ve figured out that with the gerrymandering, voter suppression and the overall ignorance of our electorate, that’s enough to win. Their mentally challenged voters will believe any lie. Accept their morally repugnant behavior. Cheer their incompetence. Trump once said he could shoot someone on 5th Ave and not lose any voters. That may be the single most truthful thing to come out of his mouth since this nightmare began.
If he shoots any of the anti-white invaders, murderers and rapists of white children (ask an Angel Mom), or one of the globalist elite, he will gain voters.
You scumbags have lorded over us since 1945. We are returning to our roots and your time is up.
Love your comment but unfortunately I don’t think the T-rump’s voters were just those you (brilliantly) described. Most were middle class Yuppies, college educated, that earned over $40 grand and had voted for Obusha. I really wish some great reporter would do a clear analysis of just who the Rethugs were who voted for the Cheeto, because letting them off as ignorant, hateful but “left behind”,is too good for them.
Dream on. Trump was elected by the white middle class. He won White college graduates by 49% to 45% . He won both White women and White men by substantial margins. https://goo.gl/j76a28
He didn’t win this white woman or active duty Marine Spouse.
General Kelly is a demagogue!
His fanatical nationalism is remarkable! Such an attitude towards authority, such absolute admiration for the military and everything one’s country does, such disdain for criticism, particularly from civilians, would have been at home in Wilhelmine Germany!
Commentary
3. I would add the attack on Mexico to Mr. Schwarz’s examples. Moreover, one could list numerous overseas territories taken by force, for instance Guantanamo Bay Cuba.
In addition, General Kelly does not consider that empires do not have to be territorial. It is possible to install compliant governments that impose laws favourable to your corporations.
5. After WW1, the so-called ‘Dolchstoßlegende,’ the ‘Stab-in-the-Back Myth’ became popular. Mr. Kelly and Mr. McCain similarly argue that the public, especially the press, betrayed the troops and caused America’s defeat. It is a very dangerous view of the relationship between the military and civilians!
Just another former USMC shit head !
Kelly is yet more proof joining the military is the biggest mistake anyone could make. Does he enjoy killing the enemy as much as Mattis does?
It’s only a mistake for those who don’t know what the military is and does. The majority are just violent aggressive assholes, like cops.
Actually, after my 25 years in the military and who I knew and dealt with, the majority aren’t like that. The majority of those bucking for promotion(a minority)…are. One never turned their backs on those jerks.
Yeah, I think it’s a natural desire to put people in buckets because our brains prefer simplification to nuance. Nuance requires more storage and memorization. The fact is “the X are just Y” is almost always wrong. The military isn’t just “violent aggressive assholes”, people are “violent aggressive assholes” (ok, I think we can simplify by saying, mostly men are “violent aggressive assholes”, but it doesn’t change the point).
We’ve got to get rid of the boxes. Liberal or conservative, white or black, military or civilian, man or woman, capitalist or communist, religious or atheist – there is no exceptionalism. Every group turns into a bunch of douchebags under the right circumstances. There is no “they”, there is just “us” and until we understand that, we’ll be trapped on this wheel forever.
That’s right, never call people out or hold them responsible for their actions. Your comment is just advocating the status quo.
If you want nuance on this issue, here it is:
There are 4 types of people who join the U.S. military: 1) the violent aggressive types who agree with what the U.S. military does; 2) people who don’t know what the U.S. military does and think they’re doing the right thing by defending their country (i.e., misinformed fools and idiots); 3) people who do know what the U.S. military does and don’t agree with it, but who are willing to sell their souls in order to get financial benefits (GI Bill schooling, etc.); and 4) some combination of those descriptions.
So maybe I’m wrong and the violent/aggressive types are not the majority. But none of these groups are good people, and there’s no excuse for being part of the enforcement arm of U.S. imperialism.
Of course no one wants to think of themselves like that, but your viewpoint is totally biased.
Answer this: Considering that the military is all about killing, why would you join if you’re not aggressive and violent? What did you think you were doing, helping people in other countries grow food or something?
Re: “…John Kelly’s gruesome defense Thursday of President Trump’s call to the widow of Army Sgt. La David T. Johnson was shocking…”
I MUST confess I was initially, (relatively…), open minded, re this general’s appointment to protect Trump, from himself-/-all of us, from Trump, but now…I’ve totally LOST all respect for this general.
Like Mr. Trump’s increasingly, bizarre rants…the recent (Gold Star) bereavement call-transcript and this general’s untoward comments, re the female legislator’s easily, justified critique, DO NOT speak, well of this administration / general, respectively!
BTW: While I’ve NEVER made a ‘Gold Star’ bereavement call, I HAVE performed multiple ‘death notifications’, as a result of my 22 yrs. on various paramedic units!
It’s an ‘art’, NOT a ‘science’! (…informing people that a relative-/-friend ISN’T ‘coming, home for dinner’…)!
Our ‘Fu%$&ng_Moron, In Chief, (to paraphrase the current U.S. ‘Sec. State’), has NO ability / talent for such serious communiques!
I might add…
Having LOST at least 359 coworkers in NYC on 11.Sept., 01, I CAN empathize with the general, re his son’s untimely death via the Iraq_Pillage…
‘Gifted’ to humanity, 15-16 years past, (NO N.-W.M.D.’s located, thus far…L.O.L.!), by those two Pro_Life_Xian Jihadies…
Geo. W. ‘Plausible, Deniability’ Bush and Tony, ‘Collateral’s, Damaged’ Blair / their cronies!
That said, I had bitter laughter to see one of these war_grafters, (Mr. Bush), takin’, shots at America’s (current), Grafter, In Chief!
Jealousy…amongst presidents / past presidents is SO…unbecoming!!
People in the public eye need to do their homework before lying at the podium. There are tapes and videos everything to substantiate the truth. Kelly is no different then Trump; a demagogue who thinks he is the Almighty God.
the truth is no longer relevant.
“Truth…’the truth’…is a kind of lie without which a certain species could not endure life. ” — Nietzsche
Thank you and a perfect response that would have immediately come to mind for anyone with a modicum of decency and respect for the bereaved family. But, it seems the intent was other than offering condolences – scoring points, self-gratification and unveiling Kelly, placing him publicly and firmly in his corner and on his level, he’s a made man now.
Trump surrounded by Mattis, Kelly made me feel a bit more secure thinking Trump had somehow surrounded himself with possibly sound military minds who were only to using the military in absolutely necessary situations, A potential self imposed possibility of a military coup if Trump completely lost his marbles
After Kelly’s efforts to undermine Rep Wilson, the exposure of the actual video of what she said along with Kelly’s myth about wars and those who criticize should basically shut the hell up there was no longer a false sense of security left He painted a complete myth about why people join the military, Yes out of devotion to the country, Many join these days because they need a job, a way to college etc.
Kelly “America’s warriors have never lost faith in their mission, or doubted the correctness of their cause.” I have talked with literally hundreds of Vets, WWII , Korean, Vietnam war Vets at the anti Iraq invasions all marched against Bush/Cheney’s push for war, I have talked with Vets from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq at the VA in Dayton Ohio where I took my now deceased WWII Vet father, I sat with many who were missing limbs and invisible wounds to the eye…depression, suicidal tendencies etc, Many spoke about having lost hope in this country, I volunteered at the Homeless Shelter in Boulder Colorado where many Vets will talk about their loss of hope in their government and military. I could go on about conversations with many Vets….but you get the picture
Kelly’s efforts to stir up support for Trump and trying to encourage faith in our country and the reasons we go to war fell on millions of deaf ears,
You think that generals are “sound military minds who were only to using the military in absolutely necessary situations”? That’s a really naive and ignorant comment. I think you watch too much TV or something.
I think there are more aware military people. Including the possibility of Generals. General Swarzkopf and Zinni spoke out against the invasion of Iraq,
Meet the Generals Who Spoke Out Against Donald Rumsfeld’s War …
http://www.vanityfair.com/…/04/donald-rumsfeld-iraq-war
There used to be a group of high-ranking former military officers that was pretty progressive politically (don’t know if it still exists, but I haven’t heard anything from it in years). However, these people were a small minority of high-ranking military officers. Most of these people are militaristic and have no problem advocating violence. Keep in mind that the U.S. military has nothing to do with defending the U.S.; it’s all about defending U.S. business interests around the world; in other words, imperialism.
This administration is killing satire.
You couldn’t do General Jack D. Ripper today.
America’s military (and its intelligence and diplomatic apparatus) exist to support the expansion of U.S. corporations.
Hasn’t the Left been saying that for 50-60 years?
General Smedly Butler said it in 1935, and I’m sure that the decent and sane people have been saying it since the advent of civilization.
Sadly, John Kelly is a lying sexist, racist manipulator. Just like Trump.
Well written Jon, MSM just loves all this war talk and military azz licking. How about we put 1/3 of our military budget towards waging Peace, justice, and diplomacy. Then perhaps we can stop killing people by the thousands including ourselves in the process. I’m not an absolute pacifist but this war machine has gotten insanely out of control. I’d like to thank all the sincere diplomats for their service.
I haven’t exactly been a close student of Kelly’s past comments and actions, but based on all this it’s clear that he’s a Trumpie, in the sense that like the 35% or so who didn’t just vote for Trump but did so proudly and enthusiastically, and continue to support him without reservation, he’s a true believer in this whole latter-day “lost cause” ideology, in which decent, hard-working, god-fearing white conservative Christian True Americans have supposedly been systematically deprived of their rightful place at the pinnacle of not just US society, but global society itself, a place that they and they alone deserve, simply because they’re decent, hard-working, god-fearing white conservative Christian True Americans, which the rest of US and global society is not, to one extent or another.
And he, like they, believe in this self-serving tripe, because, in one way or another, to one extent or another, they’re defective people, be it intellectually, morally, psychologically or otherwise, and try to make up for it by means of this racist white American myth. Something inside them is broken and seething, and instead of doing something honest and productive about it, they seek to blame others who are not like them, and project their defects and resentment outwards.
And the things that they’re so obviously angry about are a combination of anger at themselves for their various defects, and resentment at the various racial and cultural advantages and privileges that they and people like them have enjoyed for centuries, that are being taken away from them or chipped away at. Never mind that they were never morally or otherwise entitled to such advantages and privileges, and certainly not in a supposedly egalitarian society and republican democracy. They truly do believe (or prefer to believe) that they are entitled to such things, merely by being white, Christian, conservative and American.
And they’re lashing out and trying to make it all right again. And Kelly has fully revealed himself to be one of them. He may be smarter and more skilled than Trump, but they’re cut from the same basic (white robed) cloth of racist and sexist white male resentment and entitlement.
They’re afraid to compete. Many of them have failed up due to who they know but in an increasingly multipolar environment, they’re being exposed as adult children who’ve been enabled by people trying to maintain careers or move up. They’ve found a lot of parasites willing to do their bidding.
Weinstein is a perfect example of individuals who have been put in powerful positions, childish, stupid people with no ideas, fearful of being exposed for how bankrupt they all are. Their fear is being exposed this late in life because that life has been a lie.
More broadly, most of Trump’s most avid supporters, and wingnuts and Repub voters in general, are either afraid to compete, because they fear, or know, that they’ll end up with the short end of the stick on merits in a world where there’s so much more talented and/or cost-effective competition, at home or abroad, or don’t mind competing, but still want that extra “edge” that their racial and other backgrounds have traditionally given them.
Basically, today’s right is all about a culture and attitude of racial and cultural entitlement. I’m white, I’m Christian, I’m male, I’m from a non-elitist part of the country, I’m American, I’m this or that, therefore based on these alone, I’m ENTITLED to things, and I’m not going to let these blacks, Latinos, Muslims, women, liberals, atheists, furriners, etc., have what’s rightfully MINE and divinely granted.
A whole ideology of racial and cultural entitlement has been built up to convince the less intelligent among them that this is so, and exploited by their generally (but not always) more intelligent leaders to rile them up and rally them to their cause. What they can’t or don’t want to get by hard work and merit, they intend to get by perpetuating and exploiting this delusion of straight white conservative Christian male superiority. And Kelly is one of them.
As for Weinstein, clearly he also has a massive sense of white male entitlement, but having been aligned with the left for so long, I think it’s less political than personal. He’s just a standard issue sexual predator and bully who did what he did for personal, not political reasons. He’s no better than these others, but in a somewhat different category, politically.