From The Tractor Seat

In the last forty eight hours Donald Trump turned one of the most respected men in America into a White House lap dog. John Kelly in my opinion went from a guy I respect into a politicized symbol of all that is wrong with the Trump White House.

A few days ago Trump made a phone call to the widow of a fallen soldier, and lacked understanding or empathy for the words he said, for a couple of reasons.
One Trump is devoid of empathy and he tried to adapt words spoken by Kelly to express sympathy for the young widow. The problem is Trump took some of Kelley’s words out of context and screwed up. Now you have to keep in mind Trump is a reverse King Midas. Everything Donald touches politically goes from gold to rust. The second reason is that Trump has no real feeling for people and that is demonstrated time and again. The only thing keeping the White House afloat is the fact Trump is a master of marketing. Its what has made him and it will be his downfall.

So what makes Kelley the goat here? One has to look at the events surrounding the President and at the same time examine what Donald believed was important,
Puerto Rico was destroyed by a storm. Trump didn’t understand the people on that Island are Americans. To be important he announced he spoke with the President of the Virgin Islands only to find out he is the President of the Virgin Islands. While seniors were dying in Puerto Rico nursing homes Trump was Tweeting about the NFL. He was doing what he always does making false statements and distorting the issue the players were protesting,

The real issue was not the FLAG, Players respect the flag, they protested against the National Anthem because it was not living up to its billing. It is a protest against police brutality of black youth.

Further away four soldiers were killed in Nijer. For two weeks Trump played golf and said nothing. For two weeks he never picked up the phone to call any members of gold star families. When questioned about that, he blatantly lied about former Presidents and his lack attention to duty became Obama’s fault. Let me be clear here, I do not believe Donald Trump set out to deliberately offend anyone. The man is a screw up however and the insincere words oozed out of the his mouth, in a jumble of offensive words.
It became so bad, Chief of Staff John Kelley stepped in to save him. Had Kelley said what was in his first part of the statement all would be fine. But folks he didn’t instead he joined the President in a chorus of insults and distortions of the truth that made him a lap dog of the President. After an emotional and correct statement he continued to make a mockery of his position and his person in my view. He said women were honored when he grew up. Women were objectified up until the sixties until they rebelled. He babbled about religion and then two things were highlighted. The Congress Woman Frederica Wilson was in the car with the widow of the dead soldier and heard the conversation. It was not that she was spying on a private call. As it turned out Kelley himself was listening to the conversation. So Kelley went from trusted advisor to a political hack attacking the Congress Woman, It is not so much being critical as the words he used.

General Kelley a man people respected called Wilson an “empty barrel” a derogatory word for black people who spoke up decades ago in Boston and the deep South.
General Kelley a man who was there to keep a lid on chaos stepped up and defended Donald Trump, but instead of making the explanation clear and leaving it at that he entered the fray with insults and derogatory comments that went beyond necessity. Instead of being above the fray and a symbol of sober second thought. General John Kelley set aside his honorable career in my opinion and became another one of them in the West Wing Daycare Center.
Fred Steele © 2017