If President Trump is an 'idiot,' what does that make John Kelly?
By Jennifer Rubin May 1 at 9:00 AM
To the surprise of no one — certainly not former secretary of state Rex Tillerson, who once called President Trump a “moron” — Chief of Staff John F. Kelly, according to an NBC News report citing multiple White House sources, has frequently called Trump an “idiot.”
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First, Kelly is almost certainly right that Trump makes little effort to learn policy, and is at a serious handicap in a job that depends on getting the best information to make the best choices. Tillerson had a similar observation, and Trump’s public behavior (e.g., blatant misstatements of fact, word-salad answers, retreats into bland platitudes) suggest the president either cannot learn material or doesn’t bother to do it (i.e., is lazy or arrogant). Who doubts that if asked to identify and explain key provisions of the Affordable Care Act, the Iran nuclear deal, DACA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, the Paris climate accord or any other major deal or law, Trump would fail miserably?
Second, it is not Kelly’s job to save Trump from himself. No one elected Kelly to anything, and the rationalization that he plays some superhero role to correct the infirmities of democracy is misguided and dangerous. (Wasn’t that the mistake former FBI director James B. Comey made during the 2016 campaign?) It however does clarify that, just as we speculated, Trump was manipulated by aides — Kelly and, likely, senior policy adviser Stephen Miller — to wreck a doable immigration fix.
Either Trump is mentally and temperamentally competent to do his job (in which case Kelly is inappropriately usurping power), or he is mentally or emotionally unfit for office. The latter poses a problem since neither the 25th Amendment nor impeachment are designed for the situation when, to quote Kelly, the people elect an “idiot.” More about that in a minute.
Third, Kelly has no business continuing to serve. He cannot remain in the administration and bad-mouth the president behind — and sometime in front of — the scenes. It has been evident for months Kelly never really brought the expected sanity, discipline and normalcy to the White House. Trump has never been under control, nor has he been willing to listen to information or factual data gathered by experts or by his own administration rather than the ramblings of wacky TV hosts and conspiracy theorists (though there is some overlap there). Kelly, in short, has failed in his assigned role. If he was so frustrated that he could not keep a stiff upper lip, he should have quit.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2018/05/01/if-president-trump-is-an-idiot-what-does-that-make-john-kelly/
= new reply since forum marked as read
Will he soon be thrown off the ship of fools ?
Or just reassigned a station?
