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Kelly’s willingness to lie makes me sick at heart

4 min read
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The recent dust-up over President Trump’s callous words during a phone call to a grieving widow who lost her husband to an ambush in Niger is only the most recent example of our commander in chief’s inability to relate to, or show empathy, for others.

He could have said something like, “A grateful nation mourns the loss of your heroic husband,” or, “Please accept my sincere sympathy for your loss and my great respect for your heroic husband.” But of course he said that Sgt. La David Johnson “knew what he signed up for”.

That incident is bad enough, but in my mind another occurrence matches it in heartlessness. The second event, which runs counter to the notion that there is an adult in the White House keeping an eye on Trump, was the press conference conducted by the retired Marine Gen. John Kelly, Trump’s chief of staff, on Oct. 19. After a detailed explanation of how a fallen service member is returned to the U.S., and the process for notification of the family, Kelly then criticized Congresswoman Frederica Wilson for a dedication speech she gave in 2015 for a new FBI building in Miramar, Fla. Wilson was in the car with the Johnson family when Trump called, and reported afterward what he said.

Kelly referred to her as an “empty barrel” which makes the most noise, and accused her of bragging about obtaining funding for the building, calling President Obama to secure the funding, and said that she then just sat down. Kelly described himself, still on active duty, as being stunned by what Wilson said.

But I have watched the video of the congresswoman’s entire speech, and she never said anything about obtaining funding for the building. In fact, when funding was authorized, she was not even a member of Congress. What she did say, at the request of FBI personnel who wanted the building named in honor of two slain FBI agents, is that she went to Speaker of the House John Boehner and President Obama, among others, to ensure that the building would be named for the two agents. I suppose that could be taken as bragging, but one must watch the entire speech. She spent most of it praising Boehner, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, and others for their speedy action on the dedication requested by the FBI. She eulogized the slain agents, and asked members of law enforcement and first responders present to stand and be recognized for their service.

In short, she spent most of her speech praising and recognizing others for their service.

Trump’s base will accept as fact Kelly’s lies and paste their outrage online. And unlike Trump’s version of “fake news,” this is actually fake news of the worst kind. The day after Kelly’s press conference, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, doubled down on Kelly’s remarks. When CBS News correspondent Chip Reid pressed Sanders on Kelly’s misstatements, Sanders said to Reid, “I think if you want to get into a debate with a four-star Marine general that’s highly inappropriate.” The insinuation here is that Kelly’s Marine Corps rank makes anything he says unassailable.

There seems to be a belief on the part of the White House that Kelly cannot be challenged, that a Marine four-star general cannot be told he is a liar.

Well, I’m a retired Marine Corps master sergeant, and I would say to Kelly, “With all due respect to your rank, you sir, are a liar.”

Kelly has shown that he is not the adult in the room, that he is willing to lie for Trump. Also, he is willing to lie and denigrate the image of one of the finest military organizations in the world.

This whole situation makes me sick at heart.

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