We like to think that our Armed Forces officials, past and present, will always be honorable people. Today, we saw conclusive proof that this is far from always being the case.
I watched a man with an honorable service record debase himself in the service of a moron, and it makes me nauseous.
There is no way that John Kelly doesn’t realize how hurtful Trump’s phone call with the widow of La David Johnson had to be for her, and how much pain it will cause her family for a long time to come. His mealymouthed excuse that Trump never served in combat is appalling. Millions of us never served in combat, but we’d know better to basically tell the widow of a fallen soldier that he got what he signed on for. That Kelly would choose to criticize that this information became public, rather than the mean-spiritedness of the call that Myeshia Johnson got from this despicable man is beyond the pale, beneath the dignity of a General in the United States Armed Forces, and disgusting. Especially in light of the politicization of the death in Afghanistan of his own son. How do you continue to serve Trump after that? To make excuses for him?
I said awhile ago that no honorable person serves Donald Trump. People have insisted that Kelly is some how one of the good guys. I’d like to ask the people who believe this to explain the press conference Kelly just gave. These are the words and deeds of an honorable man?
And we have to balance what Kelly did today with what another man did a little earlier. George W. Bush, in sharp contrast to both Trump and Kelly, took a stand against the meanness. For all of the terrible things he was involved in as President, Bush did not sell out his soul. He believes in things. He actually stands for things. And George W. Bush would never, and did never, say anything so hurtful to the family of a fallen soldier. For all of his faults, George W. Bush is still a human being.
Donald J. Trump never was. And now he’s dragged what was an honorable man to his level.