Over the weekend, I wrote about how two former presidents spoke about the decline in values in the United States today, and took veiled shots at Donald Trump and his style of being president. Trump himself, of course, suggests that this is a new style, that it offers more vibrancy. Many people feel otherwise, and that his shock style of "leading" is classless and under the dignity of the White House.
Well, be that as it may, there are some members of the Trump administration who seem to have a bit more class then their boss (who doesn't?). One of these is White House Chief of Staff John Kelly. Kelly surprised many people by making a rare appearance at the podium before assembled reporters, and he spoke in a kind of off the cuff manner about a decline in values, suggesting that nothing was sacred in America anymore.
Kelly defended his boss's handling of a call placed to the parents of a fallen soldier. This call made huge news, because at some point, the president stated that their son "knew what he was signing up for." This was widely reported, and many condemned it as incredibly insensitive, with some even implying that it was still further proof of President Trump's racist attitude, and just how differently he often seems to treat people of color from whites.
In his speech, Kelly expressed disgust that this quote was taken out of context, and then blasted a Democratic member of Congress for listening into what he felt should have been a private conversation between Trump and the parents. He suggested that it was disgusting that this story had blown up so much, and had worked to make President Trump look compromised.
Trump had also stated that he was the only modern president to both write letters and talk to the families, although some came to the defense of prior presidents in this regard.
On Thursday - the same day that Bush and Obama made those speeches which I already wrote about - Kelly took the podium at the White House, which is a relatively rare thing for him to do. And he spoke about the call, and about families dealing with the death of loved ones serving overseas. He knows about this personally, since he himself lost a son in that way. So, he brought a certain level of perspective and gravitas to the situation. He said:
"'Kel, 'he was doing exactly what he wanted to do when he was killed. He knew what he was getting into by joining that one percent. He knew what the possibilities were because we were at war. And when he died...he was surrounded by the best men on this earth, his friends.'
"That's what the president tried to say to four families the other day. He knew what he was getting himself into' because he enlisted."
Kelly stated that there is an investigation examining the situation in Niger, and how some American soldiers were recently killed in an ambush there, even though most Americans had no idea that there were approximately 1,000 Americans troops in that country. However, Kelly continued his criticism of the Congressperson who listened in to Trump's phone conversation, as well as how the story blew up out of proportion.
"It stuns me that a member of Congress listened in on that conversation. Absolutely stuns me. And I thought, at least that was sacred."
Kelly continued, weighing in on how the country at large seems to have lost so many values that used to be held as sacred, but seem nowadays to be viewed as quaint reminders of a bygone era. This, specifically, is what he said:
"Life, the dignity of life was sacred, that's gone. Religion, that seems to be gone as well. Gold Star families, I think that left in the convention over the summer. I just thought, the selfless devotion that brings a man or woman to die on the battlefield, I just thought that that might be sacred."
I do not necessarily disagree with what Kelly is saying here, that many of the old-fashioned aspects of American life are gone, and that many of these things had some definite positive aspects.
To my understanding, Kelly is an old-fashioned guy, with old-fashioned values. Thus, it is not difficult to understand how he seems sad when reflecting on so many things that have been lost in our modern nation. Indeed, there is a certain lack of respect that has triumphed, as well as excessive self-interest, which is to say, selfishness. Life itself indeed is no longer greatly respected, and a healthy respect for facts, and perhaps for certain established truths overall, have been just the latest casualty in this kind of war on values. While Kelly and I surely would disagree on a lot of things (he is a member of the Trump administration, after all), I would generally agree with him on this. And indeed, if a member of Congress - Representative Frederica Wilson, a Democrat from Florida - listened in on the phone conversation and distorted Trump's words to sound far more sinister than he actually meant them to be, then this is indeed despicable and a distortion for selfish reasons.
However, I hope that Kelly understands that he now works directly for a man who represents much of the erosion of values that Kelly at least appears to be lamenting here. Because Donald Trump has shown a decided lack of many of those same old-fashioned values. Regarding the military, which is obviously Kelly's profession, he is working for a man who avoided the war that he was drafted for - numerous times - because he came from a wealthy and influential family. Trump has disrespected Gold Star families, and there was no ambiguity about that. For that matter, Trump has disrespected veterans on occasion, infamously dissing Senator John McCain and claiming that he prefers heroes who were not captured. When given an opportunity to apologize, to show some measure of class, Trump doubled down and suggested that there were plenty of Vietnam veterans who did not receive much attention but deserved it. Maybe, but McCain served in Vietnam, and made some huge sacrifices that he physically still pays for today, all while Trump lived his gilded life of a spoiled little rich boy who avoided the war of his time. To be a couch potato quarterback, to criticize McCain's war record decades later, and without ever having gone to Vietnam himself, seems the height of hypocrisy and arrogance to me, and I cannot fathom how Kelly does not get offended by that, quite frankly.
These kinds of classless and disrespectful actions - which President Trump has made his calling card - surely have contributed to the erosion of values that Kelly seems to be sadly reflecting on here. Trump has made a habit of breaking traditional values to live his life of decadence and excess. Look in his past and his present, and you see a complete absence with Trump of the very same values that Kelly laments about the country as a whole losing. Dignity of life? Trump does not seem to know what the word dignity means, and he sure does not seem to respect the dignity of anyone else. Religion? A man of faith does not talk about grabbing women by the pussy. Respect, even reverence, for Gold Star families? Trump trashed a Gold Star family on the biggest stage imaginable. Selfless devotion? When has Trump ever shown any signs of even being capable of being selfless? This man literally epitomizes the most extreme selfishness that we have ever seen. Here is a man - a man clearly old enough to have accumulated some wisdom and to know better - who nevertheless worships material wealth, who attaches his own name to everything, especially to skyscrapers towering over city skylines, and who has outright repeatedly insulted veterans who served and sacrificed themselves.
Am I missing something here? Is there something about this man - again, Kelly's boss - that he sees, and which the rest of the world is missing? Trump is a spoiled brat, and frankly, other than being a rich and ruthless idiot with a penchant for showing off his wealth and taking pride in his bad behavior. Everything that Trump does, he does loudly and arrogantly. He does not represent old-fashioned values, or even modern values. Quite literally, Trump represents an attack on values of all kinds. That is why the embrace of the man by evangelical Christians, and by conservatives like Kelly, remains a mystery to me. A year and a half ago, when the man was viewed largely as a clown and a circus act who would likely, as conventional thinking had it, compromise the Republicans chances of winning the White House, many conservatives and evangelical Christians attacked the man for many of the same things that I have mentioned here. These criticisms certainly did not originate with me, after all. I am not the only one who saw in Trump something disgusting, as having traits that I would go to extraordinary lengths to make sure that my child, and children in general, should avoid like the plague. And suddenly, just like that, they turn around and not only support his candidacy, but then seem incapable of criticizing "their" man. As soon as he gets political power, this man who they themselves were highly skeptical of, suddenly becomes a hero and a champion to their cause.
How convenient.
Unfortunately for them, Trump's record did not just magically disappear as soon as he received the Republican nomination, or even when he won the general election. For that matter, his behavior did not change at all once he became the President-elect, or when he took the oath of office. He was the same man as always, with the same past, and the same personality (or lack thereof) and tendencies. He holds Mad Men era values, and his way of thinking is, frankly, decades behind the times. The past that he embodies are the worst aspects of the United States, those things that many people felt we had left behind us, and become a better country in so doing. Things like racism, sexism, elitism, and the good ol' boys network. If Trump has "values" that hearken back to the past, those would pretty much be them. And if we are being honest - and I would hope that honesty would be one of the values that Kelly would value - then any fair and objective assessment of Donald Trump would have to judge him on that, and find him wanting.
That is another old-fashioned value that seems to have been lost: honesty. And much like all of those other values, Trump does not possess it. If indeed, as Kelly suggests here, Trump is this time the victim of an exaggerated, and less than entirely honest, approach to coverage of a story, than it is simply a role reversal. After all, Trump championed the hyped up, fake news stories, and outright lies. This man was at the center of the "birther" controversy. He had a clear vision that the United States should avoid involvement in Syria at all costs while Obama was president, but then attacked that nation himself overnight, without any preamble. He has lied about so many things, that it would be literally almost impossible to keep up. Even if someone did, it would be n almost encyclopedic work that would be outdated by the lies that ooze out of this man on an hourly basis. Let's just take a look at some of the biggest ones, shall we? Putting aside his business career prior to running for the White House and beginning with that announcement in 2015, he lied about Mexicans all be rapists, murderer and criminals, and then lied about lying about it. He relied on lies to stereotype Muslims as dangerous terrorists, and then lied about lying about it. He lied about climate change, claiming it was a hoax invented by the Chinese, and then lied about it when he denied ever saying that during a live, nationally publicized presidential debate. He lied when he claimed that he would make Mexico pay for his wall ("Mark my words!" he said). He lied about being too busy fixing the country's problems once he became president, and he has played golf pretty much every weekend since taking office. He lied about having a plan to defeat ISIS within 30 days, because it's been the better part of a year now, and that battle is still raging. He lied about healthcare, lied when he promised that everyone would be covered, and that everything would be cheaper. He lied about Obama wiretapping him, and offered nothing in the way of proof when demanding action. He lied about the size of his election win, and lied about the size of the turnout for his inauguration. Yes, this man is a well-known liar, and one wonders why Kelly is not lamenting the end of truth as a value.
These kinds of classless and disrespectful actions - which President Trump has made his calling card - surely have contributed to the erosion of values that Kelly seems to be sadly reflecting on here. Trump has made a habit of breaking traditional values to live his life of decadence and excess. Look in his past and his present, and you see a complete absence with Trump of the very same values that Kelly laments about the country as a whole losing. Dignity of life? Trump does not seem to know what the word dignity means, and he sure does not seem to respect the dignity of anyone else. Religion? A man of faith does not talk about grabbing women by the pussy. Respect, even reverence, for Gold Star families? Trump trashed a Gold Star family on the biggest stage imaginable. Selfless devotion? When has Trump ever shown any signs of even being capable of being selfless? This man literally epitomizes the most extreme selfishness that we have ever seen. Here is a man - a man clearly old enough to have accumulated some wisdom and to know better - who nevertheless worships material wealth, who attaches his own name to everything, especially to skyscrapers towering over city skylines, and who has outright repeatedly insulted veterans who served and sacrificed themselves.
Am I missing something here? Is there something about this man - again, Kelly's boss - that he sees, and which the rest of the world is missing? Trump is a spoiled brat, and frankly, other than being a rich and ruthless idiot with a penchant for showing off his wealth and taking pride in his bad behavior. Everything that Trump does, he does loudly and arrogantly. He does not represent old-fashioned values, or even modern values. Quite literally, Trump represents an attack on values of all kinds. That is why the embrace of the man by evangelical Christians, and by conservatives like Kelly, remains a mystery to me. A year and a half ago, when the man was viewed largely as a clown and a circus act who would likely, as conventional thinking had it, compromise the Republicans chances of winning the White House, many conservatives and evangelical Christians attacked the man for many of the same things that I have mentioned here. These criticisms certainly did not originate with me, after all. I am not the only one who saw in Trump something disgusting, as having traits that I would go to extraordinary lengths to make sure that my child, and children in general, should avoid like the plague. And suddenly, just like that, they turn around and not only support his candidacy, but then seem incapable of criticizing "their" man. As soon as he gets political power, this man who they themselves were highly skeptical of, suddenly becomes a hero and a champion to their cause.
How convenient.
Unfortunately for them, Trump's record did not just magically disappear as soon as he received the Republican nomination, or even when he won the general election. For that matter, his behavior did not change at all once he became the President-elect, or when he took the oath of office. He was the same man as always, with the same past, and the same personality (or lack thereof) and tendencies. He holds Mad Men era values, and his way of thinking is, frankly, decades behind the times. The past that he embodies are the worst aspects of the United States, those things that many people felt we had left behind us, and become a better country in so doing. Things like racism, sexism, elitism, and the good ol' boys network. If Trump has "values" that hearken back to the past, those would pretty much be them. And if we are being honest - and I would hope that honesty would be one of the values that Kelly would value - then any fair and objective assessment of Donald Trump would have to judge him on that, and find him wanting.
That is another old-fashioned value that seems to have been lost: honesty. And much like all of those other values, Trump does not possess it. If indeed, as Kelly suggests here, Trump is this time the victim of an exaggerated, and less than entirely honest, approach to coverage of a story, than it is simply a role reversal. After all, Trump championed the hyped up, fake news stories, and outright lies. This man was at the center of the "birther" controversy. He had a clear vision that the United States should avoid involvement in Syria at all costs while Obama was president, but then attacked that nation himself overnight, without any preamble. He has lied about so many things, that it would be literally almost impossible to keep up. Even if someone did, it would be n almost encyclopedic work that would be outdated by the lies that ooze out of this man on an hourly basis. Let's just take a look at some of the biggest ones, shall we? Putting aside his business career prior to running for the White House and beginning with that announcement in 2015, he lied about Mexicans all be rapists, murderer and criminals, and then lied about lying about it. He relied on lies to stereotype Muslims as dangerous terrorists, and then lied about lying about it. He lied about climate change, claiming it was a hoax invented by the Chinese, and then lied about it when he denied ever saying that during a live, nationally publicized presidential debate. He lied when he claimed that he would make Mexico pay for his wall ("Mark my words!" he said). He lied about being too busy fixing the country's problems once he became president, and he has played golf pretty much every weekend since taking office. He lied about having a plan to defeat ISIS within 30 days, because it's been the better part of a year now, and that battle is still raging. He lied about healthcare, lied when he promised that everyone would be covered, and that everything would be cheaper. He lied about Obama wiretapping him, and offered nothing in the way of proof when demanding action. He lied about the size of his election win, and lied about the size of the turnout for his inauguration. Yes, this man is a well-known liar, and one wonders why Kelly is not lamenting the end of truth as a value.
And as far as dirty and despicable tactics to advance a narrow agenda for selfish reasons are concerned (which have the trademark of a dishonest approach), Kelly's boss, President Donald Trump, is certainly no stranger to that, either. In fact, he has mastered to that such a degree that he virtually made it an art form. After all, any and all criticism of him by the media is instantly dismissed as "fake news," because of course, we are supposed to believe that the president can do no wrong. He has eroded democracy itself on several levels by the tactics that he has employed, but nothing is as potentially dangerous as this particular approach has been.
So, if Kelly wants to talk about old-fashioned values that this country has lost, he should be talking to one man in particular who is more guilty of trespassing all of these sacred grounds than anyone else that I can think of. And that man would be Donald Trump himself. If Kelly himself was being honest and objective, than there is no one else who is more in need of being scolded and reprimanded for all of his trespasses against values, both old and new. Unfortunately, it seems that Kelly, much like many fellow conservatives, seems to have placed an all-too convenient blind eye towards all of the countless trespasses that his boss is guilty of. And that, in itself, seems to me, at least, to be not entirely honest, and not laying the solid foundation for a return to serious values, which undermines everything that Kelly himself said just days ago. Until he remedies this and starts pointing out the faults of his boss - or better yet, straightening him out (which admittedly seems highly unlikely), then Kelly's words will not just fall on deaf ears, but they will do so specifically because they are overly convenient, self-serving and, frankly, disingenuous as a result.
In other words, they mirror the hypocrisy of Kelly's boss, Donald Trump.
So, if Kelly wants to talk about old-fashioned values that this country has lost, he should be talking to one man in particular who is more guilty of trespassing all of these sacred grounds than anyone else that I can think of. And that man would be Donald Trump himself. If Kelly himself was being honest and objective, than there is no one else who is more in need of being scolded and reprimanded for all of his trespasses against values, both old and new. Unfortunately, it seems that Kelly, much like many fellow conservatives, seems to have placed an all-too convenient blind eye towards all of the countless trespasses that his boss is guilty of. And that, in itself, seems to me, at least, to be not entirely honest, and not laying the solid foundation for a return to serious values, which undermines everything that Kelly himself said just days ago. Until he remedies this and starts pointing out the faults of his boss - or better yet, straightening him out (which admittedly seems highly unlikely), then Kelly's words will not just fall on deaf ears, but they will do so specifically because they are overly convenient, self-serving and, frankly, disingenuous as a result.
In other words, they mirror the hypocrisy of Kelly's boss, Donald Trump.
Below is the link to the article which I used in writing this particular entry:
Gen. John Kelly "stunned" by Rep. Frederica Wilson by Blair Guild of CBS News, Oct 19, 2017:
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