Posted on 10/26/2024 7:52:24 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Former President Donald Trump and previous members of his administration say that claims made by former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly are “patently false.”
Kelly, a retired Marine Corps general, worked for the Trump administration from 2017 to 2019. He has spoken out multiple times against Trump during the election—most recently in interviews with The New York Times and The Atlantic.
In those interviews, Kelly said Trump fitted the general definition of a fascist and alleged that the former president said he wanted “German generals,” like Nazi leader Adolph Hitler had.
Several members of the Trump administration, including former Vice President Mike Pence’s former chief of staff, Mike Ayers, have sharply disputed the claims.
“I’ve avoided commenting on intra-staff leaks or rumors or even lies as it relates to my time at the White House but General Kelly’s comments regarding President Trump are too egregious to ignore,” Ayers said on X.
“I was with each of them more than most, and his commentary is *patently false.*”
Mark Paoletta, general counsel of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), also spoke out against Kelly, writing on X:
“I don’t believe a word he says. He was a terrible chief of staff who dishonestly kept information from the President to pursue his own agenda.”
Trump himself denounced the stories on Oct. 23, saying Kelly “made up a story out of pure Trump Derangement Syndrome Hatred.”
“Even though I shouldn’t be wasting my time with him, I always feel it’s necessary to hit back in pursuit of THE TRUTH,” Trump said on Truth Social and X.
Both of Kelly’s interviews came out less than two weeks before Election Day, at a time when early voting is underway across several states, and Trump is starting to take the lead in battleground state polls.
Vice President Kamala Harris followed Kelly’s two stories by stating at a CNN town hall that she believed Trump to be a fascist.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. responded directly to these comments on X, saying, “This is the kind of inflammatory poison that divides our nation and inspires assassins.”
The Atlantic also claimed Trump made disparaging remarks about a dead military servicemember and balked over her funeral expenses.
At a news conference in Austin, Texas, on Oct. 25, the former president also strongly denied making those claims.
“If they didn’t get the military funding, I was going to fund it myself,” Trump said about the funeral for Vanessa Guillen, 20, who was murdered in 2020 while stationed at an Army base in Texas that was then called Fort Hood.
Guillen’s slaying and dismemberment led to an outcry over sexual harassment at U.S. military bases, resulting in changes to laws and discipline of 21 Army personnel; some were faulted for allowing the prime suspect in her killing to escape and commit suicide.
On Friday, Trump thanked Guillen’s family for publicly denouncing The Atlantic’s allegations. The family came to show support for Trump as he addressed reporters at Million Air Austin, a private airplane service.
“The beautiful thing is that these people [Guillen’s relatives] were willing to come out and say it didn’t happen… they didn’t have to do this,” Trump said.
Guillen’s sister, Maya Guillen, and the family’s attorney, Natalie Khawam, made social media posts and TV appearances asserting that the article contained inaccuracies and misrepresentations.
Trump pointed out that the Atlantic’s article was timed to appear just before the Nov. 5 election, increasing the likelihood that a certain percentage of readers would believe what the magazine reported and hold it against his candidacy.
“So I talk about it because it was a terrible thing,” Trump said about the article after touching on multiple other topics, including illegal immigration and election integrity.
The Epoch Times has sought comment from The Atlantic.
John Kelly barely rises to the level of fecal matter. How that REMF made it to general is baffling.
The “generals” like wars. That is their job.
Trump started NO wars.
Generals do not like Trump.
I agree with that equation:
LOSER JOHN KELLY = POOP
Trump needs to be more circumspect and nuanced when he makes statements like the one about Hitler.
He was being sarcastic——referring to the lack of loyalty his own aides lacked
but it became political fodder for his opponents who lie in wait for a Trump malapropism.
He was being sarcastic——referring to the lack of loyalty his own aides lacked but it became political fodder for his opponents who lie in wait for a Trump malapropism.
Most Americans can tell that Trump was being sarcastic. Even Democrats like Fetterman.
The base in the Democratic Party are Leftists and they're radical anyway so it wouldn't matter if the Republican candidate was Mother Theresa.
Kelly exposed himself as a political hack and a clown. He must be proud of the Afghan withdrawal. He must also support flooding the country with millions of military age males. His attack on Trump is an endorsement of Harris. Kelly is an embarrassment to the Marines.I hear he is taking a lot of blood money from Ukraine. He seems like the type who is only motivated by money.
I would argue that lying ass MSM needs to clean up their aisle. Trump is just fine with his truth telling!
Anyone with knowledge of the German generals In WW2, would know that praise of them would not be praise of Hitler, or a desire to rule like Hitler.
With exceptions, they were not Nazis, they served out of a loyalty to Germany and they were a professional group. They did not respect Hitler and he didn’t trust them.
If Trump was referring to loyalty, Hitler’s generals tried to kill him at least twice.
In any event, the German army and its officers were always given grudging respect by our troops because the Germans were tough, disciplined fighters.
I cannot recall any World War II German general worthy of “praise,” except I probably read about 1 or 2 who did something that I might respect for their adhering to a battlefield truce on an occasion.
Mostly in the west, German generals were NOT fighting to defend Germany. They were fighting to preserve the “honor” that they chose to believe existed in a senior officer corps - the professionals - in the face of:
a) having survived an eastern front experience, and
b) social, economic, and political failure of whatever was the German state - that they could not correct . . . and blamed somebody else, because: Hitler worship.
Mostly in the east, German generals fought to defend anything they could, from the evil grasp of leftwing politicians and those politicians’ [useful] “faithful” followers.
The German tanks that succeeded in badly mauling British and Canadian tanks in Normandy, June 1944, were often occupied by fanatical, NAZI-enthusiastic, very well supplied, very-comfortable-with-Hitler youth. A few of them, managed to s-l-o-w-l-y understand (while in Allied camps after the war) that they had been misinformed.
That some senior German military officers might say something practical - that most senior officers of another country, may also find practical . . . yes, there is some military professional understanding that happens.
Well-led troops can seize the day, from almost anywhere on the planet.
Several members of the Trump administration, including former Vice President Mike Pence's former chief of staff, Mike Ayers, have sharply disputed the claims.
"I've avoided commenting on intra-staff leaks or rumors or even lies as it relates to my time at the White House but General Kelly's comments regarding President Trump are too egregious to ignore," Ayers said on X.
"I was with each of them more than most, and his commentary is *patently false.*"
Mark Paoletta, general counsel of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), also spoke out against Kelly, writing on X:
"I don't believe a word he says. He was a terrible chief of staff who dishonestly kept information from the President to pursue his own agenda."
Trump himself denounced the stories on Oct. 23, saying Kelly "made up a story out of pure Trump Derangement Syndrome Hatred."
"Even though I shouldn't be wasting my time with him, I always feel it's necessary to hit back in pursuit of THE TRUTH," Trump said on Truth Social and X.
Kelly is an asshole. And so is Mattis.
Excerpt:
I had to brace myself physically every time [Kelly's] office called, as it inevitably involved some form of threat or abuse. Some leaders inspire, while others attempt to “lead” through intimidation. Kelly was clearly the latter, and I can’t imagine serving under his command in combat.
But Kelly’s . . . real failure was his refusal to obey the president, [thus] breaking the chain of command.
Kelly, along with Defense Secretary James “Mad Dog” Mattis, knew better than anyone that the military’s survival depends on strict respect for the chain of command. Yet once Kelly and Mattis reached the pinnacle of civilian power, they acted as if no one, not even the president, was above them.
Kelly routinely subverted the president’s trade agenda. When my former boss instructed Kelly to prepare an executive order to impose steel and aluminum tariffs or tariffs on China, Kelly would consistently delay the process by subjecting it to an extended review.
Because Kelly had no training in politics, he failed to understand the importance of trade policy in holding the high political ground of blue wall manufacturing states like Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan that Trump had won in 2016.
A self-inflicted political disaster - by Donald Trump.
Kelly got his third and fourth star from Barack Obama.
Democrats NEVER make personnel errors with senior leadership appointments.
First, Trump put Kelly in charge of Immigration Enforcement, which was Trumps #1 political issue in 2016.
Then, Trump promoted Kelly to Chief of White House Staff, after first hiring Reince Priebus.
Incomprehensible decisions.
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