Tuesday, October 31, 2017
Why John Kelly Needs to Keep His Damn Mouth Shut
I never paid too much attention to the American Civil War but still I was taken aback when White House Chief of Staff and retired Marine general John Kelly wrote it off as a failure of the North and South to compromise, even parroting Trump's line in saying that it was fought by people of good faith on both sides and capping that off with praising Robert E. Lee as an "honorable man."
It sounded a bit "out there" but then I read this article from The Atlantic that made my stomach churn at Kelly's praise for Robert E. Lee. He might have been a four star Marine general but when it comes to the South and the Civil War, especially Robert E. Lee, he's a son of a bitch.
No, I think it's good that he opened his mouth. We can see him clearly for what he is now.
ReplyDeleteAnyone with a high iq in the White House would probably flunk a psych evaluation. The confederacy had generations of good press, with the whole lost cause mythology permeates a lot of popular thinking about the conflict. Any serious study of the civil war makes saying it was a lack of compromise or an argument about state's rights is a lot like saying world war 2 was about German industrial policy.
ReplyDeleteNo...he's the son of a bastard.
ReplyDelete@ Clarke. I checked and, while Kelly isn't an Annapolis ring-knocker, he is university educated, attended war college, etc.
ReplyDeleteNow it's inexcusable for any four-star not to be thoroughly versed in his nation's most bloody war. That's what American generals do, even JarHeads. Not Kelly.