SEA ISLAND, Georgia — Speaking with chief political correspondent Byron York at the Washington Examiner Political Summit, former White House chief of staff John Kelly told an ugly truth about President Trump.
“I’ve never hesitated to tell when you were wrong — when I thought you were wrong,” Kelly recalled telling Trump as he planned his amicable departure from the White House. “I never hesitated when other people were trying to manipulate, well, whatever. But I said, whatever you do, and we were still in the process of trying to find someone to take my place, I said whatever you do, don’t hire a yes man, someone who won’t tell you the truth — don’t do that. Because if you do, I believe you will be impeached.”
When Kelly replaced the feckless Reince Priebus to run the West Wing, it immediately became apparent that an adult had entered the Oval Office at last. While Gen. James Mattis ensured successes overseas, Kelly calmed the chaos of the White House, purging looming liabilities like alt-right friendly Steve Bannon and the nutty Omarosa Manigault Newman and enabling the successes of the excellent First Step Act and the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
But since the twin departures of both generals, the administration has descended into undeniable disarray, leading Kelly to concede a bombshell revelation:
As much as Democrats have rooted for Trump’s downfall, Kelly’s point that the bottom line of the presidency affects every American still stands true. And without stabilizing forces in the West Wing, Trump’s worst excesses are guiding him down a path of impeachment.
Consider this: The special counsel investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 elections found insufficient evidence to charge Trump with a single crime. While Robert Mueller ultimately found no real evidence that Trump ever even attempted to conspire with the Russians, there were ample instances of calmer heads prevailing over Trump’s impulses to potentially obstruct justice. Former White House counsel Don McGahn likely saved Trump’s presidency by refusing his order to fire Mueller. But McGahn is long gone, just like Kelly, Mattis, John Bolton, Jeff Sessions, and Rex Tillerson, who all left voids of intellect and discipline to be filled by incompetency.
And now, sure enough, Trump faces an impeachment inquiry. And as evidence mounts that Trump did indeed use presidential powers to extort Ukraine for his own personal political gain, it increasingly seems like he will deserve it. A chief of staff John Kelly would have hung up the phone as Trump attempted to ask Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate his domestic political rival in the same conversation Trump touted aid that the nation knew we were withholding. Instead, Mike Pompeo, who was on the call, let it happen, and Mick Mulvaney flagrantly defended it on national television.
For the sake of the country, Kelly ought to be sorely missed by the entire nation, Left and Right alike.
