Former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly served up the latest line of attack against 2024 GOP frontrunner Donald J. Trump to CNN on a silver platter by giving new life to old scandals casting doubt upon the former president’s patriotism.
In a statement to the Trump-hating cable network, the retired U.S. Marine Corps general dredged up Trump’s 2015 remarks about now-deceased Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) and said that the former president had referred to military members as “suckers” and “losers” in private.
Exclusive: John Kelly goes on the record to confirm several disturbing stories about Trump https://t.co/NZPwb7Us2J
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) October 2, 2023
“What can I add that has not already been said?” Kelly told CNN. “A person that thinks those who defend their country in uniform, or are shot down or seriously wounded in combat, or spend years being tortured as POWs are all ‘suckers’ because ‘there is nothing in it for them.’ A person that did not want to be seen in the presence of military amputees because ‘it doesn’t look good for me.’ A person who demonstrated open contempt for a Gold Star family – for all Gold Star families – on TV during the 2016 campaign, and rants that our most precious heroes who gave their lives in America’s defense are ‘losers’ and wouldn’t visit their graves in France.”
He was of course referring to remarks that served as the basis for what was the first coordinated effort to destroy Trump in the nascent stages of his historic White House run in July 2015 when he said “I like people who weren’t captured” of McCain, a savage early critic of his who spent years as a POW after his plane was shot down in Vietnam
The “suckers” and “losers” references were also rehashed old news from a 2020 hit piece published by The Atlantic.
And of course, it was anchor Jake Tapper, a man who loathes the ex-POTUS, who launched the Kelly statement into the anti-Trump ecosystem where it would be amplified by other media outlets and spread by an army of information warfare digital soldiers on social media.
Tapper: Kelly describes Trump as “a person that thinks those who defend their country in uniform or are shot down or seriously wounded in combat, or spend years being tortured as P.O.W.S are all, ‘suckers’ there is nothing in it for them pic.twitter.com/fBHzfImBf2
— Acyn (@Acyn) October 2, 2023
“A person who is not truthful regarding his position on the protection of unborn life, on women, on minorities, on evangelical Christians, on Jews, on working men and women,” Kelly continued in his statement to CNN. “A person that has no idea what America stands for and has no idea what America is all about. A person who cavalierly suggests that a selfless warrior who has served his country for 40 years in peacetime and war should lose his life for treason – in expectation that someone will take action. A person who admires autocrats and murderous dictators. A person that has nothing but contempt for our democratic institutions, our Constitution, and the rule of law.”
“There is nothing more that can be said,” he concluded. “God help us.”
For all the good that the former president did, some have pointed out that his major weakness was his inability to choose his personnel with Kelly being among a long line of former Trump administration officials stabbing him in the back.
Another former Trump official, his secretary of defense told CNN last year that he believes that his former boss is “unfit for office.”
“He puts himself before country. His actions are all about him and not about the country. And then, of course, I believe he has integrity and character issues as well,” he told the network.
Former attorney general Bill Barr has been a fixture on cable and legacy television networks since the Biden regime unleashed its legal onslaught against his ex-boss and among other things, called Trump “a consummate narcissist.”
“If he was in the White House again, he will always put his own interests and gratifying his own ego ahead of everything else, including the country’s interests,” Barr said during an appearance on CBS’ “Face the Nation” in June. “There’s no question about it. This is a perfect example of that.”
“He’s a very petty individual who will always put his interests ahead of the country’s, his personal gratification of his ego, but our country can’t be a therapy session for a troubled man like this,” the former AG added.
Trump has not yet commented on Kelly’s statement but has previously denied the “suckers” and “losers” claim.
In 2020 Trump addressed the soldier hoax and John Kelly. pic.twitter.com/YeFg2Hh6bo
— MAZE (@mazemoore) October 3, 2023
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