The sad, pathetic spectacle of John Kelly's critics

IF GEN. JOHN KELLY WENT PUBLIC He commented on Trump's praise for Hitler and his fears of a dictatorial second Trump term in office growing list from former Trump officials sounding the alarm.

It also set off what has become a pathetic if unpredictable pattern in which a chorus of Trump sycophants obediently rush forward to explain the alarming revelation and question the witness's credibility.

Here is Reliable Trump sycophant Scott Jennings tells us that Kelly probably made the whole thing up and that the real Hitlers are on college campuses. Trump apologist Ryan James Girdusky said“To be honest, like most Americans, I don’t care about General Kelly’s farewell tour.”

Brian Kilmeade On Fox and Friends, he said of Trump's praise of Nazi generals: “I can certainly imagine him saying, 'It would be great if German generals would actually do what we ask them to do,' referring to the third rail “maybe not fully aware.” of German generals who were Nazis, or whatever.” (Not a parody.)

Trump confidant Mike Davis called Kelly “Gen. Christine Blasey Ford” – get it? Chris Sununu is unimpressed: “We have heard a lot of extreme things from Donald Trump. With a guy like that, it somehow factored into the vote.” Senator Bill Hagerty, on CNN, downplayed the entire revelation as a personal dispute between two men. Kelly and Trump, he said, “were not a good fit.”

There is something deeply harmful about this routine. These people want you to forget the overall weight of the allegations against Trump, especially when those allegations come from his own former associates — many of them high-ranking military officers. They do this not because they don't believe the accusations, but because they know how damaging they could be.

Do you know how we know this? Because the claims of Kelly and others are supported by what we have seen with our own eyes over the last nine years.

Should we be skeptical that Trump called soldiers “suckers” and “losers”? said How much is said about John McCain?

Should we be skeptical that he praised Hitler's generals while admiring dictators? eaten with white supremacist Nick Fuentes, Calls People “vermin” and Conversations about immigrants “poisoning the blood of America”?

Are we supposed to believe that he bears no responsibility for January 6th when we were all watching? summon a mob and sic it on the Capitol?

Are we supposed to believe that this is just a personal dispute between Kelly and Trump when so many others have so many similar reports?

• As Trump's former Vice President Mike Pence told us that “the American people deserve to know that on January 6, President Trump asked me to swear him above my oath to the Constitution”?

• As James Mattis said Trump's “exploitation of the presidency to destroy trust in our election and poison our respect for our fellow citizens was enabled by pseudo-political leaders whose names will live on in infamy as profiles of cowardice”?

• As Mark Esper said Trump was “unfit for office” and “put himself above the country”?

• When John Bolton warned that “this will be a retaliatory presidency”?

• As Ty Cobb said Trump’s “behavior and his very existence hastened the demise of democracy and the nation”?

• When Mark Milley called Trump “through-and-through fascist” and “the most dangerous person for this country”?

• When Bill Barr said Trump “shouldn’t be near the Oval Office”?

I have another idea: Why don't we accept the obvious truth that is staring us in the face? Trump is dangerous and unsuitable, and that's what everyone in charge of his last term in office told us.

KELLY had been hesitant to speak publicly about his assessment of Trump. He had previously said that it wouldn't even hurt him to speak out against his former boss.half a day jump.” Trump’s apologists are trying to prove him right. We shouldn't allow them.

Kelly did the right thing. But it's not enough. These messages need to reach people where they are, especially disengaged voters – not because they are not politically powerful (they are), but because they are fundamentally important.

When someone of Kelly's stature and closeness to Trump says that the ex-president is a fascist and praises Hitler's generals, that should give us goosebumps. If this becomes a half-day story, it would be an indictment against us all.

We are now on the home stretch. Millions of voters are making their decision at this very moment. This is the time when elections are won or lost. These other former officials now have a duty to do what Kelly did: come forward and give their candid assessment of Trump.

They should do this not just to defend Kelly, but to make a larger point: that we can, should, and must be honest about the threat Trump poses.

Trump's defenders want us to doubt what we have seen with our own eyes and heard with our own ears. They want us to treat a White House chief of staff who confirms that the former president praised Hitler and called service members “suckers and losers” as just more campaign fodder – rather than proof that something at the core of their movement is fundamental has rotted. If we allow this to happen, it will leave a stain on our politics, like voting for Trump himself.

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