White House chief of staff John Kelly put a significant dent in his reputation as the adult keeping things ship-shape on Donald Trump’s staff thanks to his long delay in firing staff secretary Rob Porter, and lost the confidence of many in the White House. But many congressional Republicans are standing by Kelly:
Asked whether he had confidence in Kelly, Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) replied: “Yes. And I don’t know that there’s an alternative.”
There’s a certain whiff of desperation in the second part of Blunt’s answer there, but others were more laudatory:
“I’d certainly like to see him stay in the White House,” said Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.). “He’s just a man of integrity, and he’s doing a great job.”
Kelly is a man who kept an abuser on staff long after the FBI provided its background check and then lied about what he knew and when he knew it, but hey, maybe that fits Ron Johnson’s definition of integrity and doing a great job.
Rep. Tom Rooney (R-Fla.), who’s known Kelly for years, said he stopped watching the news because he feels the coverage is “overkill” and unfair to the chief.
“I don’t want to see Gen. Kelly go,” Rooney said. “You’re talking about one of the greatest men I have met in my entire life.”
Here’s a thought: maybe you should go looking for other greatest men, because surely there are better people in this nation than deportation enthusiast, Civil War revisionist, liar, and wife-beating enabler John Kelly. If there aren’t many people better than that, we should just give up right now.