We may wait until hell freezes over for the military brass to find heir voices after leaving the employ of megalomaniac and draft dodging con man Donald "Bone Spurs" Trump. While they swore an oath to the Constitution, many seem to have mistaken Trump for the Constitution, and remain silent in a twisted understanding of "duty" to their sick and unhinged former Commander in Chief.
It took Trump's disgraceful mistreatment of a decorated Iraq War veteran, Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, to pry some grudging criticism out of one of them, former White (Supremacist) House Chief of Staff and Marine Corps Gen. (ret.) John Kelly. Kelly, speaking at a public forum yesterday, defended Vindman's actions in raising Trump's shakedown call to Ukraine and Vindman's subsequent subpoenaed testimony before Congress:
“He did exactly what we teach them to do from cradle to grave. He went and told his boss what he just heard. [snip]
“Through the Obama administration up until that phone call, the policy of the U.S. was militarily to support Ukraine in their defensive fight against … the Russians. And so, when the president said that continued support would be based on X, that essentially changed. And that’s what that guy (Vindman) was most interested in.”Better late than never, but better earlier than later for the former Trump enabler. Of course, the vengeance-seeking Trump was angered by his former employee's mild rebuke, and set his little fingers to Twitter:
When I terminated John Kelly, which I couldn’t do fast enough, he knew full well that he was way over his head. Being Chief of Staff just wasn’t for him. He came in with a bang, went out with a whimper, but like so many X’s, he misses the action & just can’t keep his mouth shut,.— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 13, 2020
Kelly, who lost a son fighting in Afghanistan, probably won't respond to Bone Spurs' taunts, which will empower him. Nor will former Defense Secretary and Marine Corps Gen. (ret.) James Mattis, or former National Security Advisor Gen. (ret.) H. R. McMaster stand up, likely because it's about a career in the Republican-dominated corporate military swamp, or K Street, etc. You have to wonder if they feel shame at having served such an unfit and deeply corrupt demagogue, even if they believe they saved the country from his worst impulses.
UPDATE: John Bolton weighs in --
John Kelly is an honorable man. John and I have disagreed at times, as is commonplace at senior government levels, but he has always served his country faithfully. Conservatives especially have a responsibility to reject baseless attacks upon him.— John Bolton (@AmbJohnBolton) February 13, 2020
