Michael Goodwin
Leave John Kelly alone
Social Links for Michael Goodwin
October 21, 2017 10:28pm
John Kelly	Reuters
More From: Michael Goodwin
Endangered Democrats go low and keep playing blame game for Joe Biden
Biden's a dud man walking
Anyone-can-vote madness hits NYC, serving up yet another far-left victory: Goodwin
Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg's policies act as obstruction of justice league: Goodwin
The Democrats' desperate Jan. 6 spin: Goodwin
It was another week of hunting for witches to burn in Washington. Even Gen. John Kelly, a man who has served our nation with honor and sacrifice, was nearly consumed by the flames.
Kelly's sin is his willingness to be chief of staff to President Trump, and to try to stop the madness that appears determined to destroy Trump, no matter the cost to America.
Last week's episode was instructive about the state of our disunion. That the deaths of four soldiers, ambushed in Niger, would be reduced to political fodder for the bonfire reveals the depths of depravity.
The first false charge was that Trump "lied" when he said recent presidents did not always make condolence calls to the next of kin. He was correct, though he could die waiting for an apology.
The second false charge was that Trump had been "disrespectful" when he called the widow of one of the fallen soldiers. Made by a Democratic congresswoman from Florida who listened to the call, the charge had the earmarks of a hit job from impeachment wing nuts.
As the fire spread, thanks to the media's eagerness to believe anything critical of Trump, Kelly stepped forward. He commended the president for making condolence calls, which he insisted were not uniformly made, and said he gave Trump a script and that the president "in the best way he could," followed it.
But Kelly went further, describing in painful detail the meticulous process of getting a fallen American off the battlefield and home for burial. He ­described how a military family is told a loved one has died, and how it felt for him to be on the other end when his son was killed in Afghanistan.
Kelly defends Trump's call to Gold Star widow
Kelly also revealed how stunned and heartbroken he was when Trump's condolence call became a source of dispute, saying:
"The only thing I could do to collect my thoughts was to go and walk among the finest men and women on this earth. And you can always find them ­because they're in Arlington ­National Cemetery.
"I went over there for an hour and a half, walked among the stones, some of whom I put there because they were doing what I told them to do when they were killed."
To call his remarks moving does not do them justice. This was a clinic from the heart of a warrior about values and the military code of honor for those who died for their country. He used the word "sacred" several times, and there is no better word for the soldiers and their sacrifice.
As Kelly talked to the press corps, I felt how tawdry much of the media has become, how bloated with vanity and ignorance. So many lack any humility about things they don't know, ­including the life-and-death decisions of others sworn to keep them safe.
For his trouble, Kelly was soon the target of the idiot class. Leading the race to the bottom was, naturally, a new-wave Democrat connected to Hillary Clinton.
Brian Fallon, a CNN contributor and former Clinton flack, put out an appalling tweet that said in part: "Kelly isn't just an ­enabler of Trump. He's a believer in him. That makes him as odious as the rest."
More On: john kelly
Ex-Trump top aide pleads for start of Biden transition
Trump points to John Kelly aide who says he never heard 'losers' remarks
'Unable to function': Trump trashes 'tough guy' John Kelly
Mike Pompeo takes shot at John Bolton with tweet
Others piled on, though it would be hard to top the view of a writer for The New Yorker. Under the headline, "John Kelly and the Language of the Military Coup," Masha Gessen declared that his remarks "could serve as a preview of what a military coup in this country would look like."
Wow, I must be slipping. How did I miss a military coup?
Gessen's evidence includes Kelly's lionizing of soldiers who died for America, and his decision to take questions only from journalists who had a personal connection to a fallen soldier or knew a Gold Star family.
Gessen called this "a loyalty test," and was especially outraged that Kelly ended by saying, "We don't look down upon those of you who haven't served. In fact, in a way we are a little bit sorry because you'll have never have experienced the wonderful joy you get in your heart when you do the kinds of things our servicemen and women do — not for any other reason than that they love this country."
I must be wrong again because I believe Kelly is absolutely right. I believe those of us who never served in the military have missed something essential about America.
We've never committed ourselves to defending our country and all it stands for. We've never felt the deep bonds created by sharing that commitment with others, and have never been willing to die so that others might live in freedom.
Overall, it is a very good thing that America has a volunteer army, with military leaders happier to have those who enlisted rather than those who were compelled. Yet the lack of broad military service explains some of the disconnect between the ­media and the military.
For those on the outside, then, humility is required, but that's only part of it. Most important is gratitude for those extraordinary men and women who, knowing the risks, choose to serve.
In that spirit, I thank Gen. Kelly for his valor on the battlefield and at home. That some refuse to hear him, or worse, insult him, is their everlasting shame.
Hizzoner 'plots' a takeover
Mayor de Blasio finally found something he wants to do in a second term: stop rich Russians from buying New York apartments.
De Blasio: I wish I could stop Russian oligarchs from buying up real estate
Moaning about oligarchs who apparently ruined Soviet communism, the red mayor complained to BuzzFeed about people "with a lot of ill-gotten gains buying a lot of property. I don't like it one bit. I wish I had a specific law or approach to address it."
The desire to decide who buys what continues a theme he introduced last month, telling New York magazine, "If I had my druthers, the city government would determine every single plot of land, how development would proceed. That's a world I'd love to see."
There would be one advantage to the proposed diktat. Property prices would crash, and the city would be affordable.
It would also be unlivable because teachers, cops and firefighters would disappear because the city couldn't afford to pay them.
Andy's quid pro 'Cuo' chutzpah
Sometimes you can hate the spin but admire the spinner.
GM made donation to Cuomo campaign before driverless car deal
Before Gov. Cuomo gave General Motors the right to test driverless cars in Manhattan, the company gave him a $17,500 contribution, five times more than it had ever given him.
Cuomo's office denies any quid pro quo, but didn't hesitate to accuse Mayor de Blasio of serving his contributors when he vowed to fight the experiment.
"We understand that the mayor's taxi-industry donors don't like it, but it's the future," a state spokesman said.
Now that's chutzpah.
US ain't Fonda you
Headline: Jane Fonda says she's not proud of America.
Well then it's mutual.
bill de blasio
Read Next Signs of a coming New York state budget crisis
Kyle Smith
The great pandemic robbery: Fraudsters cash in as Dems shovel out billions and billions in COVID relief
John Podhoretz
Biden's press conference was terrifying -- his internal monologue said out loud
President Biden is a fool who's fooling himself
Front Cover	Back Cover
Flip for back cover
Browse Covers