Almost every day some mainstream media reporter breaks a story about how the White House is in meltdown and the only thing standing between the nation and the abyss is Chief of Staff Gen. John Kelly.
Depending which “scoop” you are reading, Trump also is about to fire Kelly or Kelly’s about to quit or Kelly is staying to protect the nation from Trump.
These scoops create a media and political frenzy that have anti-Trump politicians and media talking about invoking the 25th Amendment or some other type of intervention.
It all makes for good theater. It’s the same phenomenon I reported on when Russia was the hot media topic – a steady flow of anonymously sourced unverifiable accusations of impending doom.
In this entire media feeding frenzy, Kelly uniformly is presented as the adult in the room, the one honest person (in addition to Gen. Mattis) in the White House.
Well guess what. That one honest man just said those media reports are full of s***. Of course, he didn’t use that word, but I think that’s a fair paraphrase of what he said.
Here’s the transcript excerpt (emphasis added):
GENERAL KELLY: …. I would just offer to you that although I read it all the time pretty consistently, I’m not quitting today. (Laughter.) I don’t believe — and I just talked to the President — I don’t think I’m being fired today. (Laughter.) And I’m not so frustrated in this job that I’m thinking of leaving.I will tell you, this is the hardest job I’ve ever had. This is, in my view, the most important job I ever had. I would offer, though, it is not the best job I ever had. The best job I ever had, as I’ve said many times, is when I was an enlisted Marine sergeant infantryman. That was the best job I ever had.So unless things change, I’m not quitting, I’m not getting fired, and I don’t think I’ll fire anyone tomorrow. (Laughter.)So with that, John.Q General Kelly, if I could, you said you’re not so frustrated that you’re thinking of leaving. But are you frustrated?GENERAL KELLY: No, I’m not frustrated. This is really, really hard work running the United States of America. I don’t run it, but I’m working for someone who is dedicated to serving the country in the way that he’s talked about for a number of years. There are incredible challenges — you know, economic challenges, healthcare challenges, all of that; obviously international challenges that have to be dealt with.I don’t mean any criticism to Mr. Trump’s predecessors, but there is an awful lot of things that were, in my view, kicked down the road that have come home to roost, pretty much right now, that have to be dealt with.This is hard, hard work, John. And my only frustration, with all due respect to everyone in the room, is when I come to work in the morning and read about things I allegedly said, or things that Mr. Trump allegedly said, or people who are going to be fired, or whatever you all think. And it’s just not true.That’s my frustration. And I mean no disrespect to you all.I don’t know all the names, so, you.* * *GENERAL KELLY: One of his frustrations is you.Q Me personally?GENERAL KELLY: All of you. Not all of you, but many of you. As I said when I first started talking — again, I’m a reasonable guy, but when I read in the morning — I read the — well, I won’t tell you what I read — but when I watch TV in the morning, it is astounding to me how much is misreported. I will give you the benefit of the doubt that you are operating off of contacts, leaks, whatever you call them. But I would just offer to you the advice: I would say maybe develop some better sources. Some person that works way down inside an office, or — well, just develop some better sources….
What did CNN’s Chris Cillizza focus on, after the media narrative and credibility was completely destroyed by Kelly? Again Cillizza pushed the claim that Trump was out of control:
But it was what Kelly said later — answering a question from reporters in the room — that was even more revealing about how he views the reach and limits of his job.”I was not brought to this job to control anything but the flow of information to our President so he can make the best decisions,” said Kelly.What’s not said in that quote — but certainly hangs in the air around it — is this: No one can control Donald Trump. So why try?
The media is incorrigible. “What’s not said in that quote — but certainly hangs in the air around it” is a ridiculous take on the press conference. That is just CNN making things up.
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