Lincoln’s take vs Kelly’s pic.twitter.com/R9D7fGPDaj— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) October 31, 2017
It’s natural to try to make sense of the slow motion explosion of the last 18 months in American history. But it’s also important to remember that seductive narratives are seductive because they make sense, because they satisfy in a way that reality often doesn’t. It felt nice to think that Kelly would be a grizzled war veteran with nerves of steel and a heart of gold whipping the White House into shape instead of a cranky, less interesting version of Trump, but here we are.
Even NPR today was having trouble letting go of the fact Kelly was not the "adult in the room" who would represent us all in Trump's White House, but rather is in Trump's White House for reasons that have nothing to do with those of us who didn't vote for the guy. But they came around, after his ludicrous statements to Laura Ingraham about the Civil War. Not that we shouldn't have seen this coming:
Announcing you will absolutely not apologize for smearing a black congresswoman in the same interview where you praise Robert E. Lee and try to whitewash the Confederacy? Not great, General. It's almost like Kelly shares more of his boss' worldview than the Beltway media types were ready to admit.
Except anyone watching without rose-colored glasses glued to their temples could see that Kelly is no saint, even relative to the rest of this kakistocratic administration. Before moving to the chief of staff position, Kelly oversaw the Department of Homeland Security as the agency turned into a deportation machine.
Immigration-related arrests didn't just spike by 40 percent. Kelly did away with prosecutorial discretion for undocumented immigrants, which had prioritized the deportation of those who committed serious crimes. Now ICE agents were essentially free to target any undocumented immigrant. He also expanded the definition of "criminal alien" to anyone who "committed anything that might be a 'chargeable criminal offense'" and "directed the department to pursue anyone who, 'in the judgment of an immigration officer,' posed a national-security risk to the country." Again, the new policy was that an ICE agent could essentially target anyone.
Just because Kelly isn't on Twitter calling people insulting nicknames and undermining United States foreign policy doesn't make him a responsible steward of our nation. He is perfectly happy, if his comments in this interview are anything to go on, to continue perpetuating a culture of white supremacy—whether or not he's a true believer, or merely ignorant of the implications of his words. As with many in Trump's orbit, Kelly was a bona fide extremist until he stood close to the bright orange orb. The Media ought to try some perspective rather than grasping in the dark for camouflaged heroes.
We really got to get over our love of military men. Ike is gone, and he's not coming back anytime soon.
sold his soul to the company store
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