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John Kelly made news with “To be honest, it’s not a wall,” but I was struck more by what is absent here. An apology to @RepWilson for his lies about her. Accountability for his role in Trump’s immigration crusade. Recanting his Confederate apologism. Alas. lat.ms/2GOzY1o
“What happened was Jeff Sessions, he was the one that instituted the zero-tolerance process on the border that resulted in both people being detained and the family separation,” John Kelly told @mollymotoole. “He surprised us.” That is such a fascinating quote, for many reasons.
One, Kelly appears to concede that Trump’s family separation are both inherently bad policies. This is someone seeking to avoid looking having he and @POTUS appear like villains. Ignoring his own role, he displays a consciousness of guilt while simultaneously trying to avoid it.
While Sessions undeniably had a key role in family separation, blaming him exclusively for it is ahistorical. Kelly would have us believe that after @TheJusticeDept’s order, there was absolutely nothing Trump could have done to slow this policy or end it altogether.
In March of 2017, John Kelly talked about @DHSgov considering the separation of children from their parents as a method of deterring unauthorized immigration into the United States. How can he say that he was “surprised” by Sessions more than a year later? snpy.tv/2mOEpyq
I do wonder how that particular Kelly quote will rattle about inside Trump’s skull once the president learns about it. (He won’t read it.) On one hand, it is an outgoing staffer covering for him. On the other, it makes him sound as if he was subject to the whims of Jeff Sessions.
I am not entirely sure what John Kelly hoped to accomplish with that interview. It is as if he had been covered in fecal matter, residue from serving President Trump, and he now hopes that we do not notice when he vainly attempts to wipe it off. We can still smell you, General.
