John Kelly, the longest-serving White House chief of staff for Donald Trump, offered his harshest criticism yet of the former president in an exclusive statement to CNN.

In the statement, Kelly is confirming, on the record, a number of details in a 2020 story in The Atlantic by editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg, including Trump turning to Kelly on Memorial Day 2017, as they stood among those killed in Afghanistan and Iraq in Section 60 at Arlington National Cemetery, and saying, “I don’t get it. What was in it for them?”

Trump said he did not want to visit the graves of American soldiers buried in the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery near Paris because, “Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers.” During that same trip to France, the article reported, Trump said the 1,800 US Marines killed in the Belleau Wood were “suckers” for getting killed.

Kelly concluded, “God help us.”

  • pingveno@kbin.social
    27·
    1 year ago

    There are plenty of veterans out there that don’t advertise it because it’s not a core piece of their identity. Of course the 'Murica veterans are going to be more frequently Trumpers. My uncle was in the Vietnam War, but he’s only talked about it a handful of times when asked. He despises Trump, not because he’s a vet, but because of who Trump is.