Trump Hits Back At Former Chief Of Staff John Kelly: ‘Dumbest Of My Military People’

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Donald Trump shredded his former Chief of Staff John Kelly calling him "by far the dumbest of my military people."
Screenshot: Washington Post YouTube Video

Donald Trump shredded his former Chief of Staff John Kelly, calling him “by far the dumbest of my military people.”

Trump’s ire was raised by Kelly offering a random statement to CNN that allegedly “confirmed” stories about Trump disparaging military members and veterans.

One of those stories was a hit piece by the Atlantic prior to the 2020 election that claimed that Trump had referred to military veterans as “suckers” and “losers.”

The article also claimed that the President did not want wounded veterans at a military parade because “nobody wants to see that.”

Kelly, who was mentioned in the piece, decided three years later to offer up an exclusive to CNN’s Jake Tapper. Tapper said the statement “set the record straight” on the story, along with other claims about Trump disparaging the military.

“What can I add that has not already been said?” Kelly told the network. “A person that thinks those who defend their country in uniform, or are shot down or seriously wounded in combat, or spend years being tortured as POWs are all ‘suckers’ because ‘there is nothing in it for them.'”

He also described Trump as “a person who demonstrated open contempt” for Gold Star families, “did not want to be seen in the presence of military amputees,” and ranted “that our most precious heroes who gave their lives in America’s defense are ‘losers’ and wouldn’t visit their graves in France.”

RELATED: John Bolton: Claims That Trump Disparaged Fallen Soldiers Are ‘Simply False’

Trump Fires Back At Kelly: Lowlife With A Small Brain And A Big Mouth

Trump addressed the controversy with Kelly in a lengthy tirade on his Truth Social media platform.

“John Kelly, by far the dumbest of my Military people, just picked up the theme of the Radical Left’s lying about Gold Star Families and Soldiers, in his hatred of me,” he wrote.

Trump said Kelly was already on record defending him previously because “nobody loves the military like I do!”

“He’s a Lowlife with a very small brain and a very big mouth,” Trump continued before asking: “Did he totally lie about another Lowlife, Congresswoman Frederica Wilson?”

Kelly had a very public clash with Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-FL) when she used the death of an American soldier to criticize then-President Trump.

Wilson listened in on a conversation between Trump and the wife of slain U.S. Army Sgt. La David Johnson, alleging that the President callously said her husband “knew what he signed up for.”

Kelly responded by blasting Wilson for politicizing the call and claimed he was the one who suggested the President make that statement, which was not denigrating, but a rather obvious reference to her husband’s bravery despite knowing the danger he would face.

Kelly would go on to describe the congresswoman as an “empty barrel” for making the accusation that Trump had made inappropriate comments to the family of a slain soldier.

Now, suddenly, Trump is not respectful of the military again.

The former President believes Kelly is simply another former staffer “angry and upset because they know they will never be in a new Trump Administration.”

“They’re not nearly good enough,” he concluded. “Kelly would be among those at the top of the list.”

RELATED: Atlantic Editor Admits A Key Claim In Trump Hit Piece Could Be Wrong

CNN’s ‘Confirmation’ Is Anything But

CNN’s Jake Tapper, who once pretended to an impartial journalist, writes throughout his column that Kelly’s absurdly random statement to him serves as “confirmation” of past claims about Trump.

A statement from one person does not constitute proof, yet Tapper spends several paragraphs comporting the statement to match up with others who have supposedly “confirmed” the stories.

But it’s odd that a story about Kelly doesn’t include a reference to a statement from Zachary Fuentes, a former aide who worked under the then-chief of staff. Fuentes flat-out denied the Atlantic report.

“I don’t know who the sources are,” he told Breitbart News. “I did not hear POTUS call anyone losers when I told him about the weather. Honestly, do you think General Kelly would have stood by and let ANYONE call fallen Marines losers?”

That seems like pretty relevant context, doesn’t it, Jake?

The weather Fuentes was referencing in that statement involved the Atlantic column’s opening paragraph, which claimed Trump did not want to visit the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery near Paris in 2018, because “his hair would become disheveled in the rain” and that “he did not believe it important to honor American war dead.”

Former national security adviser John Bolton wrote in a book that the weather itself was the cause for the cancellation of the visit to the cemetery, not a decision by POTUS over his hair.

The author of the column would later concede, “I’m sure all of those things are true.”

In a follow-up interview, Bolton, who was highly critical of Trump in the book, insisted that the story about him calling military members and veterans “suckers” and “losers” was inaccurate.

“According to what that article said, the president made disparaging remarks about soldiers and people buried in the cemetery in connection with the decision for him not to go to the ceremony that was planned that afternoon,” Bolton stated, “and that was simply false.”

Neither Fuentes’ comments, Bolton’s, nor the over 20 officials who denied the story at the time were included in Tapper’s reporting.

As for Kelly’s claim that Trump didn’t want to be in the presence of wounded servicemembers, his record suggests otherwise.

Bobby Henline, a severely wounded four-tour Iraq War veteran, has said that Trump treated him with nothing but respect in his interactions with the GOP frontrunner.

“I didn’t hear him call me a loser, so this has got to stop,” Henline said.

Here is Trump embracing Army Capt. Luis Avila, who was severely wounded by a bomb in 2011 in Afghanistan, after the veteran performed a stirring rendition of “God Bless America” at an Armed Forces Welcome Ceremony.

Kelly enlisted in the Marine Corps during the Vietnam War, eventually rising to four-star General. He has earned numerous awards, including the Navy Presidential Unit Citation, a Legion of Merit w/ Gold Star with Combat “V,” and Defense Superior Service Medal.

His own son was killed in action in Afghanistan in 2010 while serving as a Marine on his third combat tour.

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By Rusty Weiss

Rusty Weiss has been covering politics for over 15 years. His writings have appeared in the Daily Caller, Fox... More about Rusty Weiss

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