Trump's chief of staff went on Fox News and, yeah, this isn't good
Donald Trump is freaking out over the Russia indictments, so naturally his chief of staff went on Fox News and went into damage control mode. Or he basically defended the Confederacy's position on slavery. One of the two.
John Kelly appeared Monday on the first night of Laura Ingraham's new show, The Ingraham Angle. When asked about taking down Confederate monuments, he defended Robert E. Lee and then said "the lack of an ability to compromise led to the Civil War."
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Wow. Gen. John Kelly just said “the lack of ability to compromise led to the Civil War.”
Compromise on what, exactly?— Christina Wilkie (@christinawilkie) October 31, 2017
Yeah, not great. Fun history lesson: The Civil War was very much, explicitly about slavery. So yes, lawmakers could have compromised to avoid the Civil War. But that compromise would have involved protecting slavery.
Pundit: “Today couldn’t possibly have gone worse for Trump.”
John Kelly: “Hold my beer.”pic.twitter.com/wHLcIiE7IR— Jamie O'Grady (@JamieOGrady) October 31, 2017
compromise is only "always possible" in a world where nothing actually matters https://t.co/zEyi4ayvbz
— Jamelle Bouie (@jbouie) October 31, 2017
Were lots of last ditch compromise efforts in 1860/1861 following Lincoln's win. All of them kept slavery in place. https://t.co/Objy0AxaN3
— 🎃andrew kaczynski (@KFILE) October 31, 2017
Thank you John Kelly for finally dispelling the rumor that John Kelly is a better man than any of Trump’s other racist enablers. https://t.co/cjT3PgdFdP
— Danny Zuker (@DannyZuker) October 31, 2017
The Civil War was fought over slavery
The Civil War was fought over slavery
The Civil War was fought over slavery.
This will be on the test. https://t.co/Mv0fWyZXm6— Paul Begala (@PaulBegala) October 31, 2017
The Civil War wasn’t caused by a "lack of ability to compromise.” It was caused by slavery. https://t.co/OvhDAlINKvpic.twitter.com/jjgZc0AAeQ
— Yoni Appelbaum (@YAppelbaum) October 31, 2017
Kelly: "The lack of ability to compromise caused the Civil War.”
I prefer Lincoln's analysis: pic.twitter.com/OgkMV4kLvw— Jonathan Chait (@jonathanchait) October 31, 2017
You get off twitter for like two hours and when you come back, the chief of staff is defending the confederacy. #thisis2017
— Seyward Darby (@seywarddarby) October 31, 2017
More and more, the picture of Kelly as the "adult in the room" is looking ridiculous. To make these comments — especially after Charlottesville, and Trump's defense of people who marched with neo-Nazis — is inexcusable.
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