In a typically no-holds-barred column for the Daily Beast, GOP campaign consultant -- and a thorn in Donald Trump's side -- Rick Wilson hammered former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly for finally coming forward to criticize the president, saying he could have done it much earlier but was just too "chickensh*t" to stick his neck out.
"John Kelly’s half-assed, just-the-tip critique of Donald Trump Thursday was too little, too late, and too lame from the retired Marine Corps general turned Everything Trump Touches Dies poster boy," Wilson began with his typical getting right-to-the-heart-of-the-matter style. "At best, the former White House Chief of Staff displayed a l’esprit de l'escalier that is insufficient for the gravity of the moment. At worst, he looked like one more ex-Trump chickenshit in a barnyard full of them."
Juxtaposing Kelly's previous fear of Trump retaliation with the bravery of Alexander Vindman, Wilson said that the retired military man is just another in a long line of "moral eunuchs" who have served in Donald Trump's administration.
"How Trump draws in these men and women of solid military and business careers and spits them out as moral eunuchs is a mystery," Wilson wrote. "Their silence and their denial makes me question whether they ever took seriously the military principles they swore to uphold. Sure, Kelly’s late, limping arrival on the side of truth is a small relief, but the obvious question is, 'Where the f*ck have you been, John?'"
According to Wilson, post-White House Kelly seems to have joined a long line of ex-officials who "even after they’ve been fired, humiliated, and cast into the outer darkness," just want a "... job after all this ends and try to stealthily pretend they barely worked at the White House, and instead did something respectable, like disinfecting porn sets, marketing reverse mortgages, or running Ponzi schemes."
"Kelly must have known how remaining silent about Trump reflected on him. Kelly wasn’t some GS-nothing. He was there, in the White House, in the West Wing, and in the Oval Office with an up-close view of Trump’s corrupt intent, mental infirmity, and ravenous ego hole in need of continuous filling. Kelly knew the dangers this man posed and, with an eye on his military pension and future job opportunities, he kept his mouth shut," Wilson explained.
Writing, "Alexander Vindman showed more balls in one day than John Kelly ever has when it comes to Trump," Wilson added, "The ship of state is rudderless, and its crew members are fanatics, one and all, grubby little ass-kissers, balls-washers, and jock-sniffers all telling Donald Trump he is the the tallest, thinnest, smartest, and sexiest man to ever hold the Office of the President. We expect nothing more than their silence, or their lies.
We expected more of a man like Kelly."
Slipping in the dagger even further, Wilson wrote of Kelly, "In the era of Trump, silence gives assent. Reticence gives permission. Enabling Trump makes you a co-conspirator to the destruction of the rule of law, the security of our nation, and the dissolution of the norms and institutions that shaped this nation. John Kelly is no exception."
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